::The Last Avatar::
Gamer Edition
BOOK ONE
LEVIATHAN
1.6
Aftermath
Pain in her right shoulder was the first thing Rue was aware of upon her return to consciousness. She was so tired and her limbs felt like lead when she tried to move them from under the blankets that seemed to be covering her from toes to chin. Her eyes didn't seem to want to open either, but hearing the breathing of another nearby pushed Rue to open them despite her exhaustion wanting to drag her back down into the land of dreams.
The sight of a bleary and unfamiliar high ceiling made the tired teenager frown slightly, as did the much larger and better quality futon she was laying on. Turning her head Rue found herself looking down at a peacefully sleeping Yuffie sprawled out on the large futon beside her. The sight allowed Rue to breath a little easier, she was back at Godo's strong hold, alive, and, from the looks of things, had been upgraded to a much better room.
It really was better, larger for one thing and better furnished than her last one. Rue couldn't help but wonder tiredly if she had her own bathroom now, that had been a pain in the small room she'd been tossed into upon her arrival. Two bathroom breaks a day just didn't cut it most of the time.
Dropping her head back onto her pillow Rue decided she could check out her new living space later, after she slept a little more. Unfortunately 'B' seemed to have other ideas for her as Rue's vision was suddenly filled with dancing lights.
CONGRATULATIONS!
LEVEL UP!
You are now Level 07!
…
Current Stats
Strength: 8
Dexterity: 11
Vitality: 9
Magic: 9
Intelligence: 12
Luck: 6
…
Stat Points to Spend: 5
Rue wanted to groan in annoyance, they wanted her to think now? Holding back her tired irritation so as not to disturb the little girl beside her Rue focused on her stat points and pulling her left hand out from under the heavy blankets over her. It was a struggle, but she managed after a moment with minimal silent swearing on her part. She then proceeded to add her new stat points, by muttering under her breath. The last thing she needed was to wake Yuffie right at this moment.
New Stats
Strength: 9
Dexterity: 12
Vitality: 10
Magic: 10
Intelligence: 13
Luck: 6
…
Confirm?
"Confirm," Rue murmured quietly. She silently hoped this was all she was required to deal with right now, but with that nasty feeling it wasn't Rue braced herself for more thinking ahead as she dismissed the screen before her. When a new screen did not immediately take its place Rue found herself frowning again, she'd been sure that there would be more screens. Settling in to hopefully get some more sleep Rue glanced once more around her new room and was about to close her eyes when 'B' struck with another screen in front of her face.
CONGRATULATIONS!
Quest Completed!
*Survive Your First Mission for Wutai*
Story quest #2
…
Well you barely survived that one and managed to just barely score two out of the three bonuses by the skin of your teeth.
Not only did you defeat the camp leader, but you managed it while staying over the 50% HP limit.
Barely.
By like, one health point.
And I'm not even fucking kidding brat.
One. Point.
Better enjoy that Materia.
…
Here are your spoils:
1000EXP
200AP
1500GIL
Icicle Arrow Limit Break Manual
Ice Materia(*)
…
You thought I was done with you already?
Ha! Not likely!
The expletives that wanted to pour from Rue's mouth at that moment were only barely held in for the simple reason that she couldn't deal with this shit and Yuffie at the same time. Rue had just closed her eyes in an attempt to calm her shit when something bounced off her skull and onto the futon to rest between herself and the sleeping child. Assuming this was her new Ice Materia Rue opened her eyes in time to get a face full of small paper back book to the face. With a frustrated sigh she peeled the book off her and gingerly sat up to have a look at her newest acquisitions. Noting how her shoulder ached and was wrapped with bandages beneath a loose white shirt she didn't remember owning Rue plucked the Materia from Yuffie's reach before the girl could nick it when she awoke and dismissed the screen. Rolling it between her fingers Rue frowned as she studied the second green orb, it was a one star like the first two she'd obtained. Useful though.
CONGRATULATIONS!
LEVEL UP!
You are now Level 08!
…
Current Stats
Strength: 9
Dexterity: 12
Vitality: 10
Magic: 10
Intelligence: 13
Luck: 6
…
Stat Points to Spend: 5
This time Rue was unsuccessful in her attempt to hold her surprise in as more brightly coloured words appeared before her eyes without warning. "Mother fucking fucker-bastards-fuck!" were all she could say as the Ice Materia slipped out of her hands from the surprise she'd just had. Thankfully she didn't say them loudly and Yuffie only stirred slightly. Eyes wide as she breathed deeply through the nose to calm herself down Rue continued to rant in her head, if she ever got her hands on 'B' she was going to murder the woman.
For the second time in a matter of minutes Rue added five more points to her stats while she retrieved her new Materia from where it had rolled to down the blankets. It was nice that she was leveling up so quickly, but she doubted it would be this easy for long. They were probably trying to lull her into a false sense of security before throwing her even further into the deep end.
New Stats
Strength: 9
Dexterity: 14
Vitality: 10
Magic: 11
Intelligence: 13
Luck: 8
…
Confirm?
!*~*~*BONUS SCENE*~*~*!
"Are you both really telling me that you pulled me out of my first solo mission because you two couldn't get along for a few more days?" Angeal's exasperation with his two friends was almost tangible. When he'd gotten the message that he was needed back at Shinra's base of operations further south Angeal had thought it would be for something far more important than Genesis and Sephiroth having a, relatively small, disagreement.
"We are getting along fine, Angeal, it was Genesis that sent the message, without authorisation, as I have already explained," Sephiroth told him evenly. The look he shot Genesis, however, belied his irritation with the other teen and the red head simply snorted and crossed his arms in defiance.
"It's hardly my fault you're being insufferable Sephiroth, and don't look at me like that Angeal, you weren't here when he got back, you don't know how impossible he's been," Genesis flicked his hair out of his blue eyes dramatically as he leaned back against the tent pole. "Infinite in mystery is the Gift of the Goddess," he quoted loftily as if that explained everything.
Angeal was unable to resist the urge to press his fingers to the bridge of his nose as he sighed. It was the same non-argument he'd heard since he'd landed five days ago, and neither Genesis or Sephiroth appeared willing to explain the problem, though it was obviously about something that had either happened on Sephiroth's last mission or after he god back.
"And yet, neither one of you will tell me the 'how' or 'why' of this particular argument," Angeal pointed out for the umpteenth time. He didn't expect an answer, both his friends were being remarkably tight lipped for once. In fact it seemed to be the only thing about the entire situation that they seemed to agree on. Looking from one to the other once again he found neither of them able to quite meet his eye, though he doubted it was for the same reasons. Sephiroth almost seemed embarrassed, of all things, and Genesis seemed to just not want to talk about it at all. For one reason or another.
"He was obsessing," Genesis finally muttered after a moment of extended silence.
"I was not obsessing, Genesis, I was simply trying to deduct where she got the Ice Materia and how she managed that amount of control of it when she'd seemed perplexed about how they worked when gave her my spare Restore," Sephiroth explained quietly as though he'd already said as much a number of times.
Angeal blinked, this was the first he'd heard of a 'she' in all this. Surely this wasn't about a-a girl?
"You came charging into camp and tried to requisition a chopper so you could go charging into Kisaragi's stronghold, alone, to 'rescue' some girl you barely know," Genesis replied with some heat. "I don't know what Tseng said to you to change your mind, nor do I want to frankly, but don't tell me that you haven't been obsessing when you have asked me at least twelve times if I think that your new friend is being treated well," Angeal watched with a small sense of disbelief at what he was hearing. Genesis stormed from the tent after saying, or half yelling, his piece and neither Angeal nor Sephiroth tried to stop him.
"So," Angeal began after a moment. He wasn't sure what was really going on, but it almost seemed as though Sephiroth had finally hit puberty or something like that.
"Her name is Rue, she is from Modeoheim and has a pet Coeurl named Tera. She had a bow with her but no arrows and had no idea where she was before I found her, Tseng agrees that she is a civilian," Sephiroth began quietly. He was leaning over his desk with his back to Angeal as he spoke, that in itself was curious."She was with us when we began talks with Kisaragi, when it went south Tseng helped her find cover before she could get hurt. She told Tseng to pass along a message of: 'Stay safe, I don't want to have to use all my potions and MP patching you two up'." He almost sounded fond of the girl and Angeal couldn't help but smile a little at that.
"Sounds like she has a bit of fire in her," he commented with good humour. Sephiroth glanced back at his friend and nodded with a small upward curl in the corner of his mouth, Angeal would have missed it if he didn't know what to look for.
"Wutai has a new form of weapon for fighting SOLDIER or that's what I assume it was for, unfortunately when Kisaragi had the thing unleashed it went after Rue instead of me," turning Sephiroth leaned against the desk with his arms folded.
"I assume you killed it before she could be injured?" Angeal asked. It was obvious this had effected Sephiroth in some way, it was just figuring out how that was the key. He was distracted when Sephiroth shook his head solemnly.
"Not I, no, Rue must have had an Ice Materia on her before we met because one moment she was running around the battle field trying to get away from the monster and the next it was encased in ice. She collapsed directly after, we had to get out of there before something else went wrong, so between Tseng and I we managed to get her back on her feet. We were almost at the tree line when Kisaragi decided he wanted her, he wouldn't say why and when I refused he stole her and retreated before I could retrieve her." He looked at Angeal now, face smooth but his eyes were a mass of swirling emotions Angeal had never seen in his friend before and his jaw was tense. "She called out to me, Angeal, she called out and I didn't save her," It seemed they'd reached the heart of Sephiroth's current issues. It wasn't likely that Angeal's, reasonably new, friend had ever failed at anything before now. At least at nothing Sephiroth himself had deemed important.
"You will," Angeal told Sephiroth after a moment. Surprised green eyes met with Angeal's blue ones, he likely hadn't been expecting support after dealing with Genesis' dramatics after the incident itself. Angeal had his own suspicions as to why Genesis had reacted the way he did, but that was a problem for later, right now, Sephiroth needed his encouragement. "It might take a little while, but we will save her. You just have to be a bit patient until we have an opening," he told his friend gently. Angeal walked over and placed, what he hoped was, a comforting hand on the other teens shoulder as he spoke. It was likely the conversation would have continued if Genesis hadn't strode back into the tent with unusually wide eyes.
"Angeal, I think you might be glad I called you back now, we just found out that your squad was almost completely wiped off the map a few days ago, Barclay is dead, along with more than half the squad," Angeal's mouth went dry at the news. Genesis looked at Sephiroth uncertainly, "there's more," he added after a moment. When he got the nod to continue Genesis almost seemed to squirm a little in discomfort, "The arrow has left the bow of the Goddess. Barclay and some of the others, they were killed with a bow."
!*~*~*~*~*!
"Done," Rue said with a sigh as she leaned back against the wall behind her. She'd just finished reading the Limit Break manual she'd been awarded, it was interesting and required her to be able to water bend, but was definitely something she was looking forward to pull off. It sounded cool, in every way. You are so lame sometimes, you know that Rue? Rolling her eyes at her peanut galleries observation Rue glanced down at the still sleeping Yuffie. She considered it a miracle that the little girl hadn't woken up yet, but doubted that her little slice of peace would last much longer considering it was edging towards midday.
As if the thought was a summons the door to her room slid open to admit both Godo and Keiko entrance, the latter holding a tray of food that made Rue's stomach growl suddenly in reminder that she hadn't eaten since before her mission in the forest and that breakfast had been promptly evacuated after that first battle.
"I see you're up, a good thing, Yuffie was growing quite impossible the longer you slept," Godo said evenly. He seemed to be uncertain about something, though what that was Rue wasn't sure of. Keiko smiled warmly at Rue as she approached and placed the tray across the teenager's lap gently.
"Sorry for being so inconveniently injured your lordyship," Rue sighed. She didn't bother to hide the sarcasm, her anger at him beginning to make itself known. Quite certain that if Yuffie and Keiko weren't in the room she'd already be tearing Godo a new arsehole, Rue focused on the light meal in front of her to stop herself from saying something stupid. "How long was I out?" she asked them after she'd taken a few mouthfuls of what she could only identify as rice porridge. It wasn't bad, just different.
"Roughly two days," Godo answered. Seemed he'd chosen to ignore the sarcastic comment for now, Rue was thankful for small mercies. She nodded and continued to eat her meal without another word. Her anger at the man was being overrun by horror, disgust and guilt piece by piece and by the time she finished the rice porridge Rue's hands were shaking uncontrollably. Keiko had to help her with the water as Godo watched her slowly break down into silent, but violent sobbing that sent tremors through her body with each breath she took. Her grief didn't begin to subside until a tiny hand on Rue's cheek brought her out of the forest and back to the present.
Yuffie had woken up and found her new friend almost hysterical with only one of the servants who brought Rue's meals trying and failing to give the sobbing teenage girl any form of comfort while her father watched with a look she'd never seen present on his usually stern face. When Rue's teal eyes met with the little girl's browny grey ones Yuffie found herself on the verge of tears from the immense sadness she saw within her friend's eyes. Without a word Yuffie's little arms wrapped around Rue's neck in hopes of helping her friend just a little bit; she didn't understand why Rue was sad, just that she was and that no-one else was making it better. If her father had anything to do with it, well, he'd be hearing what she thought of that.
AN: Okay so this chapter was unexpectedly hard to write. I got to where I ended it and couldn't think of any more that would add to it so I figured I'd leave it there.
The good news is I have, while writing this chapter, written out the entire timeline for all four books\arcs of the story. Not in any detail, mind, just the basics, but it is IN ORDER so that's something.
It also meant I had to go around doing age math again, just to keep things consistent. So if anyone needs to have that clarified, let me know.
I am trying to keep to cannon for this fic as much as possible and, while I'm sure there are plenty of 'I'm going into FF7 and fixing everything' fics out there...this isn't exactly...going to be one of them...more or less...because she isn't initially there to 'fix' things in the main plot. She's there to bring balance and other Avatary things. So while Rue will want to help out, she'll be urged to focus on other things. Like her bending and the problems with the Spirit World\Lifestream...
As such, any romance that is involved, and I'm still not sure there will be much if any, will likely be (hopefully) quite subtle so as not to take from the actual plot and won't appear fully until much, much later on. Think the ends of books three and four. Even then, it won't be a major thing.
The paring is decided though, for the most part.
Also. Sequel.
That is all.
Thanks for reading, faving, alerting and reviewing!
R.L.K