TITLE:
Dimensional
Whiplash
This
is the working title
ABBREVIATED
TITLE: DW
Part:
3/?
("And you are...?" )
AUTHOR:
Cardinal
Syn/Jamie Carlson
RATING:
PG-13
for Language and Adult Themes
SPOILERS:
Misc.
Final Fantasy VI and VII spoilers
DISCLAIMER:
The
Final Fantasy Franchise belongs to Squeenix (SquareEnix). The
characters Aleenia and Samuel Rheese belong to me and are (c) 2000 to
present.
NOTES:
This is
a total rehaul of a fanfiction that I started many, many years ago. I
really like the basis of the original story, but will be removing
several elements and adding more. References to the Street Fighter
universe will be completely removed. The triangle that started to
develope between Sabin, Alie and Shadow will be explored further, and
any confusing elements (such as Edgar's seeming attraction toward her
at the beginning when he only has eyes for Terra) will be removed.
Ages will be correctyed and the timeline altered to allow for the
Advent Children events for the FF7 world, and so that Relm is the
correct age (I found out that she's only 10 - 11 during events in the
game).
WARNINGS:
Language
and adult themes.
PAIRINGS:
Locke/Celes;
A weak Cloud/Tifa; Yuffie/OC; Edgar/Terra; a weak OC/Sabin or
OC/Shadow (we'll see how this developes).
MAIN
CHARACTERS (in order of most prominent in the story): Heroes
from FF6 and 7, except for Aerith (as she is pretty solidly dead),
Umaro, or Gogo.
SUMMARY:
Alie Rheese had never expected her love of science and technology to
get her in trouble. When a new device at her place of employ
backfires due to an accident, she and her brother end up in two
separate worlds, very different from their own...
EXTENDED
SUMMARY: Alie
Rheese had never expected her love of science and technology to get
her in trouble. When a new device at her place of employ backfires
due to an accident, she and her brother end up in two separate
worlds, very different from their own... When Alie wakes to find
herself in Figaro desert, brotherless and without the modern
technology she needs to rebuild the machine and find her way home,
she suffers depression. Sam is driven by his anger and his drive to
find his sister. In the meanwhile, players behind the scenes
manipulate happenings in both worlds, and Alie and Sam find
themselves caught up in a plot to capture the megaverse... FF6/FF7
crossover with new characters and minor AU or expansions.
Story Originally Created: May 31, 2001
Story Reworked: March, 2008
Story Notes (added March 3rd, 2008): I have decided that this story was a good idea and written surprisingly well (except for some inconsistencies and short chapters) for 2001... so I have now decided to expand the story and give it the attention it deserves to warm my writing skills back up. I don't write fanfiction anymore, but I can't help but be driven to finish this story, as it has played out in my head over the last 7 years and I just like the ending and the possibilities too much to ignore it.
This was originally chaper 4.
"Dimensional
Whiplash"
By Jamie Carlson
(aka Cardinal Syn)
Three - And you are...?
A scraggly-looking traveler burst into Seventh Heaven. His ragged face was lined with worry. He gestured behind himself.
"I need some help, if anyone here has a Restore materia on 'em?" he asked. Tifa broke her conversation with Barret and nodded, walking behind the bar in order to retrieve the small orb from the bar's medical kit. She pulled on her gloves and attached the materia to one of the slots.
"What's the problem?" she asked, following the man out the door.
"Found a young man passed out by the road leading into Midgar. Can't seem to wake him up." He lead her out to his three-wheeled truck. In the back lay a young man in his late teens or early twenties. He wore a faded pair of blue jeans with a hole in the left leg over his knee, and a dark blue shirt that was equally faded. The shirt had a screen print over his chest that had some sort of small, blue creature with a fin on its head and text that read: "WARNING - MUDKIP ZONE. "HuhhuhhhuhUHUHhuhuHUhuhuh".
His hair was a sandy brown/blonde color. In the fading afternoon light, she could see he had a healthy tan and was somewhat athletic.
She placed one hand on the side of the truck and kicked off the ground. She landed next to him and knelt down. Tifa cast Cure off of the Restore materia, but got little reaction - he merely gave a small groan and rolled toward her. When his stomach came into contact with her knees, he curled around her like a big teddy bear. Rolling her eyes, she roughly shoved him away.
Grunting, he opened his pale hazel eyes and blinked up at the dark blue of the sky. He jerked upright, sitting up so suddenly Tifa was startled and leaned back. He looked all around himself, his eyes settling on her. He cried out, scooting back until his back was pressed against the truck cab. She reached out to him, trying to calm him.
"W-where am I?" he croaked. His voice was hoarse, as if he hadn't used it in a while, or perhaps the dry spring air had caused it.
"You're inside Midgar. You were found unconscious on one of the roads leading in."
"M-Midgar? I mean... Where the hell is Midgar?"
Tifa arched an eyebrow.
"Just south-west of Kalm, and northeast of Junon."
"W...where? Are we not in Oregon?"
"Where's Oregon?"
The young man sat perfectly still for a moment before launching himself out of the truck.
"Hey!" Tifa called, standing. He had landed heavily, due to the awkward landing and his weakness, and was stunned for a moment on hands and knees. But he lurched forward soon enough and tumbled into the door of Seventh Heaven. Sighing, Tifa jumped down gracefully and followed him. The man who had brought the youth to the bar followed meekly behind her.
The young man was frozen in place. Nanaki was only a few feet away from him. He was looking up at the boy in curiosity. The sandy-haired youth spun around as if to run from the bar and ran into Tifa. Startled, he jerked back and lost his balance. Barret caught him with his good arm and set him in a chair.
"Now, now, kid, Nanaki ain't gonna hurt you. Tifa won't hurt you either, 'less ya give 'er reason to," Cid remarked around his cigarette. The boy's eyes flicked to Cid, then to the shining metal of Barret's gun arm.
"Impressive, yeah?" Barret rumbled proudly, patting the arm and moving the robotic fingers with the whir of gears. "Newest model on th' market."
"The... What..." Suddenly, clarity returned to the man's eyes. He stood up quickly, knocking over his chair. "My sister! Was there a girl with me, a little older, darker hair?!"
The old man who had brought the youth in peeked out from behind Tifa.
"No, son, you're the only one I found."
The boy brought a hand to his head and looked around the bar, at the faces of Tifa and her friends.
"Alie... Oh, what the hell have I done?"
In
a world where Espers roam..
The reunion was eventful. Reminiscing about the past and sharing stories about their new lives, the Returners gathered around the huge table in the dining hall and ate and drank the night away.
"Ah, how good it is to have my friends with me once more! The Returners are once again together!" Edgar cheered, his cheeks slightly flushed from the high quality wine he had been consuming. A chorus of agreement rose from the table.
Relm sighed and pushed her glass of juice away. "You guys all get wine! No fair!"
"Well, without wine there can be no toast!" Edgar responded, standing, and ignoring her sulky comment. "To Terra, to Celes, and to Relm, three lovely and brave young women!"
The men all agreed, shouting "To the ladies!!" practically in unison. Terra stood, laughing.
"And to all you men who put up with us!"
Amidst the laughter, Edgar murmured, "Actually, you're very easy to put up with, Terra."
No one hears him; Terra is on the opposite end of the long, rectangular table, and the others were too preoccupied with cheering to listen.
This continued well into the morning.
Sabin, unable to ignore his instincts that years of training had instilled in him, woke at dawn. He crept silently out of his room and out toward the side doors. His training was continuous - he hoped his Blitz techniques would one day match those of his late master. He reached one of the outer side doors without seeing anyone else. He began to swing the door open, but there was something blocking its path. He shoved, and was able to push the door open enough to let him slip his great muscled bulk outside.
Sabin glanced down at what had been blocking the door, and froze. Shock lit up his deep blue eyes. A young woman lay still against the metal door, her dark, braided hair and lithe body dusted with sand. Her white lab coat had been tinted beige from the dust. She wore a knee-length shealth-like skirt, which had hiked up her thighs a little, and black dress shoes. Her blouse was a soft blue.
Her skin was a creamy color, and had not yet burned - she had not been in the sun long enough to be harmed by its rays, but Sabin was worried. It was cold in the desert at night. Yet, how long had she been there? Had no guards seen her collapse here?
Sabid lifted her up after adjusting her skirt modestly. He carried her inside the castle. A guard spotted him and dashed forward, alarmed.
"Go and wake the king, and get Terra, and the palace doctor!" Sabin ordered. The guard nodded and dashed off, his lightweight metal armor clanking.
Sabin carried the woman to the infirmary. By the time he had laid her out on a table, Terra apeared in the doorway. She was followed closely by everyone else - apparently the guard had made so much noise, it had roused the others. King Edgar came in last, dishevelled and cranky.
The doctor padded in last, his gray hair sticking up on the right side of his head from sleeping. He padded over to the woman on the table and checked her pulse. He brushed the sand away from her face and checked her eyes.
"She seems alright, but doesn't appear to be waking up," the doctor muttered. He looked up at Terra. "Perhaps you could try something, Lady Terra?"
Terra brushed her tousled curls over her shoulder. She was clutching her deep teal dressing gown, holding it closed. She cast Curaja, her voice soft. The girl sighed and moved, apprearing asleep now instread of half dead. The doctor came back with a wet cloth and wiped the unconcious woman's face. She groaned softly in reply and opened bleary green eyes. She squinted up at Terra.
"Who... Are you..." the woman cleared her throat, trying again. "Ah.. Who are you, and where.. am I?"
"You, my dear," Edgar answered gruffly, not allowing Terra to respond, "Are exactly where you were when you passed out. Only, inside. You're within the walls of Figaro Castle."
The woman sat up then, her movement too sudden. She coughed as if to wretch and toppled sideways. Thankfully, she didn't lose whatever her stomach contained as Sabin caught her. It would have been an unfortunate way to meet.
"There, now, easy," Sabin said softly, shooting his brother a harsh look. "He's cranky because it's so early. You're safe, no one's angry - mind telling me why you were passed out by the side entrance, though?" he asked gently as he helped the girl sit upright. She clung to him as if afraid of falling from the examination table again. Her eyes were large and slanted ever so slightly, and he felt a blush begin to creep up the back of his neck - where it always started for him - as she gazed up at him in wonder.
"I'm sorry," the woman murmured, looking around at Terra and Edgar, then back at Sabin. "Did you say Figaro Castle?"
"Of course," Edgar snapped, but hushed when Sabin threw him a deadly look.
"You need to forgive my brother, he's only had a couple of hours of sleep and has a hangover," Sabin said, his voice tinged with anger now. The woman's laugh caught him off guard.
"I'm in no place to judge someone for being grouchy on three or less hours of sleep, I'm the same way. But, I think you misunderstand - I've never heard of this place. Where is Figaro Castle and, if you don't mind, who exactly are you?" Her voice was stronger now as she sat up and pushed away from Sabin. She seemed suddenly aware of having been pressed against him.
"My name is Sabin Figaro, and the Almighty Grouch here is King Edgar Figaro. Figaro Castle is in, well, Figaro Desert, in the nation of... Figaro." Sabin wondered why his family had named everything in the area after themselves. It sounded rather trite when put that way.
"King? Wait, nation?!" The woman looked astounded. Then, suddenly:
"Oh, holy heavens, this isn't good. Did.. was there anyone with me?" She sounded desperate now. Sabin shook his head, and her face crumpled. She covered it with her hands. "Oh, Sammy, what have you gotten us into?" she whispered, voice muffled by her hands.
Terra placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, which was shaking with repressed sobs.
"It's alright. Please stay calm. No one here is going to hurt you."
"I'm not worried about me," the woman responded, moving her hands away from her face. Her eyes glittered like emeralds and tears rolled down her cheeks, leaving trails in the find sand dust that lingered there. "I'm worried about my brother, Samuel. Oh, it wasn't ready, I have no idea what the settings had been changed to -"
"What wasn't ready?" Celes asked, her voice cautious.
"The... Gah, I'm not sure how to explain. Wait, where did you find me again?" the woman asked, squinting again at Sabin.
"I was heading out to the desert and found you knocked out in the sand, just outside the Castle."
"I see. Was there anything else around me?"
"You had a black bag strapped to you, but nothing else." He watched her curiously as she felt her face. She looked up at him ruefully.
"Not even a pair of glasses?"
"Not that I saw.. if they fell off, they've probably been buried by drifting sand. Do you have a name?" She was caught off guard and he blushed at her surprised stare. "Er, sorry. I just.. thought we should introduce ourselves. The woman who is standing next to you is Terra Branford, the lovely blonde lady is Celes Chere-Cole, and that's her husband Locke next to her. Cyan Garramonde, Relm Arrowny - shouldn't you be in bed, kid? - her grandfather Strago, Setzer Gabbiani, and Mog, a moogle from Narshe." He shook his head. "It looks like everyone woke up and came down here.
Those green eyes landed again on the King of Figaro and caught him in a large yawn. "I appear to have woken a lot of people up," she said, glancing at all of the servants that had gathered about to see what was going on. "I'm very sorry. My name is Aleenia Rheese.
"I think I can explain what happened and where I was from.. but..." she brought a hand to her forehead and grimaced. "If it can wait until everyone has had more sleep and I've had a chance to clean up..."
Edgar stepped up, yawning again. "We yawn don't have any available rooms for now, but I'm sure Terra can find you a place to rest. Terra, if you would cast Cure on her for the headache? Thank you. I need more sleep."
The Great King of Figaro lumbered off to his room, as if Aleenia was the most uninteresting thing in the world at the time. All of the Returners stared after him.
"As I said, he's not a morning person," Sabin told a wide-eyed Alie apologetically. "He'll be more composed in the late morning," he said as Terra cast another Cure spell on a shocked Aleenia.
"Magic?"
she whispered. "It has to be.. but.. where I'm from,
magic.. doesn't exist..."
In
a world more like our own...
Professor West spent several hours in the laboratory, attempting to repair the damaged Dimensional Teleportation Device and get a clear idea as the where the coordinates had sent the siblings. Dr. Kale – the solemn woman in black – was checking the security cameras to see what had happened. It was simple trip-up – nothing more than that.
But Dr. Andrea Kale wasn't going to let this slip-up leak out. She sent messages to the Rheese household that the siblings would be spending a few days at the lab helping with the tests. Their parents were very trusting of Dr. Kale, and didn't find this suspicious – after all, it was Aleenia's favorite place to be, and Sam was never far from his sister's side.
They worked for twenty four hours, in shifts, barely sleeping, trying to call up the exact calculations.
Dr. Andrea Kale was not going to let those children destroy her life's work with a mishap.
She couldn't.
"Once we get this working, I'll take a team and go get them myself," Andrea commented to Dr. West as she fiddled with the monitor attached to the device. "Please get some extra recall devices ready."
Dr. West nodded and shuffled off to the secondary lab, where the recall devices were kept.
In the world that Holy saved...
Samuel sank to the floor, his face ashen.
"What have I done?" he mumbled, rocking gently, head on his hands. The gathered members of Avalanche exchanged looks. Tifa sent the old man away with her thanks and assurance that they would take care of the boy from here on out.
"What the hell you awn, boy? You all shakin' and moanin' like you comin' off a bad trip," Barret grunted, glowering darkly at the boy, his thick, dark eyebrows drawn together. He looked mean, and Tifa hoped his large bulk and generally surly attitude wouldn't upset the boy more.
The boy's head lifted slowly, and he glared right back.
"Who the hell are you supposed to be, Mr. T? Just lay off, okay? I have no idea where the fuck I am and my sister is missing, I ain't on no goddamn drugs, so fuck off!" he snarled, color returning to his face in a flush. Barret took a step forward menacingly, and the kid was on his feet, balanced on the balls of his toes in some martial arts stance. It wasn't much of one though, Tifa noted, and was aware that Barret could probably knock the kid out in one backhand with his metal gun arm.
"Cool it, hotshot – there's no fighting in my bar," Tifa chided. The boy turned his glare on her now, but his eyes softened a little. Not much, though.
"Look, I'm just pissed off that he implied I'm on drugs or something. I'm not. I'm just freaked out and worried about my sister, and I have a friggin' killer headache to top it off, so please would you cut me some slack?" He relaxed his stance and stood there glumly rubbing his forehead. His eyes flicked from Tifa to Cid to Barret and back again.
"If ya calm down and stop insulting us, maybe we'll be a little friendlier," Cid pointed out. The young man froend, but he nodded.
"Yeah, look, I'm sorry. I just - " he caught sight of Nanaki, who had come closer in order to smell him, and jumped to the side with a startled cry. He lost his footing, but Tifa caught him and kept him upright. "Holy shit, what are you, some sort of lion-dog?"
"I am Nanaki, also called Red XIII."
The boy looked as if he was having trouble processing Nanaki's ability to talk.
"It startled me, too, at first," Tifa said gently, patting him on the shoulder. "Why don't you take a sit here at the table and tell us how you ended up in Midgar, and introduce yourself."
Subdued and obedient with his shock, the young man sat down at a table pretty much at the center of the group of the Avalanche members. He accepted a glass of water from Yuffie, who smiled at him cheerfully. He blushed. The group introduced themselves one by one. He seemed to record their faces in his memory as they spoke, eyes scanning their features like a laser scanner reading a bar code.
"My name's Samuel Rheese, but please just call me Sam. D'ya have something for headaches, like, Advil or somethin'? I hate to ask you for it, but..." He was cut off when green light shimmered around him. His headache disappeared. "The hell?"
"She cast Cure on you, knucklehead, don't you know how to use Materia? Tifa's got a Restore material in her glove."
"What's a materia?"
In the next chapter of Dimensional Whiplash, Alie and Sam find themselves in strange company. How will they cope in these new situations?
