::The Last Avatar::
Gamer Edition
BOOK ONE
LEVIATHAN
1.15
Pot Meet Kettle
As Rue stared into the palest green eyes she could have ever imagined she came to the conclusion that she was fucking bat-shit insane. The edge of Masamune was inches from her throat, and she had an ice shard as long as her arm to Sephiroth's in a mirror image. Apart from her actually physically touching the ice anyway, because that shit was floating mid-air.
With a long exhale to calm her shit, Rue dropped her arms and the ice shard liquefied, the water dropping to the ground with an audible 'splot'. Sephiroth was quick to remove his blade the moment the threat to his person was removed. He tucked the blade behind his back, the tip pointing to the sky and away from the soft squishy people around him. To say Rue was relieved to see that happen would have been a vast understatement.
"I see Angeal and Genesis were correct in saying you are now capable of defending yourself," he commented after a long moment. Rue stared at him, more than a little perplexed at his sudden appearance.
"Oh, um, yeah, got some lessons," she told him distractedly. Her brain was still trying to wrap itself around him being there. He nodded and then turned slightly to glance behind him and Rue heard more boots crunching on the ice. As Sephiroth was directly in front of her she couldn't see who it was, so she curiously leaned around him, finding both Angeal and Genesis walking towards the pair of them. Both looking a little disgruntled, if not worried. Rue straightened and shook her head, trying to find a plausible explanation for their presence. Shouldn't the three of them have been breaking the Palace apart and ending the war or something by now? She frowned at that thought. No. The end of the war was Fort Tamblin, when Zack tore-or would tear-the place apart. If her math was right, which was rare, Zack was only twelve or something at this point in time.
"Okay, we found the brat, can we leave now?" she heard Genesis ask. He sounded grumpy, probably hadn't killed enough people before breakfast or something. Rue grinned and strolled around Sephiroth's tall form, because really, who was that fucking tall? And waved at the pair as the walked closer.
"Hey Red, how's the coat?" she asked with a shit-eating grin on her face. Genesis glared at her and then shifted his ire at Sephiroth, before storming up to her and looming at her.
"Give me one reason why I shouldn't burn you to cinders right now," he growled at her. Rue just grinned at him, because, really, she was standing in front of a fountain. She was going to point that out, but Tera decided to make her presence known by pouncing on the red head without even a growl of warning. Genesis toppled over at the unexpected weight with an undignified 'oof' and Tera began to growl warningly at him as she remained perched on his leather clad back.
"How's that for a reason?" Rue snickered at him. She heard a small puff of air escape from Sephiroth beside her that could have been either a laugh or a sigh, perhaps a bit of both.
"I take it Genesis isn't in any actual danger?" Angeal raised an eyebrow. His gaze flitted between Rue and Sephiroth curiously and Rue just grinned at him, deeply amused by the swearing pouring out of the red clad lunatic on the ground.
"Nah, not today, Tera's just giving him a warning," she assured the buff brunette.
"Rue," rolling her eyes at the warning in Sephiroth's tone Rue clicked her fingers to get the irate Coeurl's attention. Tera's head snapped up and golden eyes focused on Rue who nodded her head sideways to signal her furry friend to get off the teenage boy trapped beneath her. Tera, to her credit, only huffed before clambering off Genesis' back and padding over to side beside Rue, watching the three boys carefully, ready to pounce again if need be.
"What in the Goddess was that? And can I kill it?" Genesis demanded as he peeled himself off the icy ground.
"That would be the Coeurl Rue keeps for a pet," Sephiroth informed his friend. The small hints of amusement lacing his voice only made Rue's grin broaden. Genesis looked from Sephiroth, to Rue and then down slightly to look at the creature that had pinned him to the ground. "Tseng will be relieved to hear he is not the only one who suffered the embarrassment of being caught unaware by Rue's rather protective pet," was then added as an after thought. Rue had to close her eyes to block out Genesis' face in order to stop herself from laughing, the look of anger, confusion and barely hidden mortification being too much. Instead of focusing on the hilarity, Rue opted to turn to the very straight faced Sephiroth.
"How is our favourite Turk?" she asked him while trying to keep a lid on her amusement. She suspected the grin on her face that wouldn't stop was hindering that effort. Sephiroth tilted his head at her slightly before answering, seeming to think carefully before he spoke.
"He is, well, as far as I know. He was also concerned for your safety," he told her with a slight frown on his face. Ah. Rue had a feeling she was about to get the guilts badly. She glanced at the other two. Yeah. Angeal had a frown on his face again and Genesis, well he always seemed to look at least irritated. Maybe that was just her though.
"Oh, well, that was nice of him, to worry-about me and all-I mean, I was fine-I mean I am fine, totally fine, everyone's fine," she rambled awkwardly. The frown on Sephiroth's face seemed to deepen, though his mouth barely shifted, Rue was certain his eyebrows twitched downward a little. Angeal raised an eyebrow at her and Genesis snorted in amusement, the sound brought Rue's brain back to speed and heard what she had just said. With that, her anger returned and turned her own frown on all three of them. "No, I take that back, I'm not fine and neither are the people of Wutai," Rue turned her attention to Sephiroth and her teal eyes thinned as she poked him in the chest. "What the hell is wrong with you?! Why would you just let troops, that you supposedly lead, attack innocent people for the simple reason of 'they exist'?!" she exploded at him. Holy fuck nuggets, I think I just yelled at Sephiroth. God damn it mouth, stop talking! She didn't even want to contemplate the fact that she'd just poked him.
A single silver eyebrow arched at her, but even with her heart in her throat, Rue wasn't going to back down or apologise, he was the fucking General and should be doing something about this shit. Of course she also fully expected Masamune to skewer her any moment. Sane or not, this was Sephiroth she was dealing with.
"I see," he sounded amused. Oh god, I'm going to die. Rue mentally braced herself to be turned into a shish kebab. "And how would you suggest I stop that, then?" she asked her. Rue blinked, stared at him, he was serious, and then blinked again. Wait, what?
"Um, call the attack off?" she suggested slowly. The confusion over not being dead yet wasn't abating and probably wouldn't until the situation was resolved or Rue was dead.
"For what reason?" Sephiroth's face was perfectly blank as he asked and Rue wasn't entirely sure why they were even talking about it.
"The hell would I know? You're supposed to be the genius super-soldier-war-men-things you figure it out!" all three of them stared at her silently. Genesis was the first to break the awkward silence with a snort as he tried to contain his laughter, it wasn't going well if the shaking of his shoulders was anything to go by. "What?" the fact that she even asked seemed to send the red head over the edge. The longer Genesis laughed the more Angeal's mouth twitched as he tried to keep his own amusement at bay.
"Super-soldier-war-men-things?" Angeal asked her after a moment of them all watching Genesis break down. Hearing Angeal say it only seemed to make it worse for the red head though and his laughter only redoubled as he held his stomach and tried to stop. Rue raised an eyebrow and took in all three of them carefully before focusing back on Angeal.
"You're right, I amend that remark, you are a trio of, admittedly stupidly enhanced, teenage boys and are prone to stupidity due to your raging hormones and all that jizz," Rue threw back at them with an unimpressed look on her face. The smile she gave them at the end in complete contrast to her tone and words. Thankfully that seemed to sober Genesis up and Angeal looked away from her and coughed uncomfortably. Rue turned to Sephiroth and raised an eyebrow of her own right back at him which he seemed to find amusing.
"I suppose we could call in that we've located Wutai's secret weapon and made a deal to pull out if said secret weapon surrenders to us," Angeal proposed thoughtfully. It seemed he was going to at least try to remain professional if Genesis wouldn't.
"Do you believe that said secret weapon could escape all three of us should we decline this proposed deal?" Sephiroth asked after taking a moment to mull over Angeal's words. Rue frowned at the pair of them, she wasn't sure she liked where this was going. Angeal crossed his arms as he eyed Rue, Tera and the area over before answering.
"Considering she's standing in front of a working fountain and all the ice in the area, not to mention the Coeurl I'd say it would be entirely possible, particularly when none of us," he shot Genesis a look, "are willing to injure her to any real degree," Angeal finished with a decisive nod. Both Genesis and Rue were frowning, though for different reasons, at the other two. Tera shifted next to Rue, sensing her mistresses uncertainty and rubbed her face against Rue's hip. Rue closed her eyes and tried to calm herself down before looking at her furry friend, rubbing the Coeurl's ears with a small smile as she waited to be included in the conversation.
"The President won't like it," Genesis reminded his friends before the plotting session ended. Angeal, however, shook his head in disagreement.
"Not necessarily, whenever Rue is on the battle field for the Wutians we end up taking fairly heavy losses. In one way or another. Not only is she a decent fighter, but it seems like the Wutians fight harder when they know she's present," Angeal pointed out. Rue snorted at that, none of that was really her fault and as for Shinra taking 'heavy losses' because of her. Well. She really doubted it.
"That's because they see me as the answer to you three, Godo was fully intent on throwing me at you and have me decimate you," she snorted again, "at least that was the plan, sorta shot that in the face early on when I told him if he threw me at Sephiroth I'd change sides just to piss him off," Rue grinned at them.
"You would have?" Sephiroth asked. He almost sounded curious now and Rue shrugged at him as she shifted her stance a little.
"Eh, maybe, just for that battle anyway," when he frowned at her again Rue sighed loudly. "Until now I had shit to do here, okay? I was on my way out when you guys decided to start bombing the shit out of the place," hand on her hips she was sure she would have been more intimidating if she'd been a tad taller.
"You were leaving?" Angeal asked her. Apparently needing clarification on that fact. Rue growled and turned, walking over to where she'd been standing next to the fountain and hefted her bag back over her shoulder.
"Yeah, I was, and then there was a war zone on my friend's front porch, so I figured I should probably try to help some of the nice people who have been helping me out for the last eight months or whatever," she snapped at them. When the three idiots looked at each other, seeming to come to some sort of silent agreement, which probably included Angeal throwing her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes Rue found her temper flaring again. They seemed to be deaf to the gunfire and screaming civilians in the city around them. "Hey! Can we please get back to the fact that people are dying some time today!?" she yelled at them. Her hands had waved automatically as she yelled and whatever it was she'd done made at least Angeal take a step back as all three boys stared over her shoulder.
"You should probably watch that," he commented as Rue continued to fume silently. She huffed and looked behind her, only to find the fountain completely frozen over. Looking back to their slightly wary looks Rue snorted in angry amusement, if they knew half of what she could really do they'd probably either kill her or run the other way.
"Then maybe you should do something instead of staring like stunned mullets," she pointed out. Angeal opened his mouth to say something when-
"Angeal, make the call," Sephiroth told his friend. Angeal blinked and then nodded, pulling out his phone as he walked away from them a little to make the ordered call.
Rue eyed Sephiroth over with a dubious look as he and the other two practically herded her towards the military grade helicopter waiting outside partially ruined city.
"How exactly is this going to work?" she asked after a moment of deliberation. He didn't look at her, probably because there were other troopers present to see them and didn't want to draw too much attention. Not to mention she was supposed to be a prisoner or something now.
"We'll take you to the main base at first, but the President will probably want to see you when he hears about this," Angeal told her quietly. Rue looked up at him as he walked at her right with Genesis directly behind her with Tera right next to him. It seemed the Coeurl was pawing at Sephiroth's hair every now and then while Genesis tried not to laugh at the sight. It made Rue want to shake her head in exasperation.
"Probably should avoid using that 'magic water' of yours as well," Genesis purred smugly into her ear from behind. Rue had to hold back a great deal of expletives as she jumped near a foot in the air. She had not been expecting that and wanted to punch the bastard for the unwanted shiver it had caused.
"It's called Water Bending, pyro, and if anyone here is in need of restraint it would be you," she snarked back at him over her shoulder. She felt him pull at a strand of her hair in reprimand.
"Touche, brat," he told her with a snort.
"Pot meet Kettle," was her only retort as they boarded the helicopter.
AN: You see what happens when I have a working keyboard? Chapters come out a lot faster! Also this chapter was fun to write even though it was all dialogue and I was kinda being a dick to Genesis.
Wave goodbye to Yuffie, the Wusheng and Godo, they will only be in Bonus Scenes if at all for the rest of, at least, Book One. I don't actually know how many chapters are left of Book one, but we are on the tail end now. The next chapters will likely be about character progressions and set up for Book Two. Also a few of the little scenes I've already written will likely make an appearance.
A reminder that I have a poll up on my profile for you to tell me who you think Rue will end up with, it will be staying up until the pairing is revealed in Book Three.
Anyways, hope you enjoyed and I will see you next time!
As always, thanks for all the alerts, faves and reviews, they make my day a happy one!
RLK