::The Last Avatar::
Gamer Edition
BOOK ONE
LEVIATHAN
1.16
Sayonara Wutai!
"Name?" asked the trooper in charge of taking her details. Rue rolled her eyes and slouched in her fold-up chair with her arms crossed.
"Rue," she stated boredly. The trooper stared at her for a moment and she sighed. "R.U.E. And don't ask for a last name, I'm not giving one, don't bother," she told him flatly. The trooper shook his helmeted head and wrote down her name as she'd spelt it before moving on.
"Age?" he sounded worried. Probably like she'd make it a big deal, Rue just wanted to laugh.
"Seventeen, I guess," she told him with a shrug.
"You guess?" Rue just looked at the ceiling of the tent and shook her head. She was desperately holding in a frustrated growl at the stupidity of this entire situation, though, as Angeal had pointed out, at least she didn't have to deal with Heidegger. They did.
"Yes, I guess, next if you please," the waved a hand at the trooper while still staring upward the whole time.
"Um, birth place?" he asked. He still sounded worried, but Rue figured he wasn't used to dealing with prisoners as it wasn't likely they often had the option. Rue pursed her lips as she considered the question, wondering if she should go with Modeo or not, she didn't know when the town had been founded and as such could be called out for it later on.
'Oh! I know! Tell them you were born in the Water Tribe!' Korra called from the peanut gallery. Rue barely repressed the urge to laugh at the idea, it would both confound Shinra and if anyone asked she could just say her mother moved to Modeo after she was born.
"The Southern Water Tribe," she stated without looking at the trooper. Rue smirked to herself, she could practically feel the frown the trooper likely had under the helmet and behind the scarf around his neck.
"I-I see, I don't think I've heard of it," he commented as he wrote her answer down.
"I wouldn't think you had," she told him lightly. He seemed to be waiting for her to elaborate, but when she didn't he moved on.
"Um, okay, I need a statement on why you were in Wutai and what you did there," he told her awkwardly. Inwardly she wondered if that was how she sounded when her own awkward came out.
"Okay then, lets see, I woke up around eight months ago in the Wutai forest with no memory of how I got there, shortly after waking I met General Sephiroth and Tseng of the Turks. During the meeting they took me to with the intention to bring me back here and then back home, I was taken prisoner by Godo Kisaragi, the Emperor of Wutai. His Lordiness then basically bullied me into helping him and his people, after a number of days I was sent out on a mission with no combat training or any real backup and expected to win the day just for existing. I should point out that I almost died, a lot, during that mission." Rue took a deep breath before continuing.
"I don't understand, why are you so important to the Wutains?" the trooper asked her before she could say anything else. Rue just rolled her eyes again and suppressed another growl.
"That information is highly classified," a familiar voice stated calmly. Rue immediately perked up when she saw Tseng walk through the tent flap followed closely by Tera who quickly made her way over to Rue to check her over for injuries. Rue petted the Coeurl's head and sent a smile at the stoic Turk, thankful she didn't have to answer that loaded question. Tseng nodded at her in greeting before turning his attention to the nameless trooper who was interviewing her. "Dismissed, I'll be handling things from here," he informed the trooper who immediately gathered his things and took his leave.
"Thank the gods in the sky, those questions were painful," Rue sighed with relief. Tseng chuckled softly at her as he took the seat the trooper had vacated and looked over what the other man had written. Of course it was at that exact moment that her screen writer decided to throw up a screen right in front of Rue's nose.
*Attack on the Capital*
Story quest #4
The capital of Wutai was under attack by Shinra.
For this quest you had one objective and a optional objective, both of which you completed.
Because you did the optional thing I've added in a little extra from me.
Enjoy shorty.
…
Get out of Wutai safely without getting noticed by Godo or the Wusheng.
Optional:
Protect the people of Wutai while they take refuge in the Imperial Palace.
…
800 EXP
200 AP
1000 GIL
+Potion x5
…
Optional Reward:
Leviathan Ring
…
'B's Special Reward:
A packet of Cherry Ripes(15)
For once Rue did not suppress the urge to swear as she automatically attempted to jump backwards in her chair away from the damn screen. No doubt Tseng would have known if she tried to not show her surprise and unexpected fright when the damn thing appeared. As it was the Turk raised an eyebrow at her choice of words when, from his point of view, nothing had happened to warrant such language. His other eyebrow joined it when her bonus prize of chocolate dropped onto the table between them along with the ring she'd earned by trying to help the people of Wutai. Tseng glanced from the table to Rue and back again, a subtle frown forming on his face as he tried to figure out where the items had come from. "Tseng, seriously, don't ask," she told him with a laugh. It wasn't the first time the hilarity of her own situation was presented to Rue and she doubted it would be the last.
"Hm, I think I'll take your advice," Tseng agreed while still eyeing the items on the table. "For now," he added as Rue picked up the ring to have a look at it. The teen winced at the words and gave a hesitant nod, that was undoubtedly a conversation she did not want to have with anyone. Least of all Tseng, who, like Sephiroth, would likely beat his head against the impossibility of it all until she could help him make the whole thing make sense.
"Great, I'll just look forward to that, shall I?" she sent him a cheesy grin before focusing on the ring in her hand. It was silver and shaped like a serpentine-like creature that only vaguely resembled the Leviathan Rue was familiar with. It was pretty cool though if she was honest.
"So, you want to answer that last question?" Tseng prompted her. Rue made a face and then sighed, studying him carefully before a thought occurred to her.
"Yeah, so, you're Wutain right?" she asked hesitantly. Tseng frowned and nodded slightly at her, not wanting to say anything verbal and she really didn't blame him. He worked for a company that was tearing his homeland apart after all. "Okay, so," Rue shifted in her seat. "Ever hear of the Avatar?" Tseng stared at her for a moment before standing and poking his head out of the tent. She couldn't hear what he said, but a minute later he was sitting back down on his chair looking a little uneasy. When Tseng ran a hand through his perfectly neat hair before leaning forward against the table Rue thought she might just start running the other way. Tseng was not supposed to look uneasy. Ever.
"The Avatar is a Wutain myth about a person born to be the Guardian of the Planet and granted certain powers," he explained carefully. He was eyeing her over the whole time and seemed more than a little on edge. "It isn't a well known myth, did you hear about it during your imprisonment?" It was almost like he was willing her to just say 'yes' as Tseng's dark eyes bore into hers, better that than the other thing. Rue snorted and leaned back, slouching once again as she rubbed Tera's ears. He wasn't going to like her answer.
"No, I didn't," she grimaced. Tseng's frown got a little less subtle and a lot more obvious.
"Then?" he prompted. Rue snorted at him, tilting her head slightly as she looked at him with a lopsided smile.
"Well, you remember what I did to that Anti-SOLDIER weapon of Godo's?" she reminded him.
"I remember," poor bastard was sounding wary now. Rue almost felt sorry for him, this shit was not going to make his job any easier.
"I didn't use Materia," Rue told him with a sigh. Tseng stared at her for a long moment before releasing a long breath, apparently trying to keep his shit together. He ran a hand through his perfect hair again. It was starting to look a little less perfect.
"I see," was all he said before standing. It was with bemusement that Rue watched the usually unflappable Turk begin to pace, this was certainly new. It didn't last long, of course, and Tseng sat back down as abruptly as he'd stood. "You're sure it's you?" he asked her quietly. Rue raised and eyebrow at him and shrugged.
"If sure means being able to Water Bend, having my own Past Lives chatting to me and each other in my brain and having access to the Avatar State then yes, Tseng, I'm sure," she told him flatly. Probably shouldn't have mentioned the Peanut Gallery to a Turk. Oh well, he can only think I'm crazier than he already does.
"I take it Godo gave you orders to assassinate Sephiroth or the President, which is why you surrendered," Tseng clasped his hands tightly on the table. Rue couldn't help it, the idea of assassinating anyone at this point was just laughable. Unless it was she could probably kill that particular lunatic with little problem in the moral department.
"And I take it that you didn't talk to Sephiroth, or anyone, before walking on in here," she told him with a grin.
"I don't follow-"
"Tseng, I didn't expect to see you here so soon," Sephiroth commented as he ducked through the door-flap. "Though it's probably good that you are," he added as Genesis and Angeal quickly followed.
"Well that least that answers the question of why there aren't any troops present to guard our 'prisoner' I suppose," Angeal sighed and grabbed a couple more of the fold up chairs for them to sit on. It seemed they were staying for a bit. Rue just raised an eyebrow at them, but didn't move from her slouched position. She did, however, notice that Genesis' eyes were locked onto the bag of chocolates she left unopened on the table. With a snort Rue turned to look down at the Coeurl at her side.
"Tera be a dear and drag my bag over here, I need to put this crap in it before Red makes a try for my chocolate," she gave Genesis a pointed look. The red head glared at her before looking away sourly. When Tera returned to her mistresses side with the blue satchel-like bag Rue tossed the new bag of chocolate in it along with the ring, which went in one of the smaller pockets. She didn't notice the surprised looks at her furry friend from the young men around her while Rue pulled out a few of the leftover chocolates from the last bag she'd won and tossed them at her companions. "There now stop pouting Red, you're face just might freeze that way and then you'd never get a date," she teased. Genesis opted to ignore her comment in favour of eating the Cherry Ripe he'd been given with a smug look on his lunatic face. Rue rolled her eyes at Sephiroth and Angeal as she tossed her own chocolately goodness into her mouth. "So what now?" she asked after a moment of happy chewing.
"Perhaps if someone could debrief me, we could figure that out together," Tseng pointed out patiently.
Now, after two days of those idiots trying to figure out what to do with her, Rue was boarding an airship headed for Midgar. Apparently the President wanted to meet the girl who went toe-to-toe with some of his best SOLDIER's and lived to tell about it. Or something. Honestly none of the lunatics she'd almost-sort-of befriended seemed to be too happy with that fact and Rue herself wasn't entirely sure how she felt about meeting the giant sausage of a man they called 'Mr President'. Somehow she doubted it would be a pleasant experience, Rue just hoped it wouldn't end in a giant robot farting its way into her presence.
It was almost disappointing that the ship wasn't the Highwind, but on the other hand wasn't all that surprising. Still, it would have been cool to see Cid when he was younger and less angry at the world. This airship was more of a luxury thing than any of the military vehicles Rue had seen so far and when she entered the main passenger area she found out why. Heidegger was apparently escorting them, or her rather, and planned to do so while lounging in this 'state-of-the-art' luxury airship. Rue couldn't help but shake her head at the sight of the not-quite-as-fat-as-he-would-be Heidegger reclined in a comfy chair with a glass of something in his pudgy hand.
"Heidegger, I wasn't aware you would also be making this trip," Tseng commented blandly as he stepped around Rue. The young woman raised an eyebrow as Angeal took hold of her shoulders gently and steered her away from Heidegger just as Sephiroth and Tseng distracted the irritating man so she wouldn't be drawn into a conversation with the fool. No doubt they wanted to keep her away from the Executive before her introduction to the President.
"Gyahahahaaa! The President insisted that someone official be here to watch over proceedings. As the Head of Public Safety I happily volunteered to oversee the transfer of the prisoner," Heidegger informed the General and Tseng while swirling the content of the glass in his hand. Rue didn't catch Sephiroth's quiet response as she was herded away, but whatever he said only made Heidegger laugh even louder.
Genesis had only remained seated with Rue and Angeal during the initial take off, then he'd muttered something about wanting to get some reading done and wandered off on them without another word. When Rue had raised a questioning eyebrow at Angeal he'd merely shrugged and told her that Genesis had a habit of vanishing at odd moments to read.
"Loveless, right?" she asked with a grin. Angeal chuckled and leaned back in his seat across from her, shifting his already large frame in an attempt to get a little more comfort from the chair.
"Indeed, though you'd think he'd read it enough times by now, he's only had it since we were children," he joked. Rue joined him in laughter, happy to be able to see a more relaxed side of Angeal, even if he wasn't all that relaxed right then. Then again, they were all probably a little more tense than they would have been if Heidegger hadn't been on board with them.
And then;
CONGRATULATIONS!
ACHIEVEMENTS UNLOCKED!
*Sayonara Wutai!*
Left Wutai for the First Time
*Prisoner of War*
You were Captured by the Shinra Army
*To the Sky*
Hopped a Ride on an Airship for the First Time
…
Acquired:
*Fire Nation Rue*
*Air Nomad Rue*
Rue blinked in surprise as she stared at the dancing words before her eyes, she'd just scored two new outfits just by getting on this damn airship. Scoring crap was starting to get a little too easy and now she thought about it, Rue was getting a little suspicious. Nothing was ever this easy. Ever.
Of course then she concluded that she was being taken to Shinra HQ and things were going to probably get a whole lot harder for her. Training was going to be hard, living was going to be hard and staying the fuck away from Hojo was going to be near impossible if he caught wind of her abilities. She really hoped Sephiroth had a plan in that regard, because she wasn't sure what she'd do if she came face-to-face with the creepiest scientist she'd ever seen. Rue would like to think she'd kill the sucker and be done with it, but she was quite certain she was just as likely to runaway screaming as put as arrow through his eye socket.
"Did your bag just get bigger?" brought her out of her thoughts. Blinking at the teenage Angeal, still freaking weird, sitting across from her and then glancing down at her bag, it did seem a little fuller, Rue shrugged at him.
"I dunno, maybe Red or Sephiroth stashed some more chocolate in it?" she offered. Angeal sighed, and Rue was surprised that he didn't think that her suggestion was all that implausible. Did those two have a chocolate addiction she didn't know about? Think of the possibilities!
It was a shame, but it seemed like Angeal wasn't in a chatty mood and the pair of them descended into a companionable silence neither seemed to feel necessary to clog with pointless banter. It was nice.
Until Rue got bored.
Probably not as bored as Tera was in the hold, but still bored.
Rue got a little random when she was bored. It was the only way she could kill it.
Angeal looked bored too as he leaned against the arm of his chair and frowned out the window. He really did frown too much. She should fix that, Rue decided with a thoughtful tilt of her head.
Crouching down in front of Angeal Rue reached up with both hands and poked at the corners of Angeal's mouth. Pushing them upwards in an attempt to make the boy smile. After a moment of enduring Rue's absurdly happy face at his forced smile Angeal pulled back and swatted at her hands.
"Stop that," he ordered her.
"But, Angeal, you don't smile enough," Rue complained dramatically. "You'll get frowny wrinkles," she added with a smirk. It was in this moment that Angeal decided Rue was spending too much time with Genesis. Even if she really wasn't in reality.
AN: Hello~ So I'm in a pretty decent mood today so I thought I'd post this up before I headed off to bed for some much needed sleep. Horay!
Anyway, we're finally leaving Wutai! Goddess I didn't think it would take so long to get out of there! Now we just have to get Rue in and out of Shinra in one piece...and preferably without any mental or emotional scarring...
As much as Rue knows the storyline for the FF7 universe, and she does know it, and as much as she would like to change things for the better...well...I think we can all agree that is likely where her abysmal luck is going to come into play a little more obviously. Personally I think she's using up all her good luck far too early in the 'game'. Ah well, we'll just have to wait and see what stupid shit she gets into during her stay at the company.
I got a review from a guest yesterday who requested longer chapters...well...this is a little longer? Honestly I don't really pay attention to how many words the chapters are until I'm posting them. I write until they feel done, simple as that. If a chapter has nothing more to say then I'm not inclined to force the issue. I'd much rather just move on to the next chapter and keep going forward. Besides, longer chapters means longer waiting time for all of you and I'm more likely to find something else to write about...needless to say I'm a full-time procrastinator.
OH! A few days ago I started sketching out a little comic of the Anvil Scene from Chapter 1.1 Comments from Invisible Companions. Only from 'B's side of things. I'm not sure if I should finish it or not, but I'll let you know if I do. Yey!
Poll for Rue's future arm candy is still up! Vote if you haven't!
If you do happen to vote in the 'someone else' category...tell me you're theory! I'd love to hear it!
As always, thanks for all the love guys! Review, faves and alerts are more than appreciated!
RLK