Author Note: Hello, readers. Long time no see, eh? Well, I'm hoping that the wait is worth it as I bring you a two-years-long project. I'd like you to know this fanfiction is mostly finished - the second half is in the finishing stages - so you can expect to see it through from the beginning to the end. That I promise you. It'll be about 100,000 words, so you're in for a solid read.

I'd like to give a huge thank you to licoriceallsorts for her laser eye and long characterization conversations, and La Editor for always being able to bounce ideas off of, even at 8pm on the one night I've ever been in New Mexico in my entire life.

I welcome you all to Leviathan, and I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I have thoroughly enjoyed writing it.

Leviathan

a Final Fantasy VII fanfiction by Pen Against Sword

"Strife Delivery Service and Final Heaven Bar, this is Tifa. How may I help you?"

"Tifa? It's Yuffie."

"Yuffie—" A pause, and Tifa's polite phone tone switched to one of concern. "What is it?"

"Tifa, Dad's dying."

"Oh, Yuffie," she sighed. "What can I do to help?"

"I need you in Wutai, Tifa. But if that's too much to ask, I understand. It's really short noti—"

"I'll be there as soon as I can. Let me just get in touch with Reeve and see how fast I can get there. Hang tight, I'll see you soon."

"Okay. You know where to reach me."

.

When Tifa arrived in Wutai, Yuffie greeted her with a hug and a hot meal. After they had time to catch up, she led Tifa to a library located on the palace grounds. Within, about forty long shelves lined up next to each other and along the walls. They were loaded with books and scrolls. High windows filtered the afternoon light, where dust motes drifted.

Reading ancient Wuteng scrolls was slow-going for Tifa Lockhart. Last time she studied Wuteng characters was under Master Zangan. The process got easier with practice, but occasionally she had to stop and ask Yuffie what syllable this or that character represented. She was astonished to see that each scroll was handwritten, and some even had personalized notes in the margins, left by the monks who had recorded them.

"Another dead line. If you follow their family scrolls, it ends when their three sons were slaughtered in the Wutai-Shinra war." Completely lacking the same care as Tifa, Yuffie chucked a scroll between two carved wood pillars at the far end of the room. It bounced off the sixth shelf of a fifteen-foot high scroll-case and landed, forlorn, on the pristine stone floor.

Tifa stared at Yuffie, wondering at her clinical, business-like tone. The dark wood of a shelf framed her, almost blending with her hair, contrasting her white and red kimono sharply. Tifa hadn't asked at the absence of short-shorts and fishnets, though she thought it had something to do with Godo's illness.

"So… do they have to be royalty?"

"No, but that's as good a place as any to start. Less strings to pull if he's got some royal blood, even just a teeny bit."

Anger sizzled through Tifa. "I don't see why you should have to be married at all."

"Wuteng law, Teef. For a thousand years and countless dynasties, it's been their way or they chuck you off one of Da Chao's honorable heads." She laughed, but it sounded forced.

"But you're the sole Kisaragi heir. You should be able to change this."

"Right now, as an unmarried girly heir, I have no power and no say. Once I find the unlucky shmuck who's gonna have to tie the knot with me, blam. An all new regime's gonna start in Wutai. You just wait; it'll be awesome." Yuffie grinned then, a flash of her teeth, and bent back over her work.

Tifa covered her smile with her hand and reached for another scroll, selecting from a shelf they hadn't explored yet.

Yuffie stopped her. "No, not that one. That section's for general history." She plucked the scroll from Tifa's hand and unrolled it, scanning the contents. "Plus, you don't wanna read about the Tai Dynasty. They were kind of bloodthirsty."

"The Tai Dynasty?" Tifa asked. Wuteng history and culture were fascinating to her, and staying the capitol with Yuffie had really whetted her appetite for knowledge.

Seeing the look in her friend's eyes, Yuffie handed the scroll back. "Here, you can read it if you want, I guess. The Tai Dynasty's known for being all cut-off-the-hand-of-the-thief and junk. You know, an eye for an eye?"

Tifa tucked the scroll back into place on the shelf. She'd come back and read it later. She plucked a new family scroll from the collection and scanned it.

"How about the Kuchiki family?"

"Oh, man, the older brother in that family is h-o-t hot. With a capital 'h.' I wouldn't mind shackling myself to that guy." She paused, chewed her lip, then said, "Provided of course that he'll give me footrubs and do everything I say without question and let me go off fighting monsters whenever I want. Eh, put him on the list. I'll have to see about him."

"Does his younger brother look as good?" she asked, holding up a scroll and pointing to another name.

Yuffie waved a negligent hand. "We'll see."

Tifa scribbled the name down on a piece of paper she kept in her front skirt pocket. "Kuchiki…" So far, it was one of three names recorded. They had been through more than fifty family scrolls so far. Most of them ended around the era of the Wutai-Shinra War. Many families had been cut off completely with the almost-massacre of the Wuteng people.

"Old. Dead. Old, old, oh man way dead, so totally dead," Yuffie muttered, tossing three or four scrolls into a growing pile in the corner. "And… this one's married to my third cousin twice removed on my mother's side anyway."

"Are you sure," Tifa hedged, eyeing the teetering mountain of scrolls, "we should be throwing them in the corner like that?"

"Sure!" She snatched the scroll Tifa was trying to reroll and flung it into a different corner. "On that note, let's make another pile! Woohoo! Gives the librarians something to do. Dusty old fun-suckers."

Tifa, despite Yuffie's enthusiasm, could not find it within her to lob ancient sacred family histories of one of the oldest cultures in the world into a dusty corner of a forgotten scroll room.

"Let's take a break. I'm hungry, and I gotta go see my dad."

Tifa wasn't sure how Lord Godo was faring exactly, but she assumed things were not good. For the past three days staying in Wutai, she had watched Yuffie disappear into Godo's bedchamber, then exit some time later ashen-faced and trembling. Tifa had never seen her like that before. Yuffie had not offered her any details of Lord Godo's illness, and she was afraid to inquire. But when Yuffie said Lord Godo was dying, she knew it was the truth. After each visit, her friend didn't smile, laugh, or crack an inappropriate joke for at least an hour.

After Yuffie's evening visits, they had the finest foods, served by a single maid in Yuffie's rooms.

"It's beautiful here. I never really noticed before now," Tifa said, after some silence filled broken only by satisfied hums and chewing noises.

The official rooms for the ruler of the palace were quite lush. Yuffie had taken up residence in them throughout Godo's sickness, or so she had explained to Tifa at the older woman's wondering look around the place. "It… reminds me of mom," she had said quietly, so Tifa had left the subject alone, choosing instead to study her surroundings.

She had not expected the gorgeous stone floors, pale marble wrapping around intricate dragon designs. In fact, the entire palace seemed somewhat obsessed with dragons, bamboo, and sakura petals. Occasionally, statues of Da Chao or portraits of dead relatives and old battles interrupted the reptilian splendor throughout the rest of the palace, but tasteful, hand-crafted curtains and bedding occupied the bedrooms. Tifa had also not expected the sumptuous, well-stocked vanity table placed discreetly out of the way—it must be left over from Lady Kisaragi's life. She had also taken a peek at behind the connected bathroom door and been a little jealous of the sunken tub.

"What, too distracted by all your empty materia slots?" Yuffie's eyes scrunched just a bit at the corners.

"To be fair, that was kind of pressing at the time." She took another bite of her noodles, struggling to get them all in her mouth without splashing the sauce on her white shirt. After she had finished the blissful bite she said, "Do you think I could make this at home? Maybe the cook could teach me…"

"I have no idea." Yuffie shrugged. "I'm a terrible cook. I'll see if the maid can get the recipe for you."

Tifa frowned thoughtfully. "Is there just the one maid? The palace is immaculate. It can't be the work of just one person."

Yuffie snorted. "I can't say we're straining at the seams with maids. But you should know, Tifa, Wuteng cleaning ladies aren't royal cleaning ladies unless they're ninjas too. You should never, ever catch sight of a good cleaning lady."

"So I'll never see them?"

"Nope."

"How do you find them?"

"You don't."

"What if you need to speak to them?"

"You don't, silly."

"Well, how do you pay them?"

"Leave the money in interesting places, and they find it just fine."

Tifa stared, wondering if Yuffie was serious. She had a sneaking suspicious the ninja was not lying.

They finished their dinner, making idle chit-chat until Tifa paused and cleared her throat. Yuffie raised her eyebrows.

"I just had a thought."

"Yeah?"

"What about Vincent?"

Yuffie stopped picking at the last of her rice and laid down her chopsticks. "I've been thinking about that."

"And?"

She frowned hard. "I just… don't think I could ask him, Tifa."

Already knowing the answer, Tifa asked anyway. "Why not?"

"He's done enough favors for enough people and served so much in his life. I just… think he deserves some peace, and this won't give it to him."

Tifa sighed. "That's really mature of you, Yuffie." She scraped at her rice to no avail. Tifa never had been good at using chopsticks. Yuffie smiled a little, but it looked almost too heavy for her to hold. She looked tired.

Tifa put down her bowl and combed her fingers through her hair. She smelled like the dust in the scroll room, and there was dirt under her fingernails. "We could save him as a last resort in any case."

"Maybe…"

"Yuffie, if it's to save your entire country from having to adjust to a new ruler and to keep the throne in your family's hands, then I think Vincent would do it."

"I know, but I think he's Wuteng from his momma's side of the family. Wutai law is patriarchal. It has to be through the father."

She paused in picking at her nails to shake her head. "I know, I know. You told me."

Yuffie stopped to rub her eyes and yawn. How late was it really? Tifa couldn't find a clock in the room. Another thought struck her then. "Oh, what about Reeve? Is Tuesti a Wuteng name?"

"Same problem," Yuffie said around another yawn, her voice distorted.

"Do you know for sure his father wasn't Wuteng?"

"I called Reeve and asked."

Tifa frowned and rubbed the spot between her thumb and forefinger, feeling a headache coming on. She wondered if Cloud were taking good care of Marlene and Denzel. She hadn't spoken to them since yesterday, and she still didn't quite trust Cloud with the two of them. Her worrying nature always overrode her desire to trust him—or anyone else—with the kids.

She tried picking some of the dust out from underneath her fingernails, slightly disgusted at the result. "Well, is there anyone else you can ask? You've probably thought about this already, but what about someone from your...ah... what is that called? The Five..."

Yuffie rose from their floor-table and went to her dressing table. She returned with a brush, tore it through her hair with astonishing—and by the sounds of her hair ripping, painful—speed, then handed it to Tifa. She said, "When I beat my father in the Pagoda, I billed myself to be the Fifth Mighty God once he died. And the Mighty Gods can't have romantic relationships with each other."

Tifa worked the tangles out of her dusty black hair. "You'll have to explain this one to me."

Yuffie took a deep breath. "Prepare yourself for a short Wuteng reasoning explanation. You ready?"

Hesitating, Tifa stilled. Then she nodded. "I'm ready."

"Royals cannot fraternize with or marry any of the Mighty Gods for several reasons, one being the prevention of inbreeding, as well as a protection of the integrity of Wutai's central government." She sounded as though she had heard this spiel many, many times. "The Mighty Gods are the backbone of the royal family—the council, a board of directors. Relationships within the council must be kept placid and platonic to promote unity and clarity of thought."

Tifa blinked. "How many times did they repeat that to you in Princess-Ninja School?" She handed the brush back after carefully picking all the hair out of it. The mother of pearl handle shone in the low light.

"A lot. Like ten billion times."

"I'm guessing they've had some problems with this in the past?"

"Ohhhh, yes. A whole war happened because of it. It was one of Wutai's bloodiest civil wars. Bad breakup and all that mess."

"I see." Wutai would never cease to confound and amaze Tifa, no matter how much she heard about its past and its customs.

"And Shake's really the only option. Gorki's married, Chekov's a woman, and Staniv is too old. I couldn't ruin Shake's life like that. He's young, well, younger than me, and he's got a lot left to do, and I need him right where he's at. Other than me, the Mighty Gods are like the only stable thing this country has. My people are starving in the streets, Teef. I need strong government. And Shake's my friend. I can't make him a figurehead to change things like I can with someone else."

Tifa reflected on Yuffie's recent maturity. A combination of saving the entire planet twice and watching her father dwindle to nothing had carved some new facets in her friend. She yawned. "What time is it, Yuffie?"

Yuffie looked at the darkened window. She shrugged. "Late. I'm tired."

"Me too. Can we pick this up again tomorrow?"

"Sure thing, we'll go back down to the scroll room in the morning. Give the librarians fits. I'm going to bed, Tifa. Don't let the ninja cleaning ladies bite."

.

The date had been arranged, and Yuffie waited in her receiving room (she swore this palace had a room made for everything except maybe a standing-on-your-head-and-pretending-to-be-a-chocobo room) and awaited the arrival of the four suitable bachelors from the scrolls. Tifa could not be present for this event, and Yuffie felt very out of her element as several guards and some female attendants flanked her.

A separate parade of guards flung open the heavy double doors of the room, the swinging brass doorknobs knocking from the rebound. Yuffie shifted subtly in her heavy layered kimonos. Pale greens and yellows draped her today, bringing out the lighter colors in her skin and hair. The first kimono laid out for her had been an awful shade of puce—she'd have to have a talk with the new maid about what colors suited her—but thankfully, she'd remedied that. Her attendants had worked as hard as they could to make her hair semi-presentable, and her bob had been feathered, with beautiful pearl combs wedged behind her ears. She felt naked without her bandana, but lately, there had been no opportunity to wear it.

"Your highness," presented one well-spoken guard, bowing low. "The sons of the houses Shiga, Saitou, and Uryuu."

These were the only suitors they could drum up from the entire genealogy section in the library. She and Tifa had combed it thoroughly. Death, marriage, and age—either too young or too old—had marked most of their choices off the list. Many of the remaining men were engaged or betrothed. Young men of marriageable age, in the wake of the Wutai-Shinra war, were in high demand and short supply.

In a very shallow, superior manner, Yuffie bowed to them. Each of them bowed deeply in turn. The could only have gone lower if they had prostrated themselves before her.

"Good afternoon, sons of the houses Shiga, Saitou, and Uryuu. You are honored to be in the esteemed and high house of Kisaragi. I have called you here today to address the issue of matrimony between myself and one of you."

The smooth, cultured words streamed from her lips with ease, the practice of many good teachers and repetitive lessons over the years. She did not look it or act it, but she knew the ways. She just felt like the ways were full of shit, and she normally made that very clear. But today, no, today had to be special; she had to be on her best behavior, for today, she had narrowed her choices down to three likely suitors.

Now she had to determine which one was the most susceptible to manipulation.

"A meal will be served here in the reception room. Please, have a seat." She waved an elegant hand at the large, circular table before them.

"I am honored, your highness, to have been invited to the palace. I hope that our meeting will be fortuitous," said the eldest of the three men. Crows' feet lined his deep gray eyes, and she recalled that this one was Uryuu. A mop of thick black hair, shot through with silver, had been tied neatly at his neck.

Yuffie had gathered them here as a sort of test. How well did they comport themselves in front of what they must know would be her other suitors? How would they try to conceal their greedier desires? She looked forward to witnessing this spectacle.

She nodded, all demure innocence and vulnerability—do they buy it? Probably not. In fact, judging by the eyebrow twitch of the severe, skinny one, she thought they might know. Heck, her reputation most often preceded her.

"You will make a great ruler, Princess Kisaragi," the older man continued. She noticed a mass of scars around his jaw and chin, most likely a product of the Wutai-Shinra War. He looked to be old enough to have fought through it and survived it. "People tell of your exploits far and wide."

The three men waited expectantly for Yuffie to sit so that they might follow suit. She kept them standing a moment longer than necessary to make them uncomfortable.

"What have you heard of me?" She smiled. The wait-staff entered the serving doors with trays of food which they laid out before Yuffie and her guests.

The severe, skinny one with the obvious eyebrow-twitch, sneered at her. His eyes angled in the extreme, and an urge shot through her to stuff bread down his throat until he gained some weight. His sharp cheekbones and the harsh angles of his eyes unsettled her. Instead of responding to his snotty facial expressions, she turned her attention to the other one, who had just licked his lips at the aromas wafting from the dishes placed before them. When he saw her attention on him, he paled.

"I am honored to be invited to the palace to dine with you, your highness," he said in a rush. Despite herself, despite her best instincts, Yuffie found she liked him. Something about him reminded her of a big, nervous kid. He had a round, boyish face, wide eyes, and a generous mouth. His hair curled just a bit around his ears, a hint of some foreign blood in his genealogy. In that case, this must be Saitou Goro. His family owned a very successful catering company, and his great grandfather had been from Mideel.

Yuffie curled her lips away from her teeth in a winning smile. "Let us eat."

After she had grasped her chopsticks, the other three followed her lead. No one ate before the highest ranking member at a table, and no one ate without the ranking member's permission.

During the meal, her conversation skills would be key She would need to coax out their personalities to divine how they would act and how she might handle the one she chose.

"The reason I have called you here today," Yuffie said, then dotted a napkin around her mouth, despite there being nothing to remove there, "is that I am in the market for a husband. You see, I am of marrying age—"

The one with the face like a knife, Shiga, made a small sound that could be mistaken either for a snort or a cough.

"Perhaps you have food stuck in your throat, Shiga?" Yuffie asked, batting her eyelashes just a tad. Okay, so I'm long past marrying age for you stuffy bastards, but the point is, I needs me a husband so I can rock Wutai's world.

"Yes, your highness. It seems the rice does not agree with me."

Solemn, eyes wide, Yuffie said, "I will have my cook executed for dishonoring your palates in such a way."

Saitou and Uryuu looked alarmed, and Yuffie tried desperately not to laugh.

"I thank you graciously, your highness," Shiga said, with complete seriousness in his eyes and his small head-bow. He brightened a little, as if in inspiration. "It's good to see you taking your subjects well in hand." He sniffed. "People must know their place."

People, uh-huh. Sure. Strike one, Shiga, you fucking sociopath. "As I said, I am in need of a husband. When my father leaves this world and enters the arms of Da Chao, I and my chosen husband will take the throne of Wutai, as you all well know. I have called you here today because I have narrowed my choices down to the three of you."

At these words, Saitou rose from the table and prostrated himself before her in true Wuteng spirit. "I thank you, your majesty, for honoring me with the consideration of being your husband."

Whoa there, buddy. A little too subservient. Although... this could work in my favor.

She nodded to him, a miniscule movement. Any more exaggerated and she could be seen as bowing to her own subjects. "You may rise, Saitou. Please, tell me about your family business. I have heard from many a mouth the delectable nature of your food. I have heard you even serve Rufus Shinra himself."

"Oh, yes," he said, repositioning himself at the table and tucking a napkin into his collar. Big, healthy boy, this one. "I have met and shaken the hand of Rufus Shinra before. He has bestowed the highest compliments upon my family's catering service."

Open to Shinra; this could be advantageous.

"He has recommended your services for several events I have planned," Yuffie lied, smooth as Leviathan's fishy hide.

This launched Saitou into a long ramble about his family business, to which Yuffie listened with a half-cocked ear. She observed the actions of Shiga and Uryuu while Saitou prattled, not certain she liked what she saw. Uryuu stared off into the distance with a thoughtful, faraway look on his long face, and Shiga picked at his unusually long—and grotesque—fingernails with the end of a chopstick. Grossness.

"–and in the last year alone, we have served high-society parties not just in Wutai and Edge, but also in Mideel, Costa del Sol, and Junon. Word spreads fast these days on Gaia, it seems, your highness. By the way, this food is positively scrumptious. The Saitous could not have done it better themselves."

"Thank you, Saitou." Yuffie redirected her attention to Uryuu. The look on his face had snagged her attention. "Uryuu, I have been told of your extreme success in law."

"Yes, your highness, I have been a defense lawyer for many years," he said, his voice somewhat distant. He seemed uninterested in the whole affair—not impolite but also not connected to the events happening around him. Strange, that he would be disinterested in marrying the future ruler of Wutai. Yuffie wondered if maybe the older man had a girlfriend (or a boyfriend). Records indicated his status as unmarried, but he could be seeing someone.

"Do you enjoy your work, Uryuu?"

Shiga made that noise again. This time, Yuffie turned a frowning eye on him. "Does the food still not agree with you, Shiga?"

He cast an acidic gaze on Uryuu. "Lawyers do not agree with me, your highness." He sneered. Yuffie thought he had the perfect face for sneering.

Only fifteen minutes into the meal, and Yuffie already found herself tired of playing the nicey-nice game. She wondered if she were cut out for ruling the country. How did Rufus Shinra, or her father—her only real examples of rulers—conduct themselves? Did she have to act this way to get the job done?

The facade started cracking. She could feel it slipping from her, clinging like an oily skin. Time to do things her way.

"Seems like most stuff doesn't agree with you, Mr. Shiga," Yuffie said, and smiled a big, cheeky grin. The muscles in her face strained as she cranked the power. For his part, Shiga leaned back in his chair, his face wrenching like a Tonberry had just asked him on a date. "Oh, man, you look kinda sick. Want me to kill the cook's assistant too?"

An interesting shade of purple crawled up Shiga's face. "I beg your pardon, your highness. I—"

"Yeah, yeah, I know you didn't mean it, blah blah blah. The point about this whole thing is, I've been in the market for a new husband, like I said, and I wanted to test the three of you out, and well, you all failed. You, you, and you," she said, pointing to each of their shocked and/or outraged faces in turn. "Sorry, Saitou, you actually seem like a really neat guy. I don't think I can ruin your life by making you emperor of this place. You keep on with your catering service, and maybe I'll hire you one day."

"But, your highness—" Uryuu spluttered, suddenly interested in the goings-on.

"Oh, now you're all attentive, eh? You daydream a little too much, Mr. Uryuu. I'm afraid that knocks you out of the running."

She waited, for one of them to protest, to show some gumption. Nothing happened. Further failure on their parts: their last chance, lost.

"And you," she said to Shiga, "you're just too bloodthirsty, mister. I can't have another war on my hands, and I can tell just by lookin' you'd like the power to pee in someone's rice. Get yourself to a spa or something. You look like you swallowed a hornet."

With one final flourish of her bell-like sleeves, Yuffie waved them away. "You're all dismissed. Boy, was this boring."

She bowed to each of them, short and shallow and mocking, and then she dashed from the room with a train of guards hurrying after her. When she had finally eluded them all and found an empty room in her vast, dusty palace, she put her draped green back against the elaborate wall and slid to the floor with her head in her hands.

"Well, back to the drawing board."