Hello again! I'd like to thank Miserable At Best and Masamune Master for their kind reviews! It made me nyappy. :)
Now, as Masamune Master pointed out, Ren has no idea of what Final Fantasy VII is. Never heard of it, never seen it or played it (obviously). Also, Ren is no Mary Sue, and is quite the normal girl. No horrible past, no evil minion after her blood (well, that she knows of), no crazy older brother that killed her clan (XD couldn't help it) making her slightly lean on the insane side of life. Nope, Ren is your every-day twenty year old woman.
Anyway, more will be explained about her in later chapters. IF I don't forget. But really, I like her. She's mine *creepy smile*. Also, Ren won't fall in love snap like that with Genesis, because even if I don't like it when it goes too slow, I absolutely abhor it when the person (original or not) just one day decides that they like that person or that one and BAM, they have sex. It really makes me mad.
Well, maaayybe Ren will have this unhealthy obsession with Genesis (he is hott like hell, after all), but it won't be like that for the whole story. A chapter max. Or something like that, yeah...
Okay, now I think that I'll leave you (finally!) at the story, so here goes! Enjoy!! And if you have any questions, just post a comment (even if you don't have a question, please do comment also).
PS: This story was intentionally made for Quizilla, so Ren has a bio there. If it interests you, do go read it. =) My name there is YukikoSama, and the story has the exact same title as this one. Bye, my dolls!
Chapter Two: Awakening and the General
'All right, who was the bastard that hit me?' Grumbling loudly, Ren raised herself in a sitting position, trying to ignore the horrible ache in her head. When she opened her eyes, the sun nearly blinded her with its strong rays. Hissing in pain, she shielded them with an arm, careful to not cut herself with the cutlass.
'Hold it, since when do we have a sun in our attic?' Her eyes now more adjusted to the sudden light, she peaked out from behind her arm, and stared horrified at the desertic plains in front of her. 'What the –?!' She had to be dreaming, there was no other scientific explanation for what she saw. It was impossible to wake up in some desert after fainting in ones attic.
'Right, the attic,' She thought. 'I was holding the orb and… Of course!'
She could still feel the slight weight of the damned thing in her right hand. As she held it up for examination, she noted that the glow had greatly diminished to only a small light from the inside, like a failing light bulb. She glared at it. Stupid thing had gotten her all the way to the Sahara.
Ren quickly realized that staring harshly at the sphere was not going to make it burst in pretty fireworks, so she got up from her sitting position, put it in her other pocket and placed the small cutlass in her belt, hiding it under her thick woolen shirt (she was going to have a heat stroke very soon, she just knew it), dusting away the sand that clung to her brown pants. When she was done, she sighed, looking up to the blue sky.
And she let out a very long scream, screwing her eyes shut, her hands cradled on her breast. It didn't take long for her to not have any more air and she heaved, taking in as much oxygen as she could.
"Now that I feel better, where should I go?" She wondered out loud. "I obviously can't stay here, I'd die in a matter of days." No, she wasn't pessimistic, just realistic. She was in a desert, for God's sake!
Now, asking directions was simple, as she didn't have that weird problem men had, to just refuse asking help from someone. Now, she only needed to find that someone, and that was proving to be quite difficult, seeing she was in a desert, and alone.
Terribly, terribly alone.
She groaned in misery, head in hands. She had the best of lucks, it seemed.
"Stupid thing!" She shrieked angrily. " Couldn't you have transported me to a city, at least?!"
She continued her rant, spewing swear words left and right. The sun beating down on her made her quickly fatigued and sweaty, and she tried to find some shade under a big rock jutting out of the sandy earth.
After a few minutes, she was calmed and a bit more rested. Once more getting up, she walked towards the row of sharp rocks she could see not too long from where she had been sitting. As she got closer, she saw that behind it there was a cliff, and on that cliff a road. Breathing in sharply, she ran to it.
When she finally stood on the edge, she looked out to the city only a mile or two from where she was. She smiled happily for the first time of the day. Civilization, at last. Her good mood wasn't tampered by the fact she still had walking to do, now she knew where she was going.
It was a step forward.
---
Getting down the slope was difficult and when she got at the end of it, her hands were red and aching, her knees scratched in many places. She heaved a bit, trying to catch her breath. By luck, she had not fallen to her death, but more than a few times she had slipped and thought it was the end. She thanked the gods many times, bowing her head respectfully.
When she got back on her still slightly shaking feet, it was starting to darken. She would have to hurry to get in the city and find some shelter before it would be night. And night meant that whatever was out there would probably be coming out to hunt.
And she did not want to end up in someone's stomach as dinner.
She walked quickly, not quite running, and trying to keep her last strengths if there was a need to sprint. Fortunately, the city was closer than she had thought, and she arrived only one or two hours after. The sun still had to set completely.
---
She stared up a little scared at the humongous circle of metal going around the city, at least elevated fifty to seventy meters in the air, supported by enormous columns. The air was stale and dry. It all smelled of rotten food, urine and pollution. The big, grey cloud of polluted air that surrounded it all was frightening.
Ren swallowed her saliva, and entered between the 'houses' that littered the ground underneath the plate. She could see beggars leaning against the fake walls made of garbage, plastic or the seldom piece of wood. Children were running around bare feet, not caring if there was broken glass or rusted nails everywhere they ran.
Horrified by it all, she passed them by quickly, wanting to get away. The houses were built without a plan, so the whole place was like a labyrinth. Slowly though, she began seeing differences in the scenery. The houses were built more properly and she was actually walking on a road, not the up-turned dirt from before. People looked more happy too, even if the weariness seemed constant. Not knowing where to go, she approached a lively young brunette with a pretty green, earthy aura. Since birth she had been able to 'see' auras around people, and it helped her greatly in knowing if the person was suspicious or not.
"Excuse me, but do you know where I could find an inn of some sort?"
The brunette, cut in her enthusiastic conversation with a black-haired man, looked at her curiously.
"Sure. You're not from the slums, are you?"
Ren looked down at herself, noting that her clothes were of much better quality than the other peoples'. She was still wearing her white woolen turtleneck, her brown pants that went to her mid-shins and her black shoes. For fun, she had been wearing stripped socks going to her covered knees, in red and white.
'What the heck are the 'shlums'?!' She shook her head sheepishly, not showing her inner confusion.
The brunette smiled at her. "Well, to find a good inn you need to go up on the plate. Though where you could find one, you should ask Zack, he's from up there. I'm Aerith, by the way."
The man smiled, presenting her his hand, "Zack Fair, nice meeting you."
She shook it, also smiling. "I'm Ren Matsumoto, pleased to meet you two."
Zack and Aerith explained that she was in the slums, under the plate. To go up, she had to take the train that she would find after Wall Market. Zack would show her.
---
"So, where from?" Zack asked her while they were waiting for the train, after having graciously paid for her ticket. Ren shifted uneasily a bit, not knowing what to answer. She wanted to do it the safe way, and that meant lying to the man, no matter how nice he seemed, how warm his white-ish blue aura was or how her instincts were not ringing alarm bells in her mind. She decided to lie.
"A small village south from here. You probably don't know it."
Zack perked up, curious. "Really? Do tell."
"Muspelheim." Thank the gods for a lunatic mother completely obsessed with Norse mythology.
Zack made a face. "Sounds a bit like Nibelheim."
Ren stared at him, slightly confused. That sounded like Nifelheim, one of the three realms, Muspelsheim and Ginnungagap being the two other. Nifelheim, or in old Norse Niflheimr ("Mist World"), was the second world after Muspellsheimr ("Flame world"). When the ice from Niflheimr melted because of the terrible fires from Muspellsheimr, it all dripped down into Ginnungagap ("Yawning Void"), creating life in the form of a giant named Ymir.
They continued their small talk about village names, joking about them being such 'backwater', while they entered the train. She also learned she was in Midgard, where the Shin-Ra company had its President and head of departments. Midgardr, the city of men.
Ren sighed at the irony of it all.
She followed Zack out of the station and into Sector Eight. She stared mesmerized at the great fountain in the middle. At her right, she could see the beginning of an avenue, Loveless Zack said. At her left, there was a group of three women arguing about something. She vaguely heard the names Angeal, Genesis and Sephiroth being mentioned a few times.
"Who are those three?" She questioned Zack. Unfortunately, it seemed she had spoken way too loud and the three women rounded on her, furious.
"How dare you not know Sephiroth-sama?!" Shrieked one angrily.
"You shame Genesis-sama!" Yelled another.
"Angeal-sama is the best! How can you not know him?" Screamed the last one.
When the last woman said that, the two others began arguing with her, saying this and that about their 'Sephiroth-sama' and 'Genesis-sama'. Zack pulled at her arm to get her away before they noticed her again. They quickly left the three in their heated debate of whom was best, going for Loveless Avenue.
"This is the Inn Les Marronniers, it's quite nice, though I've never slept there myself. A friend told me it was one of the best inns you could find in Midgar." Ren stared impressed at the big place. It did look very nice, and it probably was expensive too. She sighed, feeling her empty pockets. That was going to cause a problem, seeing that with no money she would be going nowhere.
Zack seemed to have understood her problem and was weighing possibilities. If they had any luck, the General could maybe arrange a room for her in the Shin-Ra building. A small lie, some visiting relative whom got her money stolen by a brat from the slums… No problem! It was going to be fine.
Telling her his idea, they left for the building. Passing by an nervous looking MP muttering something about a damned journalist, they rounded the corner and took the small way up, between all the other houses and stores.
---
When they finally entered the enormous Shin-Ra building, they headed straight to the double desk at the end of the hall. Zack charmingly asked one of the two ladies sitting there where they could find the general. She stared at him openly and answered automatically that he was still in his office, but was preparing to leave so they had to be quick. Zack thanked her with a big smile (making her blush cutely), and pulled her to the elevators.
They arrived at the level where the general's office was in a matter of minutes. Exiting the elevators, they made for a metal door only a few meters away. On it stood the slightly ominous word of General written in a bold script. Ren stopped and stared at the door, a weird feeling creeping up her spine, making her shiver. The person inside was powerful, very powerful.
Zack, on the other hand, opened the door without knocking, a cheery smile on his face.
"Seph! I haveta present you a dear cousin of mine."
The man sitting at his desk raised his head, staring at them with cool, silvery green eyes. Ren was startled by the fact that not only where his eyes an abnormal color, he also had cat-like pupils and silver hair. She stared, not being able to help herself.
The man raised an eyebrow at them, unperturbed by the sudden arrival. And when he opened his mouth to talk, she was enraptured by the smooth voice that came out, it was like silk.
"Why, Zackary. This is the tenth time you barged into my office without my consent in a week. What should I do with you?" He said, disregarding her completely. Ren scowled angrily at him. He may be a pretty boy, that did not give him the right to toss her aside like that.
Zack seemed to have sensed her displeasure, because he quickly pushed her in front of him to present her properly. "Seph, this is Ren. Ren, this is the General of Shin-Ra, Sephiroth."
Ren's eyes lit up. "So you're the person that that woman was arguing about! I can't believe you've got a fan club with a personality like that." Zack cringed at her impolite words, having hoped that she wouldn't have said anything of the sort to Sephiroth, knowing the man's temper.
But Sephiroth only stared at her silently, sizing her up. She didn't pose as a threat; her muscles were nearly non-existent and she didn't seem to have any weapons on her, though he couldn't really tell with her large white over shirt. He did suspect some kind of knife when he assessed the slight bulge at her side. She did have guts, though, to mouth-off the most powerful man walking on earth. But for her to not know him, at least at some extent, was strange. He had been in many parts of the world and even lowly peasants and beggars knew who he was.
Meanwhile, Ren was looking at the aura surrounding the man. She frowned, seeing the bright and dark colors inter-mingle constantly, weaving in and around each other. There were greens and blues, mixed with black and a deep blood red. An aura of power, strength, loneliness and… Monstruosity. The green was not normal, it nearly looked artificial but she just knew it was not. The feeling she got was like an ancient source of power, old and wise, insane, but not his. No, he may have been borne with it, but it didn't belong to him; it was as if someone had injected it within his being.
Finally, the general spoke.
"Why are you two here."
Zack answered quickly, not wanting any confrontations between the two of them. "Well, she kinda got robbed on her way here, so we were wonderin' if you could possibly.. arrange a room for her? She said she'd like to train a bit anyway."
The older man said nothing, he just wrote something on a bit of paper. When he gave it to Zack, he looked at her from the corner of his eyes. Ren shivered at the coldness and suspicion she could read in them. He didn't trust her, and that didn't bode very well, as she knew he would not hesitate to kill her on the spot if she did as much as move quickly. She knew he didn't believe a word of her being Zack's cousin. Fortunately enough, he seemed to like Zack to some extent because he said nothing about it. She thanked the Gods for friendship and its pro's.
She sighed. It was going to be long, weird and dangerous 'vacation'. But she knew she was meant to be here, someway.
Umm, hi?