Body Horror asked about pairings. Well, there's Zack/Rosso and Vincent/Kunsel so far, but I'd rather not reveal the rest yet. It would spoil the story. I do have girls in mind for Seph, Angeal and Genesis, but that's quite a way away.
Well, Genesis will be meeting his lady-love soon but the other two are going to have to wait a while. I'm not sure about Cloud or the other Tsivets yet but I'll get there.
Now, on with the plot!
Wave Function Collapse
Sephiroth had not been expecting Chaos to drop into his fight and capture Elfé, the leader of AVALANCHE. For one, the woman was a formidable fighter, almost on his own level. For another she had an impenetrable automatic defence that all his attacks bounced off. It seemed however that the shield was useless against his mother's tenant.
"Greetings little firefly, vessel of Zirconiade. We have business to discuss, your lord and I," Chaos informed his captive, his chorus-like voice as affable as his grin was unsettling.
Sephiroth lowered Masamune and waved back the tense and injured Turk sneaking out from behind him. Vincent wouldn't have let Chaos out without good reason and the General seriously doubted the being intended to harm the intriguing leader of AVALANCHE. Terrify, infuriate, trick and exploit, naturally; kill or permanently damage, no. The powerful and driven young woman was causing planet-wide disorder and panic and Chaos had a natural appreciation for people with the guts to do that kind of thing.
"Get off me!" Elfé spat.
"Not a chance, little firefly," Chaos crooned, leaning down to press his seven-foot frame against his prisoner's body. "He and I have much lost time to make up for and several issues to work out." The quasi-summon forced Elfé's left hand over her heart, shifted so her legs were firmly trapped between his knees, braced himself on the hand that was pinning her right hand to the floor and sang.
Sephiroth had always found the herald of OMEGA's peculiar voice rather pleasing to listen to, but he'd never heard Chaos sing before. The dozen or so layers in his voice all hit the same pure note, shifted apart to a chord then multiplied until there were hundreds of voices singing at least four entirely different tunes, each of which was a work of glorious choral symphony. The Silver General could feel his equipped Materia humming, resonating with the awe-inspiring music as even the Mako in his veins seemed to awaken and respond to the ridiculously complex harmonics that filled his ears and made him feel that much more alive.
As he listened raptly, lost in the beauty of the sound swirling around him, the whole world seemed to stretch and shift for a never-ending moment. Then the two-storey wall behind Chaos and Elfé exploded outwards in a blast of molten metal and an immense, six-armed summon coalesced in the air over Junon.
The music faded away as Chaos shifted himself and his captive around so he could face the new arrival. "Zirconiade," the herald of OMEGA said with a smile. "It has been too long."
The alien summon ‒Zirconiade‒ gestured with his arms and made an insect-like shrieking sound not unlike a Kelmelzer.
"I do indeed want something, Firebug," Chaos chuckled, "and I offer you a favour in return. Just a small one mind you; I do not ask for much after all."
Zirconiade looked interested, lower pair of arms folding across his stomach and middle pair on hand resting on his hips. The sound the summon made held a tone somewhere between inquiring and irritated.
"Not much, I assure you. Really, a little more faith. I'm making a sword on commission-"
Sephiroth just knew somehow that Zirconiade's hiss had meant 'what?'.
"It proved necessary, Firebug, and I do not begrudge the necessity," Chaos said placatingly, not once loosening his grip on the AVALANCHE leader, who had gotten over her frozen terror and was now trying desperately to escape while staring in horror at the looming summon outside. "Besides, I believe you will like what I have to offer you in return. Two matched blade rings for a clean and unbreakable bond to your little firefly here," he explained, inclining his head towards the struggling Elfé.
Zirconide looked down at Chaos' prisoner, who was trying desperately and futilely to throw off her captor; the herald of OMEGA wasn't even moving. The next insect-like chitter was thoughtful.
"What did you have in mind then?" Chaos probed curiously, ignoring the struggling women completely.
The six-armed summon flexed his intricately shaped, elytra-like wings, cracked his knuckles and smirked.
"Hmm..."
Sephiroth did not like the sound of that 'hmm'. He'd heard Hojo make that kind of thoughtfully musing hum before inflicting unspeakable agony on a test subject out of sheer curiosity. "Chaos," the Silver General said warningly.
"You ask that I restrain myself, little dragon? What is your interest in the little firefly?" Chaos asked, one eyebrow twitching suggestively under the rippling red ribbon-tendrils that swathed his head. Elfé looked torn between wanting to beg for mercy and telling the General she didn't want his pity. She'd also stopped struggling, recognising it was useless.
"She is a worthy enemy," Sephiroth said carefully, "and truly believes her cause is just. I have met very few who are able to match me with a sword." He couldn't mention his mother, the other two Generals or the younger Valentines in front of the Turk leaning against the wall behind him or say that he was intrigued by the fierce young woman who believed so passionately she was protecting the Planet, but hopefully the herald of OMEGA would get the message.
"True," Chaos conceded, "and my dearest paradox would be most displeased were I to thoughtlessly break or destroy her little knight's only child. So be it; I shall limit myself to that which her mind can assimilate immediately. Zirconiade, your contribution if you would?"
The two outer serrated, bone-like hooks hanging from the underneath of the gigantic summon outside dropped off, twisting in the air and embedding themselves deeply in the floor on either side of Chaos and Elfé, each at least ten feet tall.
"Perfect." The ring-hilted barbs crackled briefly with black lightning before vanishing. "My turn. Little firefly, do try not to scream your throat bloody." with that, Chaos' right hand fisted around Elfé's left more firmly, black tendrils seeping into the Materia fragment embedded in the woman's left hand and through into her chest. There was a brief pause and then the AVALANCHE commander shrieked, convulsing as black lightning danced along her skin and her head slammed into the metal flooring underneath her. Sephiroth winced; the herald of OMEGA seemed to be forcing out in minutes what he had spent over a fortnight painstakingly coaxing into being in each of the Generals. That had to hurt.
The looming summon overshadowing half of Junon dissipated away into nothing as the black energy coated Elfé like a cocoon, smothering her agonised screams as the scent of oozing fluids, Mako, ozone and pain filled the air.
"Chaos?"
"What is it, little dragon?" Chaos inquired nonchalantly, as if he wasn't pinning a writhing bubble of black energy to the floor.
"Why are you here in Junon today?"
"I sought the little firefly. I have been following the little knife behind you all day, ever since the attack on Midgar, in order to find her."
"How did you know that would lead you to her?" Sephiroth asked. Chaos just knew things sometimes and the Silver General wanted to know how that worked.
Chaos grinned, demented glee all over his ash-grey features. "When you can see the patterns it is not all that hard to see where they are going, little dragon. Especially when the players behave in such an orderly fashion." The way the quasi-summon said 'orderly' was utterly disdainful, as if the word tasted sour. Then the black lightning receded and Chaos rose abruptly to his feet, pulling Elfé with him. "My work here is done." With that he he released the AVALANCHE leader.
The woman stumbled backwards, black, elytra-like wings spreading and vibrating as she tried to remain standing. "What did you do to me?" she rasped hoarsely.
Chaos smirked. "You sought to steal the might of Zirconiade, the One who will Burn the World, little firefly. Such a dangerous presumption; your theft has permanently opened your soul to him. However the differences between human and summon are such that his power was killing you. I have simply ensured that is no longer the case: you will no longer be weakened by the Materia within you."
Sephiroth stared at Elfé; he couldn't help it. She now had pale bone rings around her forearms and calves, two long, antenna-like bangs that swept back from her face over the back of her head and ivory markings along her jaw in addition to the insect-like wings. The leader of AVALANCHE glanced down at herself, back at her wings, over at the Silver General then leapt out of the massive hole in the wall, wings blurring to stabilise her fall.
"Well, this is goodbye then," the herald of OMEGA said brightly. "Little dragon, little knife, I bid you both farewell." He spread his leathery wings and shot out of the hole, heading straight up into the sky. Sephiroth glanced over at the shell-shocked rookie Turk behind him, around at the mess then sighed and pulled out his PHS. The Mako cannon was secured, the terrorists were dead or running away and the President was still alive. He'd done what he had been summoned here to do and the rest was Veld's problem.
Chaos does his thing and casually releases a few more secrets. Order is so boring when you can literally see it forming around you.
I wonder who I'll do next. Veld perhaps? Cloud? Nero? Any suggestions or preferences?
