(Disclaimer: Plata-Azul Firebird does not own Final Fantasy 7, only her OCs… Otherwise, we might end up having a not-so-epic battle with the lawsuits.)
Altering Rhythm
Intermezzo
Silver: Made changes due to studying the timeline in FF Wiki.
DATE: August 25, 2014
Intermezzo
Both of them stared at the blonde man, the very and would-be enemy of the One-Wing Angel and Gaia's future protector. He staggers to the train station, dragging and using the sword as a clutch till the tip of the blade got snag by a crack on the floor. He fell flat on his face causing them to yelp and rush to his side.
"C- I mean, hey! Are you okay?" Mira exclaims as she pulls him up while Riley tries to lift the huge sword.
"Golly! This sword is heavy!" the brunette yelped at the actual weight of the sword, as her best friend heaves him to a corner near the train. She ends up dragging the equipment instead and places it near the wall. Taking some breaths, the two takes a good look on the blonde and notices that the eyes are still hazy. "Man, he's still out of it." then she looks around the station only to find it empty. "Not to mention that this place is eerily empty."
"So... should we stay with him and wait for her?" Mira asked, looking at her friend.
"I guess we could wait."
The two stands guard on the blonde, making sure he is not carried off by a Shinra trooper or sorts. Once, they shoo a dog on attempting to pee on him and a few rats from biting.
"You know, I kinda notice that he is still wearing the First Class uniform Z- he gave to him." Riley pointed out.
"Whoa, you're right..." both girls looks at the complete outfit that the blonde is wearing. "Isn't he suppose to wear the original outfit in the original game? I mean, she met him in THAT outfit."
"True." a few minutes passes by. "Speaking of her, is she even coming?"
The two looks at the Sector 7 station, which is quite empty before looking at one another.
"That's odd. If I remember correctly, they should meet here..." The mime points out, as she wonders why there is a lack of people in the station. Her friend seems to agree with her till something clicks in her mind.
"Riley, what date is it today?"
"Huh...?" the mime said, caught off guard on the question but she thinks about it. "It's March 27." she answers.
"No! That's Earth time! I meant the date here."
"Oh... well, if I remember correctly and since he died, I would say it's late Sept-" Then her eyes widen as it clicks in her and looks at the songstress. They both share the same expression as they thought of one thing…
They are a month early from Cloud's initial reunion with Tifa... and a few days away from the Zirconaide vs. Turk fight.
With that, Riley decided to check the bar, to see if the bar maid and AVALANCHE are there or not. As she watches her friend go and investigate the place, the ravenette sighs and drops to the floor right beside Cloud. She looks at him again and she sees the blue eyes are still hazy and staring blankly at the stone ground.
Both she and Riley knew that if he does not learn of the truth, he'll have a serious breakdown and a severe guilt he'll carry in the far future. But telling him about it right now is useless, because the death of his friend broke his mind and is far to reach with reasoning and comfort. Right now, his mind is in the process of building a fake persona to protect himself. It also doesn't help on the fact that Tifa would rather hide the truth than telling.
Because the truth is a growing and ticking time-bomb... if one decides to hide the truth from others, expect a large disaster coming their way and those defenses will be useless.
Sighing and looks at the catatonic man. "Cloud... Everything will be alright. Just hold on, okay?" she whispers.
:::^*^:::
Checking the place out, Riley saw a notice on the board nearby and reads it. "WANTED: Bar Maid, has to have pleasing perso- okay, we are officially a month early!" She miffs as she crosses her arms.
Looking around she notices the pillars that support every sector plates above and glares at it. 'The very thing that balance the life and death of the people down here, and it is frankly a scary thought... if we're going to make a change, let's start with this place.' she thought and then heads back to the two at the station.
After hearing that they are quite early from Cloud and Tifa's reunion, they look at him as he groans a bit. "We can't leave him here, some people might loot his sword." the keytar player stated.
"I know that, Meer." the brunette explains as she looks around until an idea forms. "Okay, why don't we take Cloud to the Wall Market Inn? That way, he'll be safe from muggers and thieves while he's… like this for the entire month."
The songstress thinks about it then looks at her best friend. "It's not a bad idea, but Wall Market is where the Don Corneo's crime group resides." She points out. "I don't know if his men could loot the sword, but we're going to be in big trouble if he sets his eyes on us."
"Ugh..." The mime groans in disgust, as she dislikes that cowardly, dirty old man who discards women like toys after he loses interest on them. "You got a point there. It seems we'll be scouting each sectors for a safe place to stay, until the initial meeting."
"Right." As the songstress picks up the sword and drags it. "You carry him while I'll drag the sword."
"What?! Hey! The sword is heavy!"
"Carrying a dead weight is even heavier!" the ravenette smartly shouts back as she lifts continues her way to Wall Market. Losing on that one, Riley takes one of Cloud's arms and places it over her. She then lifts him but she nearly loses her air due to his heavy weight, then she adjusts the position so that he's on her back and manages to drag him towards the Wall Market.
:::^*^:::
"DO MI Dush!" the brunette babbled as she heaves the blonde man to the bed in the room they rented. It is a good thing that the price of the place is cheap, since they are saving for renting a place for a month and other equipments they plan to get. Huffing and puffing as she collapses by the bedside and Mira place the sword by the wall near the bed. "Damn, he's one dead weight."
"I told you." her best friend replied with a cheeky smile.
"I sometimes I hate you..." but that only made the songstress giggled as she decided to check out her pouch. "Okay... so, now we got him here. Should we head out, look for a place for a month? Hunt monsters for extra gil? Or stay here for tonight and get some rest?"
"I don't know. I don't have a watch to check the time... what are you doing?"
"Checking stuffs, so far I got a soft, red feather..."
"That's Phoenix Down." as her friend places the item on her bed and continues digging her pouch. But then surprise came to them as the mime pulls out a very familiar item that shouldn't exist in Gaia. "Holy skrits! You still got your smart phone!?" she asked her friend incredulously, as they both stare at the Samsung Galaxy S5 in the brunette's hands. Then the mime quickly placed the phone down, rummages in her pouch and pulls out some more Earth-related items.
"OMG! Our stuffs!" Riley said in shock and joy as she looks at her stuffs mix with Gaia- related items. Her best friend stares at the only proofs that they don't belong here in this world. "Oi, check your belt bags, your phone and stuff could be there too."
Taking that advice, Mira checks her pouches and indeed she finds her new phone and the handheld game console in it. Along with a medical kit, a make-up kit, a small towel, some spare hair ties and… a purple apple. "Whoa… I… got a Dumbapple." she stated and places the fruit on the bed.
"Cool! Can we taste it?" Riley asked, on seeing the fruit and she is hype to taste a Final Fantasy fruit.
Laughing a bit, the ravenette borrows the brunette's knife, washes it clean, and then she cuts the apple into three equal parts. As the mime munch on her piece, the songstress dices the other part and tries to feed it to Cloud. Of course, her friend pitches in so that when Tifa sees him, he's not thin as a stick… although, the mako might have kept him healthy but still not an excuse. Once they manage to get the blonde man to swallow his fruit, the two once more examines the pouches out see if they have other Earth or Gaia related items.
"Okay." Mira said, while they are munching on their pieces of apple and looking at the items they got. On one side of the bed, are the Earth-related items and the Gaia-related ones are on the other side. Both women look at the Gaia-related ones first. "We got potions, a pair of Phoenix Downs, one ether which you manage to mime/steal from a Prowler and 1200 gil from looting those monsters."
"And not only that, we got these cool accessories. Ta da!" the brunette stated joyfully as she shows her friend the pair of silver ring with a thin, gold cross on it. "Touph Rings!"
"I'm surprise we have those. If I remember correctly you can only steal those from Reno twice in the game."
"Yup, that makes these rings rare… well, except for a certain cheatsy doodle involving the W-Item materia." the brunette scoffs the last part, before putting on the silver ring. She feels quite a tingle in her as if nothing can tire her out. "And wow, I feel the effects." As she gives the other ring to the ravenette.
The songstress puts it's on, she too is surprise on feeling the effects and smiled a bit. Then they look at other Gaia-related items and picks up one of the two bracelets. "I don't get why those game creators named these bracelet as armors, I don't see how this is protective aside from protecting the wrist from being slit."
The mime just shrugs at that as she takes out another bracelet from her pocket of her hoodie. The armlet has a metallic green sheen and the logo of the Shinra Company. "Nevertheless, it such a waste to throw such good armlet out."
"Seriously, they throw that out in the slums?" the songstress looks at the Shinra Beta with a brow raise.
"No idea, either they throw it or lost it, it's finder's keepers. Oh and I think we should change his pauldron." As she take another item out of her pocket and holds up the very singular, metal and screwed pauldron, the very exact one Cloud suppose to wear right now.
"Wha-wait, where did you get that?"
"While moving thru the playground and nearly falling flat to the ground, I found it under the slide." she stated and places both items on the bed. They then discuss about finding the rest of his supposed parts of outfit needed to find. Looking at the uniform he's wearing... the pauldrons and gloves needs replacement, the belts can stay and although in the game his outfit is dark blue, purple or sorts... the black can still work.
Turning to the Earth-related items, they got their PS Vita, their gadgets' charger, a pair of hand-crank chargers, a pair of Bluetooth headsets, medical kits, Mira's make-up kit, some books from Riley's bag and their wallets filled with Earth currency of their country and IDs. Seeing this amount of items causes the two girls to scratch their heads in confusion, as all these came from their belt bag/pouches. They then deem their bags to have the ability of Hammer-space, after examining their bags, trying to find out how it is possible to have that much items and failing to do so.
"I suddenly feel that I'm in Loony Tunes with these bags." the songstress points out.
"Only without the crazy, anthropomorphic animals. I don't think this world is ready for a smart-aleck bunny or a greedy, black duck." the mime replied.
Then they check on their phones and handheld console and deleted some files if they are stolen... They couldn't risk those people to look what their future will be.
After checking their items, the two checks on Mira's keytar... Other than its looks like an Earth-related product, they can't open it because they don't have any tools. Plus with the strange screws and bolts, they doubt they could find the right tools for it. Instead they examine the function and the look of the instrument. Mira owns a synthesizer back in Earth, so the instrument is no stranger to her except that she has to carry it like a guitar. The keytar looks like an Alesis Vortex with a few additional keys, buttons and a pair of small speakers installed on one end. But what surprises both women is how advance this instrument is... it have a small computer-touch screen which is hidden on the back, all it needs is to pull it out and lock it in place. They just found that out when Riley accidentally pulls out a part of the instrument when she was looking for the battery compartment. With that, Mira can actually make music right on the instrument and there's no need for a computer. Still, despite a few advance techs, they are clueless on how this instrument is a weapon.
The mime miffs that her friend got quite a weapon while she only got a military dagger, but the songstress counters back at the brunette on her miming skills. Eventually, they decided to go monster hunting while testing the instrument and the mime skills, along with searching for the rest of Cloud's outfit.
So they pack up, made sure that Cloud tucked safely in bed, locked the door and keys with them, the two heads out before it becomes really late.
:::^*^:::
"Riley! Watch your back!" as Mira shot down a Whole Eater, which scuttled it's way behind the mime, with a shockwave blast. The mime strikes down another Whole Eater, before turning to her best friend and thanking her.
After taking down a group of Whole Eaters, they take a break and sit on the top of a metal-scrap hill, while they assess their job skills. Both women did not buy any materia as they decided to find out more of their job skills. Also, Riley took that chance to retrace her self-defense skills that her older brother taught her, in case her miming skill fails. So far, Mira's starting songstress skills are Darkness Dance and Esoteric Melody, the last one is quite useful for casters like Cloud and Aerith. And Riley's miming skills improved a bit as she mimicked Blast Shot from an old Gun Bull Head (a transparent, part of the gun form on the top of her arm). Of course, the mime refined her stealing skills by stealing Ether (Hedgehog Pie) and Potion (Whole Eater) from the monsters.
Still it they can't help to be puzzled… as Riley's mime abilities can mimic some moves that are not in the Enemy Skill list or the move of the last attacker. And Mira's keytar can shoot shocking, sound wave shots, which makes the ravenette job class more than just a support. For now, they assumed that Riley's miming ability is based from Bartz in Dissidia and Mira's keytar is a very advance instrument.
After that, Mira places her keytar down as Riley lay back and looks out at the sky thru the unfinished parts of the sector. Both women are silent as the noise of construction, people talking or shouting and vehicles are heard.
"I wonder if we got a divine or a hideous benefactor?" the mime asked, as she remembers certain fanfics which a character got sent into Gaia thru divine or alien intervention.
"That could be a possibility." The songstress replied and looks at her friend. "Mind you, I would rather have either one of the two goddesses than a life-sucking alien as the reason why we're here."
"Aye to that." As she sits up and place an arm on her knees, as she looks at the waste land area thru the gap of the plate and the slums. "Are we here to interfere? Or makes sure that the timeline is in the right way?"
"I don't know." As the songstress remembers some fanfics relating to their situation. Most of them are about some protagonists changing the characters' fates, while a few rare maintains the storyline as it is. "What about you, Riley? What do you think?" she asked as she looks at her best friend.
The mime thought about it for a short while, before looking at her best friend with a confident spark in her eyes. "Well... some will say Sephiroth is beyond saving, but I say nobody is beyond saving. They can call me a nut case or think that someone kick the brain out of me, but I still believe that Sephiroth deserves the truth and a second chance." She then stand up, grabbing a random trash and throwing it to the Shinra company logo on the wall nearby. It shatters at impact but it dirtied the said logo. "Hojo, the old man Shinra and his followers, except for Reeve, are the real villains. And they should be punished for all the tragedies they caused due to greed or to prove the 'theories' are true." She answered.
"You know what? It seems that we are going to break this game's story as I agree with you." Mira said as she looks at her best friend with a similar spark and the mime smiles at that. "Actually, I don't think this is a story or a game anymore."
"So... aside from babysitting Cloud, what are our plans?"
:::^*^:::
Wandering around...
Gathering all of the knowledge.
Then a faint tug...
It was quite faint as it came, it then disappear...
It was odd.
But didn't pay mind to it and returns to the task.
:::^27 days later…^:::
Almost a month have gone by... And it is not enough to make a lot of plans and preparations against the tragedies. They do have another month before the explosion of Reactor 1, but they'll be mostly spending time planning with the AVALANCHE. But they did put one plan in motion and that will still be going, even if they stopped or left the city.
'Still it's a start. We still got a few other plans, even if we have to wing it.' Mira thought as she cross out the 27th day from the calendar, the songstress sighs a bit as she places the pen down on the table. She then looks out of the window as she leans on the side of the wall. Right now, Riley is in Sector 7 to see if the group is there now.
The songstress remembers the eventful days that happened as both women prepares for the incoming crisis.
Because they have to wait till the initial meeting, they decided to rent a place for a month. And they agreed and chose Sector 1 slums as their temporary shelter for 30 days. Reasons why they chose Sector 1 are: First and mainly, the Turks... Sector 8 is the training ground of the Turks, they are not too sure about the slums area but they don't want to risk it. And in Sector 5, there are Turks patrolling and watching over Aerith. Another reason why is due to the Zirconaide and Turk fight in October 5th, as much as possible they want to put some distance to avoid the shockwave that destroyed Sector 6. Both women are relieved that Sector 6 was under construction, which means no casualty involved. Also, they want to avoid those Shinra droids called Heads that wanders around the slums. Both Earth women remembered that these machines could not tell the difference between a SOLDIER and a monster. Sector 1 only has a few of these machines but plenty of monsters, due to some people wanting to earn quick gil by selling machine parts.
The house they rented for a month is set near the edge of the plate's circle, near the reactor. It is a bit far from the slum's plaza and thieves can target their house, which is why both women modified and added some junks to hide the place.
Monster hunting is their primary source of income and they didn't mind as they needed to train for the incoming tragedy. They enhanced their Job skills, Mira learned how to MP Mambo and Riley getting a few Enemy skills. They also train on the elements that are included and not included in JRPGs. Such elements like parkour and stealth... Parkour is required as they are not fighters nor enhance humans, and this is where Riley excels at and where Mira needs improvement on. And then there's stealth, an element that is hardly used in JRPG games as players needs to level up their characters to beat a boss. But that element is useful for them as they needed to outwit Sephiroth, Hojo and the tragedy they caused.
Snapping out of her thought and looking at the clock, the songstress heads to Cloud's room and relaxes on seeing that he is still in bed. But he is not asleep but in the same unresponsive catatonic state, staring blankly at the ceiling and... apparently, catatonic or not, the blonde have developed a disorder.
It was two day after their arrival in Gaia and after paying for the monthly rent of the house. On arriving back at the Wall Market Inn, the blonde is no longer in their rented room. They scrambled out looking for the blonde and found him fighting against two Hell Houses. And his moves are sloppy as if he is trying to perform a move he only read, but not trained on. After they jump in to help him and got rid of the monsters, the blonde suddenly slump and fell to the ground. Both of them yelped and ran to the blonde's side to see if he's okay. Seeing Cloud back in his unresponsive state and staring blankly at them, they sighed a bit in relief with concern in the mix. The 'sleep-fighting' happened from time to time, even after moving into Sector 1. It happened was just one or two days apart and the longest: three days. It was around the time when they leave Cloud in the house, to earn some gil thru monster hunting or looking for more hidden paths. But on the way back, they found Cloud 'sleep-fighting' again and they have to quickly save him. And it kept happening till Riley suggested monitoring Cloud's 'sleep-fighting' instead of strapping him on the bed. The songstress reluctantly agreed on that as the blonde have the strength of a SOLDIER, she doubt that it can hold him down. The mime pointed out that it is somewhat effective, as Cloud is instinctively/subconsciously training his body and his sloppy moves are refining bit by bit.
However, they theorized that the alien cells that were injected to him are the cause of his disorder. Yet they can't tell who's doing that... Sephiroth or Jenova.
The songstress is then snapped out of her thoughts, when she heard the door open with a bang and running footsteps. She turns to see Riley running to towards her and immediately steps away, as the mime skids to a stop and almost hits the bathroom door behind her.
"Whoa!" the mime yelps as she almost tips herself forward but manages to get her balance back. As she sighs in relief that she didn't hit the door, she looks at her best friend with an excited face. "They're here! The AVALANCHE has arrived in Sector 7."
"Great, how they are doing?" the ravenette asked.
"Well, they are apparently settling in the bar." The mime replies, as she remembers seeing the AVALANCHE moved into the bar. Of course, the owner gladly handed the bar to them as he too disliked Shinra. He also gave a quick tutorial to Tifa on how to maintain the bar, as the owner decided to look for more recruits outside to help with their cause. "But they began scouting and securing the area, so I didn't stay long." As she looks at the blonde man. "So, when do we drag him back to the train station?"
"Well, we should let them get use on their new place." the songstress said as she thinks about it, then looks at her friend. "I guess the best time is the day after tomorrow."
"Alright, the day after tomorrow then." The brunette agrees with her as she knew that the group is uneasy to be living near, under the enemies' base. She then looks at the catatonic hero in the room, before sighing in amusement. "Seriously, I never thought that we'll be the ones who modified his outfit and the Buster Sword."
Cloud is now sporting the original outfit in FFVII, and it looks like a mix between Dissidia and Crisis Core. They didn't change the leather belts and straps, but they removed a part of the strap on the right since there's no right pauldon. Unlike the pauldron they found, which could be a part of a dismantled machine, the gloves and the gauntlet have to be purchased. Buying the gloves is easy, but the gauntlet has to be customized in the armor shop. They landed on a bit of a snag when they remember that are two design versions of the gauntlet. Eventually they decided on the Dissidia design, but they made it a little big and bulky for added protection. The Buster Sword, on the other hand, gained a new layer of metal and bolts that covers the detailed, gold handguard... which explains why the sword's design is different in Crisis Core and in the original game.
"So..." Mira said and the mime looks at her. "Got any idea what to do today and tomorrow?"
Riley thinks for a moment and it occur to her. "Hey, we haven't done any materia training!"
"... Crap." The songstress stated. They have not arranged a schedule on learning to use a materia, as they were busy training their Job Class, earning gils and planning a lot. With that, the mime just sped out of the house and heads to the materia shop. "Hey! Wait for me!" she said loudly at the mime, grabbing her keytar, locking the doors and runs after her best friend.
And later that day, both women just agreed that they don't have enough time.
:::^*^:::
After two days of hasty materia lessons and a lot of magic mishaps, before deciding to continue practice even when they join the group… it is time to move Cloud to the train station.
Both women woke up extremely early in the morning, wanting to avoid the guard station at the train. Once they finished checking their inventory and their equipment, they place the blonde on the trolley they found a week ago and use a huge box for cover. Making sure not a single item is left in the house, especially the Earth-related ones, they lock up the place and Riley quickly returns the key to the owner's place. And then they both make their way to Sector 7.
On arriving there and to their luck, there are no guards on the station. And with that, they place Cloud near the platform and the lamp post before getting rid of the trolley and box.
But they didn't leave him completely by himself.
Seven hours pass…
"Did she came?" Mira asked as she came back from exploring the Sector 5. However, she still couldn't meet Aerith, as the church is empty again. 'She's probably selling flowers above.' She thought, as she stops at her best friend's side.
"No, not yet." Riley stated as they watch on Cloud by the sides, making sure no one tries to loot the Buster Sword. To pass time, one watches over the blonde, and the other goes off exploring or extra practice on materia. "Your turn."
"Be careful."
And the brunette gives her a thumbs-up as she left to go monster-hunting and materia practice. The ravenette leans on the wall, keeping an eye on the blonde as she waits for the meeting of him and Tifa. In a low volume, she hums a song as the time goes by and another train comes, unloading the passengers who stare at the sick blonde with either disgust or pity.
But one guy has no manners at all and throws a plastic cup filled with soda right on the blonde's head.
"HEY!" Mira shouts and briskly made her way to the blonde, as she glares at the very man who thrown the soda. Kneeling to his side, she takes out the towel from her pouch as she plucks off the plastic cup that is still hanging on his hair. "Are you okay?"
As she is about to wipe the liquid off him… she gasps when his hand shots up and grabs her wrist. She winces at the hard grip as she looks at him…
Only to see the glowing blue eyes staring back at her.
"Who are you?" Cloud demanded.
Silver: Yep, he manage to snap back but not on Tifa…Yikes, that's a change. Added a month worth of training and planning, and more job class skills for them. Also about Cloud's left gauntlet, there are two versions I based the design on. Of course, the first is Dissidia and the other is from Lightning Returns... mind you, Lightning version seems to be bulky.