Twilight Perfection
Final Chapter Number 36: Come sound the trumpet, prepare the feast, and make the joyful shout to he who slew the beast!
Vincent descended the stairs, anticipation mixed with fear in each step. He had written and left her a note that explained everything, as best as anyone could explain anything about the impossible situation that Vincent was in. "Congratulations, you've been dead for the last 30 years, our son has grown up, and just about everyone we ever knew is dead. Oh and I'm a vampire now, and so are you." Vincent had said it considerably more tactfully then that, but the only letters he was used to writing were those that were made from magazine clippings and typically ended with "Or you'll never see your loved one(s) again." (It was pure hell to find a reasonably sized pair of parentheses but a small pair would due in most situations.)
Suffice to say it was hardly the work of a great artist, but it got to the point. There was a knife on the table as well, and the note was painfully clear on what to do with it. If she couldn't cope with the shock of it all, take the knife and plunge it into her heart or slice off her head. If she did so, Vincent let her know in the note that he wouldn't be too far behind.
He opened the door, and she was sitting up on the table waiting for him. She had red eyes now, just like Vincent did. She held Vincent's knife in her right hand and snapped the blade with ease thanks to her vampiric strength. "I waited for you."
Vincent couldn't find the words, hell, he couldn't find the facial expressions. He just stood there dumbly. Then he buried his face in his hands and cried tears of blood. "Vincent, let me see your face again." Vincent moved aside his hands, and he felt Lucresia's tongue lick the tears from his face. That was when he was finally able to smile again.
"I made a horrible boytoy didn't I?"
"I'm sure you'll make a wonderful husband."
"Husband?" Vincent said the word with faked apprehension, Gaia, it felt good to be able to fake that particular emotion rather than having to actually experience it. "What have I gotten myself into? Guess I'm going to need to do more than sneak in time for a quick game of 'the spinster and the well hung auditor' with you."
"I'm willing to take things slowly if that would help make the transition easier for you. I don't think I have much respect left for 'the sanctity of marriage,' as you obviously understand. So, exactly how good is our night vision?"
In the time it used to take him to draw a breath, Vincent drew Quicksilver, twisted his arm at an angle that would have been impossible for a human to achieve, and fired. The one light bulb in the room exploded in a shower of glass, leaving the two cloaked in darkness. It didn't get in their way in the slightest.
----
"Hey." "Hi, my name's Melkore Morningstar, I saved the world!" It was a sleazy tavern in Lower Midgar, hardly befitting to someone who had saved the world. Sadly, life was anything but fair to Melkore Morningstar: he had saved the world, now he was going out of business. What with the recent peace and the announcement that there wouldn't be any more SOLDIERS made, "illegal arms dealer" wasn't such a great profession anymore.
It just didn't make sense for an arms dealer to ensure a lasting peace. Still, things might be about to take a turn for the better. The woman who had just sat down next to him looked good enough. Blond hair, blue eyes, and about his height, that was always a plus when you got right down to it. More importantly, she even laughed at Melkore's introduction.
"I don't think I can top that, but I'm Liz."
Melkore took a sip from his horrid beer. "I think your shirt's wrong." Melkore had been careful to only take a momentary (okay, so slightly longer than it took to read the inscription) look Liz's black shirt. It bore the message "these are not the breasts you are looking for." Melkore steeled himself for some sort of assault on his person. When no such assault occurred, his brain did a ridiculous little celebration dance at finding an attractive woman with a personality that was nothing like Mirri's.
Liz laughed. "Why are you so sure?"
Melkore paused, and took a good long moment to consider how to word his answer. "Why not be? So, what you doing here since you evidently aren't trying to drink away your problems?"
"I came here to cruise for guys." Wow, apparently life did give you neon signs concerning your future sometimes.
"Do you have any interests in eligible arms dealers with both a PHD and an M.D.?" Apparently she did.
----
Alex had scented the female long before she arrived, but he didn't feel any particular inclination to go out and meet her. His wounds still hadn't quite healed, but that didn't really surprise him; wounds left by Black Spiral Dancers were slow to heal, even more so when they used their unholy gifts to inflict them. Alex took stock as he stood and shook himself; he was likely to have a few new scars to show for his ordeal.
He turned to regard the female as she crested the ridge. She was smaller then Alex was, but that was completely unremarkable. Females were almost always smaller then males, and Alex was one of the largest wolves on the planet. "So, what are you doing here?"
The female seemed surprised by the question, but she replied politely. "Showing my respects for a great warrior. He left this place undefended to face the Wyrm with a pack of humans. It seems that every pack has sent someone to show their respects. I come on behalf of the Mountain Twilight pack. Who are you and what pack do you come from?" In this situation Melkore would say that Alex "had her hooked and only need to reel her in" Alex called it the natural situation.
"I am Diamond Claw, and I come from a pack of humans who call themselves Seraphim. I am returning to my post. What is your name?" Alex had never read any works on evolution, (granted his skill at reading human at all was only marginal) he didn't need to, he was much more familiar with the concept beneath it then any human would be.
"I am Morning Glory."
"Morning Glory of Mountain Twilight, you are welcome to hunt in my territory for as long as you wish."
"Mountain Twilight is a large pack, they will not miss me much on the hunt, and will miss me even less after the hunt." Alex didn't need some human scientist to tell him what he already knew: power was nature's greatest aphrodisiac.
----
"Hey Mirri don't we need, well you know, witnesses for this?" James was not dressed the way one would expect of a man at his own wedding. To be fair, he had clearly made an effort: he had patted down his red jacket, removed his hat, combed his hair, brushed his ears, and otherwise cleaned his clothing and even gone so far as to put on a red tie.
Mirri had swapped her normal outfit for her parade uniform: white slacks, a full jacket, and a black sash bearing her medals, along with the winged sword emblem of the Seraphim. She had apparently known about the small church out in the middle of the desert around the Golden Saucers since she was young. Mirri and James were the only people in it, and so they were basically waiting around for the priest to show up. James was much more flustered then Mirri was. "Are you 100 sure we don't need witnesses for this?"
Mirri shrugged. "Nah, that's just conventional wisdom." "Shouldn't we have invited Seph and the others?" "Aeris didn't invite us to her wedding." "Mirri, I might be wrong, but I don't think Aeris and Sephiroth have gotten married yet." "Well they will soon. Not inviting them is a calculated way to get back at them either for not inviting me, or as more likely, for making me be a bridesmaid." "What's wrong with that?" "I'd have to wear a dress."
As far as Mirri was concerned, dresses and high heels were the eastern equivalent of the age old practice in Wutai of foot binding. It had not been hard to convert James to this point of view after asking him to try and run a mile wearing high heels and a skirt. Suffice to say, Mirri was quite pleased with the way her relationship looked to be going.
The lack of holy men present, however, was starting to make James a bit twitchy. "Are you sure that he'll be able to find this place?" Mirri smirked and put a calming hand on James' shoulder. "Don't worry, he did his own wedding out here, he knows where it is." That statement just brought up all kinds of questions that James wasn't about to ask of Mirri.
The first one was that, since when were priests married? Priests were (in James' mind) supposed to be older, distinguished men who clearly were not married, nor had they ever been so. The second question was, since when were priests able to officiate over their own marriages, if they even had them? James didn't have the tightest grasp on the concept of religion, but priests were supposed to marry other people, not themselves.
After all, if, as Melkore had told him doctors couldn't prescribe their own medications, then priests shouldn't be able to marry themselves. Granted, Melkore had prescribed his own Jenova cell injections and mako enhancements, but no one would ever accuse Melkore of being ethical. Just as James was about to go into full panic mode (a very rare event), the priest arrived. James could hear the sound of a motorcycle pulling up outside the church, and then he could hear the sound of its engine dieing.
What James heard next could be described as "impious words" and very many of them. When they subsided, the voice continued in a manner little more suited for a priest. "Don't do this to me Angelina XV! Needle Noggin, how could you forget to get her oil checked?" The church door flew open, and the priest walked in.
He was wearing black, but it was a black that was slightly bordering on blue. He had blackish blue hair, and there were two crosses embroidered on the arms of his shirt like cufflinks. Of course, much more noticeable was the HUGE cross that he was carrying over his shoulder. It must have been longer then the priest was tall, and it was wrapped up in paper, with enough black straps on it for a straightjacket, but James didn't question that.
Nor did he question that the priest was smoking, or that the priest had lit his match with which to light his cigarette by striking it on his cross. If he was a priest that Mirri knew, it made sense that he would be unconventional. He took one look at James and let out a loud groan. "Oh, God, there are two of them. Just please tell me you keep yours away from sharp objects and firearms." Interestingly, the priest's eyes were focused on James' eyes when he said that and not his ears.
"Sorry Nick, he's an idealist. You know the type; they're always trying." When he turned his attention to Mirri he let out an even louder groan. Mirri quickly put a stop to that. "Put a sock in it, don't tell me you expected me to wear a dress?" Nick (the priest) spat out his cigarette, and stomped on it. "Well, Dominique bet me that you would get married in uniform, and you know how she is when she's right about something like this."
Mirri's smirk widened. "Oh well, too bad for you. If God talks to you then you should know better than to bet against me." Nick said a few more impious words, then pulled out a book. It was not the Bible, it was "Ordination for Sinners" by "Pope Vash I" and James made a mental note to read it some day.
Nick flipped through the pages, and finally found what he was looking for. "Okay then, we'll be doing this as agreed upon by Vatican VI and Popess Heinkle I. Let's begin. We are here today to join this man… cat… thing, and this lady… bride… Mirri in the bonds of holy matrimony. Know that this is simply recognition of your love by the world; it should not be the birth of your love. For as it is said in the Newer Testament, book of Decimals 'without true love there can be no marriage, with it there can be nothing else.' With that said, yadda yadda yadda, love and peace, yadda yadda yadda, grace of god... let's get to the point."
Nick began to flip through the book saying yet more impious words with a minor blasphemy thrown in. "Needle Noggin, how long do you go on in this thing for?" Finally Nick found what he was looking for. "Here we go, Mirri do you?"
"Yep."
"Do you..."
"James Firecat, and yes."
"Okay then, I now pronounce you woman and husband, Mirri you may now kiss James Firecatwarrior, your groom."
Mirri did, but eventually Nick separated them with his huge cross. "AHEM! I was promised 4,000 gill, COM, 'Cash On Matrimony' and I'm definitely going to need it to repair my bike." Mirri pulled out a bag of coins and tossed it to Nick. He started to walk out at once. "God's mercy be with you eternally! Make sure to invite me to the real wedding!" Mirri let go of James so quickly that he almost dropped to the floor as she turned to Nick, hissing like a wet cat.
"Real wedding? What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
Nick still didn't bother to turn around, though he did stop his progression out of the church. "Real wedding, the one with all the pomp and ceremony and cherubs descending from the sky with you surrounded by a nimbus of light. You know, the wedding that counts."
"I thought this wedding counted!"
Nick did turn around, and took a very long drag on the cigarette that he took the time to light before responding. "It does. In the eyes of God you two are now husband and wife, or wife and husband, or however the hell you want to say it. You can live together and have it not be considered a sin, and all the other things that living together includes. If anyone argues with that one, I'll explain it to them." As he said that he took time to pat his cross, and then caress it tenderly, in the exact same way James had seen Melkore handle Sylvia.
"But in the eyes of the government, you need to have a witness for this kind of thing to hold. Seeing each other in the hospital, not that I expect either of you will end up in that particular situation, giving money to each other in the will, again unlikely, filing taxes jointly, that kind of stuff, you need to have a witness or two present for."
"Why?" James began to back away from Mirri; the expression on her face was starting to scare even him.
Nick took a very long drag from his cigarette but was careful not to exhale in Mirri's direction. "Well you see, regardless of any said separation of church and state, many laws still emanate from biblical teachings. You know: don't kill, don't steal, don't bare false witness, don't rape, don't commit adultery. The rules about marriages come from the Bible, in order for it to count we need to have three people present in order for it to count as a marriage."
"One, two, three." Mirri slowly counted off the people present in the church.
Nick took another drag from his cigarette, though this one looked like it was mainly to relieve his stress over explaining the bad news to Mirri. "Actually, there are only two people here, not that I'm not counting out our cat eared friend, it's me who doesn't count. Priests don't count for secular purposes. There are upsides, like never having to file taxes, and there are downsides, like you wouldn't believe how hard it was to get people to understand that I'm married. So, anyway, I don't count as a person, legally speaking. Before you can be married by the law, we need somebody else present, preferably a person for each of you..."
There was a very long pause as James began to look around the church as if expecting some divine intervention to suddenly arrive and make everything all right. Amazingly just as his eyes were coming to rest on the church's statue of Christ, the help arrived.
"Hey, Catwarrior! I'm glad I'm not late!" James head whipped around as Reno, Rude and Elena walked through the doors of the church. Mirri, looking for any excuse to be done with the wedding and move on to the marriage, forwent her usual hostility.
"Reno, I'll ask what you're doing here in a moment, first, Nick, does this renegade from the human race bring the person count up enough to make this marriage legal in the eyes of the state? I mean there are three of them, so between Reno's id, Elena's ego, and Rude's superego we should have one reasonable facsimile of a person."
For an answer, Nick gratefully pulled out a piece of paper with all kinds of writing on it, and signed his own name on it. "Yeah, that covers rather nicely. Wonderful, Mirri you can just sign here, and have your husband sign his name or leave a paw print next to the appropriate blank."
Mirri took the contract from Nick's hands along with a pen that James noticed had "GHG" written on it in silver and began to sign her name in the correct place, and didn't look up as she spoke. "By the way, Reno, now would be a good time to explain what exactly you're doing here, and what you're doing back in uniform."
Of course it didn't really matter what Reno was dressed in, he generated a field of scruffiness around him that could have rumpled a helmet. "Come on Catwarrior, you say that like our destinies aren't intertwined by the forces of the gods above and Lifestream below!" Mirri handed the pen to James, and fixed Reno with a glare. "Okay, let's hear the real answer this time Reno, it isn't too late for me to maim you as a personal matter rather than for business reasons."
Reno played with his sunglasses before answering. "Fine then, back when I was courting..."
"You mean stalking."
"Stalking, courting, tomato, to-mah-to, they're all red fruit to me. I looked through your personal Shinra file, saying that I suspected you of treason, who would have guessed I would have been right? Anyway, looking back on that day, I remembered reading that your parents got married in this church. With that information, and knowing what a creature of habit you are, I knew you would get married here, so after Meteor was destroyed we've basically been staking this place out waiting for you to go in, and then for a priest to arrive. We had a pool going on how long your ceremony would last, I won. Also I knew that you might be running into the problem that you had just a few moments ago, and I brought these guys along to solve your problem. Maybe do something to make up for all the ones we've caused. So anyways, in my position as best man, me and the guys are gonna take the place of the band that I've noticed you haven't hired."
Nick took one look at them, and then bolted for the door "KEEP THE PEN!" Was the last thing anyone heard besides the sound of a motor cycles' engine revving to life after several attempts and then buzzing off. James looked at the pen as he clicked the small push button that caused the ink filled tip to retract and extend. As he did so he noticed that the words on the side of the pen changed from "GHG" to "This world is made of hate and war!" weird slogan for a priest have on his pen.
"Now explain why you're in Shinra Blue. I thought you quit." Reno stroked his blue uniform like the old friend it would soon become.
"I did. But then I got a new offer, there's something about a 50 raise from a boss without a stick the length of Masamune up his ass to get a man to think about taking his job back. So as a representative of the New Shinra Mako Electric and Other Forms of Power Corporation, that's NSMEOFPC for those keeping score at home, I'm here to tell you that you and your friends have been pardoned, hell President Reeve Shinra will probably be giving you some medals fairly soon."
Mirri just barely managed to stifle a laugh. "Reeve? Reeve 'don't look at me I just work here', is now president of Shinra? How the hell did that happen?" Reno shrugged helplessly as if to say "bureaucracy: what can you do" before giving the closest thing to an answer he had.
"Apparently, when the dust settled in Midgar, he was the most senior Shinra official left standing, so he went from head of Urban Development, or glorified public relations, to president in one fell swoop. Of course his first act was to rubber stamp a bunch of pardons. His second was order me to let you guys know that after one or two months of paid vacation for services rendered, he would appreciate you Seraphim either tendering resignations or returning to service."
That didn't stack up with what Mirri knew. "Who is he kidding? I know for a fact that Shinra fired me about the same time they declared me a terrorist wanted dead or alive." Reno's smile split his face. "Well, when you're new to the job and running a company the size of Shinra, it's practically expected that you're going to end up misfiling certain pieces of paper. They get delivered to the Turk Lounge by mistake, and some reckless person spills brandy on them, and then there's a spark, and -poof- nothing but ash. After all, none of you ever formally resigned, of course Sephiroth was technically declared dead, but I get the feeling that Reeve is going to need some empty graves soon and we all know the best way to get them is to exhume the current occupants."
Ah, the complicated morals of the world that the Seraphim now found themselves in. "So, what's Reeve's angle?"
"This is Reeve we're talking about. Suddenly having 'Shinra' legally become your last name doesn't make you an evil tyrant; it also takes a big gap in the skull where your brain should be. If you ask me, Reeve's angle is 'don't get killed by Sephiroth and his Seraphim' and possibly make the world a better place while he's at it."
Who could have ever guessed that of all the people in Midgar, an honest man would be left in charge of Shinra? "Well I suppose after I spend some time putting Corel back together I could see my way to another military term, someone is going to have to give this New Shinra organization more than goodwill to spread around. James how do you like the idea?" James pondered it for a moment. "Does it mean that everyone in Midgar isn't going to be shooting at me any more?"
It was actually a much more complicated question than James had intended it to be. "A significantly smaller portion of Midgar will be shooting at you. And those who keep doing it probably won't be able to aim that well."
"Sounds good to me!"
"Well Reno, you mentioned being the band, but I'll be damned if I'm going to listen to your singing. I'll give you ten seconds to disappear." Reno saluted lazily before running like hell.
----
"Okay folks, when the music plays, it is not going to be a drill!" Mirri, back in her traditional white jacket and black pants, was "helping" Sephiroth in that way that made him wish she wasn't. Somehow, having Mirri busily planning out his wedding did not put him at ease. This also had to do with the way that Mirri was delegating the task to Sephiroth's fellow Seraphim.
Sephiroth could distinctly remember a conversation he had with James not so long ago. "James, what are you doing with all those barrels of gunpowder?" "Mirri put me in charge of the special defects!" Sephiroth had been tempted to correct James, but the smile he had given him while announcing his new title had stopped him short. There was gunpowder, and James was out there doing something with it that would in some way be part of his wedding. Yep, "special defect" kind of summed it up.
"Don't worry about it; one of the first things I bought myself when I realized I was in love was a vest with C4 sewed into the lining. Contemplating suicide is a normal part of the matrimonial process." The good news was that Vincent Valentine seemed much more at ease with himself, the bad news was that he was succeeding at being much more at ease making candid conversation with Sephiroth Valentine, who would prefer as few people had that skill as possible.
The worse news was that he hadn't come alone. "Hello, Sephiroth." "Hello, Lucresia." The two took one quick moment to examine each other's eyes. At least with Vincent they had been able to get to know each other as comrades in arms before they had to get around to knowing each other as father and son.
Even then, well, Vincent was quite understanding about the situation. They both knew that they were two different independent people, and Vincent clearly understood that he would never truly be the man whom Sephiroth looked up to as a father. Sephiroth in turn was man enough to admit that Mirri happened to correct when she said that as he had grown up he had simply found fatherly role models where he could: Dr. Gaste, President Shinra, Tseng, it wasn't that hard, after all someone had to teach him how to swing a sword.
But on the other hand, mothers were supposed to maintain closer, more emotional relationships with their children. So, needless to say, unless for some reason there was another war where he could get to know his mother, their time together would be filled with uncomfortable silences. Granted, it probably said a lot about Sephiroth's mental status in that he found himself needing blood to grease the wheels of his social interactions.
Thankfully, just when Sephiroth was feeling like things could not get any more awkward, he discovered that he suddenly had an out. "Hey Seph, who do we know who owns a helicopter?" Sephiroth had never been more thankful for James' habit of saying whatever was on his mind.
Sephiroth quickly rushed outside to watch the helicopter descend out of the sky. Icicle Village had no particular accommodations for helicopters so the whirly bird just set down right outside of the church. Two doors opened at the same time and Reno and Rude stepped out. Granted it wasn't accurate to say that Reno "stepped out" instead he rolled out of it into the snow coming up into a crouching position gun drawn. He took one quick look around and then finally holstered the 9 MM pistol.
"It's okay to get out Mr. President, just Seraphim here, no deranged psychotics, anti-Shinra rebels, or jackasses with scores to settle." Sephiroth wasn't amused by this, but Reno was apparently quite proud of himself. Sephiroth had seen Reeve (now "Reeve Shinra" he guessed) before, but only a couple of times.
After all, Urban Development was not particularly connected with Shinra's military, or really anything that else that belonged to Shinra, including its budget. Reeve had always reminded Sephiroth of one of those particularly well bred (preferably with a genetic disease to go with it) dogs that was so skittish that it would run at the slightest sign of danger.
"General." Sephiroth nodded once to Reeve and then shook his head. "Sir, with all due respected, I'm going to take an indefinite leave of absence. I'm tired of having 'General' used like it's my first name and Sephiroth like it's my last, my last name is Valentine. You can find someone else to lead your armies; I'm going to lay low for a while. I trust you understand?" Reeve nodded, taking a moment to adjust his glasses.
"Very well, when I get back to Midgar, I'll start looking for a substitute and see about that back pay for the last five years during which you doubtlessly committed actions which were of great importance to the New Shinra organization. Now, if you don't mind, not all of us are quite as resistant to the elements as you are. Could we continue this conversation inside?"
Reeve was wearing only a simple blue business suit, and the cold was doubtlessly quite discomforting to him, though he bore it well. "Of course." Rude followed Reeve into the church. Reno darted back into the helicopter before following with a large package carried in both hands. "I suppose it's not worth asking what exactly you're doing here?"
Reno just shrugged. "Hard as it may be to believe, former General Sephiroth Valentine, even with this whole new touchy-feely government that's being set up it's not that hard to tell when the Valar leaves Rocket Town, traveling north. And really this is the only place it could go. Not to mention that there's no way that Shinra could have known that Dr. Gaste lived here when he went into hiding, it's inconceivable! So we, by which I mean the new President, decided that in the interest of showing that we aren't going to start killing each other all over again, he should show up at your wedding.
Meanwhile me and Rude are, well put against all of you, the token mooks who will obviously be the first to bite it if for some reason we do start killing each other. So please, take me seriously when I say that as I'm attracted to my life, I'd really prefer we didn't start killing each other. To sweeten the pot, we also brought a Heighdigger piñata, we would have made one of Hojo, but this way we could fit more candy in it."
Sephiroth was hardly moved. "I'm sure that James will appreciate it."
"I know. I figure that if I can convince him not to have me killed, then the rest of you guys aren't going to murder me in front of him, or out of his sight because he'd be asking you what happened to me till you told him which would be just as bad as doing it in front of him."
Sephiroth took a moment to think about how it might be necessary to slap a "Warning: objects in rumpled suits are smarter than they appear" sticker on Reno's forehead, or at least somewhere on his person. But Reno was so slippery that even with superglue it probably wouldn't be likely to keep very long.
"So what's it like being in bed with a girl who has paws?"
Reno would later swear that Sephiroth's answering glare stopped his heart for a few seconds, but he recovered quickly. "Hey I'm just conducting research."
"For what, exactly?"
Reno actually had a quite a sly look on his face, and it wasn't just the look of someone who thought he was being sly. "That's for me to know and for the Firecatwarrior family to find out. So, unless you want to kill me now and drop me off a glacier or into a crevice, or any of a dozen other ways you can off a guy out here and make sure he never gets found, I might as well be going in. Because, trust me on this, committing murder is never an acceptable reason for not being present at your own wedding."
With those words, Reno breezed past Sephiroth and into the church. Sephiroth was forced to revise his opinion of Reno yet again. Reno wasn't just a cockroach; he was an amoeba, a bacterium, having only one helix was the only possible explanation of how he could adapt to changing situations so quickly.
This was proven once again as soon as Sephiroth entered back into the church and found Reno sucking up not to James but to Vincent. "So, seeing as Tseng is still officially MIA and just about everyone who is going to come back from the dead has, would you be interested in being Turk Commander?" "I ate Tseng."
Reno did not so much as bat an eye. "Well then you are doubtlessly entitled to be Turk Commander! Congratulations, new boss! After all, is there any better proof that you're suited to the job than being able to do away with the previous holder? Speaking of how this is a brave new world with several job openings to anyone who hasn't had rigor mortis set in yet, I'd like to point that there seems to be a sudden dearth of people willing to work in Shinra's Science Department. Do we have any takers for that one?"
"I was third in command of Shinra's Science Department 30 years ago." Let no one say that Reno ever let an opportunity pass him by, in fact he was able to seize them like a pitbull did a postman's buttocks. "Well, let's see… 30 years, guy in charge, Gaste, regretfully dead. Second guy in charge, Hojo, enjoyably dead! Which means that the job is yours, if you want it. Don't worry, it's now socially acceptable for a wife to make more money than her husband."
It would be unfair to say that Reno was a man who was obviously going places. He was obviously a man who was staying right where he was, but that was still a feat that few people were capable of at times, he had hit his stride and was happy with it, they should all be so lucky.
Not to say that Sephiroth wasn't. With Reno distracting both of his parent's Sephiroth didn't have to worry about making conversation with them, it would be horrible world if it wasn't for career minded alcoholics.
The music started but it was not the wedding march, it was something else. Reeve had taken center stage, and apparently another one of James' "special defects" was installing the church with a reasonable speaker system all running on battery power.
"Hello, people, considering where we are, and what we're here for, there is no better time to talk about commitments." There was an audible crackle, then one of the huge speakers burst into flames. "Like the mental institution I should be committed to for even taking this job… " Reeve put down the microphone and raised his voice "Well, I was going to sing a rather nice song about responsibility and justice, but it seems like some higher power wants that to wait until the next office party." Reeve flinched as the heretofore burning speaker violently exploded, showering him and the nearby guests with flaming debris. The guests' attention was ripped from the spectacle by the sound of James cheering. Reeve gathered up the shreds of his composure and addressed the gathering "Anyway, I'd like to announce that New Shinra power company is officially investigating technologies in the fields of wind and solar power. We hope to wean our society off Mako in the next 10 years!" His piece spoken, Reeve fled the stage.
Sephiroth noted that there was something wonderfully stoic (in the sense of if you looked up the root of the phrase and found out that it could be applied to James in spades) about the small man (Reeve was only slightly taller than James at 5'6") who thought he could change the world. "Beautiful words cost nothing." Sephiroth was surprised to find that the words had come from his soon to be wife.
"I must be rubbing off on you, you're instantly doubting everything altruistic everyone says." Aeris laughed at that.
"I must be rubbing off on you, you're capable of accepting someone's altruistic motives as genuine." Sephiroth scoffed.
"A few points for you to consider: I fully doubt that most people are capable of holding altruistic motives, not that all people are. Both you and Professor Gaste are quite capable of altruism. Secondly, Reeve doesn't have altruism as his sole motivation, he knows quite well that disappearing from the public eye doesn't mean ignoring world events.
Finally, you have to understand the kind of experiences I've seen this man go through. He's was a board head with all the power of a midlevel bureaucrat, and the rest of Shinra did everything but spit on him, and he quietly kept working away for the good of everyone. He's been doing the job since he was 20, and he's three years older than I am. If he's capable of dealing with a job like that, for that long, there isn't a thing in the world that could possibly leave him mentally unbalanced." Aeris smiled at this discovery.
"I never realized that you could actually trust someone who hadn't ever done anything for you." Sephiroth crossed his arms. "Aeris its not that people have to do things for me to make me trust them, it's that people do things to me that make me not trust them. Reeve is trustworthy." Aeris took a deep breath. "It's just hard to believe that Shinra might be a positive force in the world."
Sephiroth's voice contained as little emotion as usual. "The tool determines the purpose, the hands select the tool, the mind controls the hands. Shinra is a company, its base nature is thus beyond reproach it, has none. What Shinra, what the planet needs at the moment is someone who practices tolerance of a way of life, not mercy, not punishment, but tolerance, and I do believe that that person just fled the stage."
"That's good because he's also the person who's going to be marrying you." Sephiroth turned to Mirri.
"What?" Mirri smiled up at him.
"Do you know how many priests there have been since mako power came about? I mean it's the path of human history how religion falls by the wayside as science proves that god(s) don't actually control the world. They make thunder by bowling, or cause the rain by crying. Ever since the Lifestream was proven we know that some god didn't even just plant us here like a bush in a flower pot. Hell, what am I doing giving you this speech, why don't we ask Alex? I've never gotten how a Cetra can believe in gods.
"Hey, Alex, where did Fenris come from?" Alex was in human shape at the moment because Vincent had convinced him that it wasn't nice to end up possibly shedding on the groups' nicest threads even if this was the only time they wore them. "Simple. When the Crisis from the Sky first fell from she created North Crater. Gaia did what she could to heal the wound, though the taint of the Wyrm stopped it from succeeding. However, little did Jormangundr know that the wolf who would become known as Fenris was nearby. He had been buried by the snow she kicked up when she landed, but it did not kill him; after all, wolves are used to such things.
He was a lone wolf, an alpha who had been banished from his pack by his own son because he had no purpose left, he was old, so he was simply waiting to die. Gaia had summoned her energies and found that no amount of Lifestream would help, so she turned to Fenris as he shook melting snow from his fur. 'Wolf, we have much in common for we both have our own destruction laid out before your eyes.' To which the wolf responded sagely. 'We are not as alike as you think. I am about to die the death of a long sleep. You are about to die the death of a rabbit seized by a hunter's jaws. Of course, both deaths are natural and right.'
Gaia was much surprised by this. 'You do not at all consider how the rabbit feels in this matter?' Fenris of course, didn't. 'No. But as you may have noticed, I do not think that the snow cats would care much for what I felt if they were to happen upon me in my current state. However, if you seek to thwart the natural order of things, then call into being a predator that will hunt down that which you fear.'
Gaia considered this, and then reconsidered Fenris. 'So you do not fear your death in the least. You have no regrets?' Fenris scoffed at this. 'I don't fear death, but of course I have regrets. I wish that I might once again sink my fangs into warm flesh. I wish that I might once again hunt with my pack and feel the glory of the wind in my fur. But these are the years that you have given me Gaia, and I have spent them. I can do nothing to oppose your will.'
By now Gaia was playing with an idea. 'What would you say to a chance to hunt the most dangerous prey ever?' Fenris barked a laugh. 'Give me more years, and more strength, and I swear that nothing will stop me 'til I have spent them.' So Gaia engulfed Fenris with the Lifestream and he was reborn as the first Garou." Mirri found apparently endless amusement in this story. "There you go, Sir. Now then, considering that in the navy, ship's captains can perform weddings, I'm fairly sure that as president of the civilized world, Reeve can do the same. After all, who is gonna argue with him?"
---
During the reception, Vincent turned to Reno. "So what exactly are your duties as my second in command?" Reno had his response at once. "Nothing involving paperwork or sodomy. Anything else, I'm pretty cool with." Reno felt a surge of panic as he realized that he may have just agreed to do none-paper-related actual work.
While Vincent and Reno hammered out a new job description, Rude walked over to Sephiroth and gestured at the two of them. "Do you know what's odd, whenever I look at him, I can't stop seeing part of you." This wouldn't have sounded so odd if Sephiroth hadn't been able to tell that Rude was referring not to Sephiroth's father, but to Reno. "Because both of you got to where you are on your own. I see it especially clearly when he's with Mirri. Because he does care for her, at least he appreciates her, but the funny thing is that he doesn't know any way to tell her that besides being a chauvinistic jackass. I guess that's the only way he ever saw people showing love when he grew up.
I saw you doing the same thing with Aeris. Not being a chauvinistic jackass, but totally screwing around when you could have just gotten to the point with a few well chosen words. Of course I also saw Tseng doing the exact same dance with the exact same steps. Granted, he never got past the 'love you' but not 'in love with you' stage. It's a terrible thing when people don't learn how to properly express their emotions. Granted the Status Quo has its perks as well, for one, it doesn't involve you stabbing me." Sephiroth sat in stunned silence after the longest strings of words he had heard Rude put together during his time at Shinra.
-----
"So how long do you think we should stay here?" Sephiroth looked out the window at the snow outside their house which had once belonged to Aeris' parents. Aeris was busy "livening the place up" in the sense that all Sephiroth thought they needed was a single bed and possibly running water. "How long do you think we can afford to stay?" Sephiroth had already taken up prime position on the bed while Aeris was setting up her own small greenhouse.
"I think we can as long as we want. Dad says that between him, Mom, and Reeve, they'll be able to run Shinra just fine. I'll be a tactical reserve, meaning that I'm not to be bothered for anything short of the next apocalypse. The world's going to be weaned off my name for a while. Bad enough I have to come back from the dead, but do that, save the world and have my name cleared by New Shinra? I wouldn't be able to walk down any street in Midgar. So, how long should we stay?"
Aeris looked at the flower bed for a moment wondering if there had been any point brining it all the way from "her" church in Midgar. Icicle Village got about as much sunlight as Lower Midgar because of the nearly constant cloud cover. That combined with the cold might make it even harder to grow flowers here than in Midgar. For the briefest moment she wondered if she would be able to grow flowers, and then realized how observed it was to worry.
"I don't know. Maybe a year after our child is born. This isn't much of a place for raising children." Sephiroth lay on his back but his wings (which he was sure somebody in Midgar would have ripped right out of their respective sockets (if that was a good or bad thing he hadn't decided) trying to pull feathers room) complained slightly so he rolled over. Apparently, he would be sleeping on his chest a lot now. "Don't worry about it. I think I'm through planning every single step of my life. Why don't we just try winging it for a while?"
The end.
Quick FN: The following scene was removed because once again, it falls into the category of "much too silly."
(Sephiroth walks out of Church in Icicle Village and looks up)
(Sees astral versions of Doctor Gaste, Zack, Jace)
Sephiroth: Right then...
Long FN: The last chapter in which the piece suddenly decides to have a Shakespearian ending! It does have all the classic ear marks after all: a wedding (or two), some music, and all of the heroic main characters getting laid, and so on and so forth... I also suppose I owe some props to Kevin Smith for the "Reno and Silent Rude" theme that has been going on throughout the fic and the other shoe finally dropped in this chapter. Oh, and what's this? VxL, the Mako Canon of pairings in the FF7 'verse! I can't figure out why you don't see it more frequently. It's not like resurrections are a rare thing in FF7 fiction. Which brings me to an idea for my next fic, Aeris Vs. Jean Grey, who will stay dead longer? Nah, that's just bad taste. If you couldn't see the similarities between Fenris' creation and Sephiroth's plan for apotheosis, for shame. Also, don't worry, the sequel is already in the works, we'll probably start posting it fairly soon after one short diversion. As for what's next, we're going to try to cultivate a larger fan base by posting something more widely appealing. It will be titled "Music of the Twilight" and be Phantom of the Opera with FF7 characters. But don't stop checking this fic for updates, because we're going to have one last one, with a whole bushel of deleted scenes for you. All that important stuff dealt with I'm just going to run through songs that I would have liked to have the characters sing but didn't get around for one reason or another (usually because it would mean two songs by the same group or it would have broken the rhythm of the fic). Vincent singing "All the gin joints in all the world" by Fall Out Boy to Lucresia. Sephrioth and Aeris doing a duet to "More than Useless" by Relient K. Reno singing "She's a rebel" by Greenday to Mirri. Reno singing "The Predator" by E-Type to Mirri. James singing "Beautiful Thing" by Sister Hazel to Mirri. Vincent singing "Renegade" by Hammerfall. A scene with Sephiroth singing/hummming "Drones" by Rise Against on his way to contact Mirri after getting back in Midgar. A flashback to Vincent and Lucresia to "Action" by Blink 182. And to cap it off, orrigionaly back in chapter 27 Sephiroth, Scar, and Vlad were suppose to jump up on the bar and sing "I want you bad" by Offspring, except this was removed on the grounds of being "much too silly". Okay seriously it was removed to keep you guys from realizing the amount of singing that would go on in this fic. Alex do you have anything to add?
OWAN: At last, exams are over! If any of you are wondering what Reno was planning to sing, well, that's being added to the outtakes chapter, too. James sure likes Bowling for Soup…