::The Last Avatar::

Gamer Edition

BOOK ONE
LEVIATHAN

1.21

Moments at Shinra

It was the smell that woke her, Rue was sure of that as she dragged her exhausted ass out from the cocoon of blankets she'd ended up wrapped in. Pancakes. She could smell pancakes and her stomach was growling insistently, reminding her of the lack of proper food she'd been subjected to lately. With a tired grumble Rue shuffled out into the living area, she immediately zoned in on Angeal who had his back to her as he cooked, but Genesis gave her a wave from his seat on one of the benches that wasn't taken over by cooking things. The motion seemed to catch Angeal's attention as he turned just in time to see Rue wave back half-heartedly.

"I wasn't expecting to see you awake for a while," he told her with a smile. Both boys waved her over and seemed to get some amusement from her tired, wobbly, zombie-shuffle-walk as she made her way over. Rue grumbled at them both and collapsed dramatically on one of the other free benches.

"M'hungry, food good, jail food baaaaaad," was all she could manage at this point. Genesis snorted in amusement at her, and Rue was vaguely thankful that she was a bench away from the idiot. No doubt he would have harassed her in some form, though it was unlikely that she was completely safe. She probably also would have broken her hand hitting the smarmy bastard in retaliation if he was closer to her.

"Ah, yeah I suppose they wouldn't have been feeding you much the last few days, well pancakes all 'round then," Angeal said with a chuckle. Rue only grumbled something unintelligible in response as she waited for the food to be ready for her to inhale before returning to sleep. Although. Come to think of it…

"How long was I out?" she asked them tiredly.

"About four hours, you were out like a light, so I figured you wouldn't be up and about until at least lunch," Rue's head popped up from resting on top of her arms.

"Four? I was-fuck nuggets-no wonder I'm still tired," she grumbled.

"Fuck nuggets? Really?" Rue turned slightly to glare at Genesis.

"Yes, Red, fuck nuggets, now shush," Rue rubbed her temples as she tried to clear the cobwebs out. Thinking was required now and her sleepiness wasn't doing her any good. Besides, she suspected there would be a fight for the best pancakes between her and Red and she would be needing her wits for that. Pancakes were serious business after all.

It was only after the pancake war that someone decided to knock on the door. Angeal had been watching the duel between Rue and Genesis with barely stifled amusement and jumped up swiftly the moment he heard the sharp rap on his front door. Rue barely noticed, Genesis had swiped the last pancake and she was busy glaring at him as he smirked at her while steadily chewing. Smug bastard.

"I'm relieved it was you who found her Angeal, I'm not sure what would have happened if it had been someone else," that got her attention. Rue turned to see Tseng entering the living area beside Angeal, however it was the people behind them that kept Rue's gaze. Reno and Rude had tagged along it seemed, probably curious about the girl who'd told the President off for smoking. Because, really, what the hell had she been thinking?

"Hey Dot-Man, how's it going?" Rue greeted with a smile. Tseng frowned at her in disapproval before nodding to Genesis, Rue wasn't surprised, no doubt her disappearance from the cell last night had had the Turks on edge. Not to mention where she'd been found. Who willingly went into the Science Department, after all?

"So this is the chicky who busted outta the clink?" Rue did not resist the urge to roll her eyes at Reno. Although she did note that the red head was lacking the ponytail he was so well known for and Rude was not sporting quite so many piercings on his ears. Still freaking weird.

"Yes, Reno, this is she, now if you don't mind Rue, we'll need to ask you a few questions," sharp dark eyes turned back to Rue. Most people probably would have felt daunted by that look, but it was still too fucking early for this shit and Rue couldn't be bothered being intimidated at this point.

"Sure, Dot-Man, I got nothing better to do right now except bother Red or sleep," pulling herself up off the chair she was sitting on Rue smiled tiredly at the Turk. Tseng motioned for them to head over to the couches and Rue shuffled over, moving slowly so she didn't fall on her face from sleepiness.

Once they were seated Tseng pulled out a notebook and pen before looking at her calculatingly, it was obvious he was trying to figure something out before they started. What that was, however, was beyond her.

"Alright, we'll start from the beginning," he began. Rue raised and eyebrow and sat back on Angeal's couch, wondering which beginning he was referring to because she was so not going into that first meeting right now. Her brain wasn't working well enough to form good enough lies, not for a Turk.

"Shoot," Rue prompted as cheerfully as a sleep deprived teenager could.

"Where did the safe come from?" he asked her flatly. Rue stared at him blankly, her mouth worked as she tried to formulate a good explanation. All that came out of her mouth was a whoosh of air unfortunately and she threw up her arms.

"I got nothin'" she said helplessly. Tseng raised an eyebrow at her and Rue sighed. "Look, even if I told you, you wouldn't believe me so what's the point, Tseng? Would you rather I lie and tell you it was a coincidence? Or lie and tell you I'm super magical and can conjure random objects? Because I can do that, if it would make you feel better," she said flatly. They all stared at her for a moment silently, maybe she'd spoken too fast? She did that sometimes.

"I…see," Tseng was frowning at her slightly. Though as before in Wutai, Rue had a feeling that this wouldn't be the last time they talked about the weird shit that happened around her. "And your escape?" he asked her after a moment.

"Oh, well, the door…it sorta…opened?" she explained awkwardly.

"Oh yeah, and how did that happen chicky?" Reno asked with a snort of disbelief. Rue turned a cool gaze on him and raised her eyebrows at him.

"I asked my imaginary friend to open it for me and she did," the sarcasm plain in her tone.

"And the other doors?" Tseng asked, trying to keep the conversation as serious as he could. Rue shrugged.

"They opened?" she wasn't going to give up her key-card if she could help it.

"Of course they did," the Turk sighed and shook his head. He seemed to be catching on to the fact that Rue wasn't going to just tell him everything outright, which was wonderful really, because Rue didn't particularly like lying to people she thought of as friends. "Why did you go into the Science Department instead of trying to escape the building?" he asked dutifully. Though it didn't seem like he was expecting a proper answer and, thankfully, Rue had a lie ready, one that was somewhat believable.

"Well I didn't know it was the Science Department I was stumbling around, did I? Not until Hojo showed up and scared the crap outta me anyway," she told them with an eye roll.

"You didn't?" Rude seemed surprised and Rue just gave him a look asking him if he was stupid.

"Of course not, I've never set foot in this building before, how could I know what floor had what on it?" she asked exasperatedly. Rue didn't notice the odd look Angeal gave her at that point, focusing on answering Tseng's questions.

"Fair enough, I suppose," Tseng nodded and jotted down her response.

"Oh come on, Boss Man, what if she's with those AVALA-" Reno started, but was cut off by Rude smacking the giant blabbermouth upside the head.

"Reno," Tseng warned sharply. Rue raised an eyebrow, but decided not to say anything, she shouldn't know about AVALANCHE at this point. It would just make her more suspicious than she already was in the long run and Rue didn't need any extra help in that department. "Alright, for now I think that's it, I should tell you that you've been officially moved into SOLDIER Second Class Angeal Hewley's custody effective immediately. You're Angeal's responsibility now, so behave," the look he gave her at the end made Rue shrink back just a little. She smiled uncomfortably at the Wutian and shifted in her seat.

"I always behave, it's trouble that has a nasty way of finding me," she muttered to herself.

"And the President?" an eyebrow twitched at her.

"Oh come on, the guy was trying to give us all lung cancer, you can hardly blame me," Rue grinned at Tseng and the man sighed at her.

"Just, behave, please," Tseng asked her as he stood. Rue just rolled her eyes at him.

"Fine," she agreed. Though she doubted 'behaving' would last long. "What about Tera?" she asked suddenly, wanting an answer before the Turk left the apartment. Tseng glanced over at Angeal before turning back to Rue, he looked hesitant and that was never a good sign. "I swear to all the gods in the sky if you people gave her to Hojo I will decidedly not be behaving. In fact I will be misbehaving a great deal," she warned them darkly. Nobody screwed with her friends, four-legged or otherwise.

"Rue, I assure you we would not allow Tera to be handed over to anyone in the Science Department, least of all Hojo, your pet is safe for the moment and no," he gave her a long look, "I cannot bring her up here, no animals allowed, no exceptions," Tseng added shortly. Rue huffed and sat back against the couch, the unimpressed look she gave him before he left speaking volumes.

Rue had lounged on the couch for about an hour after the Turks had vacated the apartment before dragging herself up when Angeal suggested she unpack her things as it seemed she would be staying for a while. Yawning the teen shuffled into the room and pulled her bag onto the bed and began to unload it slowly, putting her belongings in place around the room. Morris the stuffed Bison and Cactus Juice Sokka were both tossed onto her bed near the pillows. The Polaroid Camera she placed on the desk along with her water canister, her weapons were probably in Tseng's custody, but it seemed Shinra Security didn't see that as one and obviously none of the boys had thought to confiscated it so she could at least practice her Water Bending while staying with Angeal.

She could feels eyes watching her as she unpacked, but Rue decided to wait to see whether he would just spit out whatever was bothering him this time. As Rue began to pull out the clothes that she'd acquired so far out to place in the wardrobe she heard the idiot move further into the room.

"How can that bag possibly hold all that?" he asked her eventually. Rue frowned and looked back at Genesis as he leaned over her shoulder to peer into the bag, as she considered the question Rue realised she'd never really thought about it before. Of course there was only one explanation that made any amount of sense to Rue.

"It's bigger on the inside," she told him with a shrug.

It had taken a few days to really get settled in, Rue had begun practising her Water Bending in the mornings after Angeal headed off to do whatever he and the others did during the day. If Genesis was to be believed they were tossed into offices and had paperwork thrown at them when they weren't training or on missions. Rue wasn't sure how much of that was just the lunatic being melodramatic though.

At the moment though, it was quite late, or was it early? Hell if Rue knew, all she cared about was that she couldn't sleep and it was still dark. Angeal had long since gone to bed and she was trying not to make too much noise as she tossed and turned, though her frustration was making that increasingly difficult. Rue's mind just kept on racing, going from one subject to another with all the speed and sense of an out of control locomotive. Such was her train of thought. Honestly, she was mostly worried about Tera and her mind kept bringing up different ways the poor thing could be hurt or in trouble and it was driving Rue batty. The others were being worryingly tight lipped about the Coeurl's whereabouts, but had assured her repeatedly that Tera was safe and nowhere near the Science Department, though none of that stopped her worrying one bit.

Deciding that laying there worrying wasn't getting her anywhere, Rue pulled herself from her bed and quietly padded out into the living room. Frowning the teen wondered what she should do next. Watching late night tv with the sound right down and, if she was really lucky, popcorn, sounded like exactly what she needed. Angeal had been the one to insist that she make herself at home, so Rue doubted he'd mind if she poked around his kitchenette to see if he had any munchies.

Being as quiet as she could be while poking through cupboards in the dark, all the while being highly aware of how sharp SOLDIER hearing was supposed to be, was slightly stressful. She also had a sneaking suspicion that it was inevitable that she wake Angeal at some point during the night, but Rue very much wanted to avoid that if she could. Which was why she had opted to not turn the light on in the kitchen.

She'd just come across the cupboards where Angeal stored the pots and pans when a hand grabbed her shoulder from behind. It was the last thing Rue had been expecting and, naturally, she screamed bloody murder when it happened. Her hand reached for the nearest blunt instrument on instinct and she blindly swung it at her attacker. It connected with something and Rue heard a swear before something collapsed in a heap in front of her.

The next thing Rue knew was Angeal bellowing as he crashed through his bedroom door in his boxers brandishing his sword as he flicked on the lights. All of this happened in a matter of seconds and once they both got over their initial surprise at seeing each other in their sleepwear and had calmed a little they both looked down at the floor. Rue was still clutching at the frying pan as her chest heaved in fright as she stared down at the silver haired teenager sprawled on the floor.

"Did I just bean Sephiroth with a frying pan?" she asked Angeal blankly.

"You know, I think you did," Angeal lowered his blade with an amused smile.

"How the fuck does that even happen?" Rue demanded incredulously. Angeal sighed and rubbed his head awkwardly as they both eyed Sephiroth over. He was breathing at least.

CONGRATULATIONS!

ACHIEVEMENTS UNLOCKED!

*Frying Pans! Who Knew, Right?*

You have successfully clobbered some poor bastard with a Frying Pan!

Excellent choice of weapon!

Reward:

*Princess Rue* Discovered

*Frying Pan Weapon Set* Unlocked

Rue blinked at the words as they momentarily danced before her eyes, frying pans were a legit weapon set now? She glanced down at the pan in her hands, this shit was so going in her bag. Whether Angeal liked it or not. Speaking of, the teen on the other side of the small kitchen coughed awkwardly before taking a deep breath.

"Well, I can't really speak for the others, but-I don't know- you just make it easy to forget that you can actually do some damage despite your size and lack of enhancements." He smiled at her even as Rue frowned at him. "You're our friend Rue, and while I'm not entirely certain how Genesis feels, I do know that both myself and Sephiroth are very fond of you and seemed to have developed a tendency to let our guard down around you," Rue could feel herself blushing because of all that and cursed her teenagery hormones. She shifted awkwardly and looked everywhere other than at Angeal as he smiled at her.

"Right then, cool, uh, friends, yes, definitely friends," Rue wasn't sure what she was supposed to do at this point. She'd accidentally on purpose beaned Sephiroth and woken up Angeal by screaming blue murder while beaning his friend. Yeah, this night was so not going as planned.

It was the uncomfortable groan coming from the floor that pulled them both back to their present situation, watching Sephiroth pull himself upright as he rubbed the side of his head gingerly was a sight Rue never in her wildest dreams- well no, probably in her dreams, but you get the idea- would ever hope to see.

"I suspect that was one of my more foolhardy choices," he commented dryly. Rue grimaced at him and made to apologise, Sephiroth just waved her off however. "It's fine, my fault, I forget others vision is not as good as my own in the dark, I should have said something rather than just walk up and grab you," the slight grimace on his face was the most Rue had ever seen the taller teen emote before. "Just," he glanced at both Rue and Angeal hesitantly, "maybe Genesis doesn't need to know about this?" he asked with what could have been a sheepish smile if not for the awkward radiating off all three of them.

"Agreed," Angeal didn't have to think about it.

"That's great and all guys, but I have one request, well, no, two, two requests," Rue rambled as she gestured wildly with her hands. Sephiroth took a step back slightly to avoid being beaned again, not that Rue noticed at this point.

"And those would be?" Angeal raised an eyebrow at her and Rue grinned at him.

"Firstly, got any popcorn? And secondly, dude, really, for the love of Gaia, put some damn pants on,"

It was a week after the Frying Pan Incident and Angeal was on a mission, Genesis had offered to 'Rue-sit' as he put it as Sephiroth had an appointment with Hojo he'd been unable to wiggle out of, though Rue herself wasn't sure why she needed a babysitter. She wasn't going to set the place on fire after all, she didn't know how. Yet.

Currently Genesis was glaring at her for some unknown reason as they sat in the living room reading, he'd been doing this at random intervals all week now and it was starting to wear thin.

"Stop it, Red, I didn't do anything to warrant being glared at with that much heat," she glanced at him over the top of her book. She'd borrowed it off Sephiroth a few days ago and so far she was quite enjoying it, despite it being a non-fiction work. A dark auburn eyebrow raised itself at her from across the living room, but the glare below it never wavered and all Rue could do was roll her eyes.

"Then tell me what happened to Sephiroth the other night to cause him to stay over and have you all watch old movies without me," he demanded. She doubted he would appreciate her pointing out that he was pouting slightly over the thought of being inadvertently left out. The question made Rue blush slightly in embarrassment, she was a little mortified with how she had reacted to being snuck up on in the dark. Knowing that Sephiroth really didn't want Genesis to know anything about the incident in question Rue glanced about for a subject changer.

It was in that moment that Rue noticed the heels on his regular boots as they sat on the floor next to the comfy chair he was currently draped over. She blinked at them, they were undoubtedly mens boots just by the size and style, but those heels just made it weird. Standing up, Rue sauntered over to get a better look, ignoring the owner of the boots for the moment as he watched her move towards him curiously. Rue held up Genesis' boots with a raised eyebrow.

"That's a lot of heel for a guy, don't you think?" she asked dubiously. Her amusement was only added to while she watched the light blush cross the red heads cheeks as he reached out to take his boots back from her. Rue, however, had other ideas and danced out of reach quickly. "I mean, seriously, Red, your boots have more heel than mine, and you hardly need the extra height," she continued. He followed her, growling as he tried to get his boots back. Rue just kept ducking around him though while keeping the boots out of his reach.

"Rue give those back, they were custom made," Genesis tried to reason with her. Of course he seemed to be unaware he was just giving her more ammo to throw back at him.

"Custom made? Which means you had them made with this much heel? My god, Red, are you that sensitive about your height?" she smirked at him she climbed on top of the coffee table so she would be able to look the stupidly tall lunatic in the eye for once. "I mean really, if anyone should have a height complex around here, it should be me," she pointed out sarcastically. Genesis glared at her pointedly, before sighing and running a hand through his hair.

"I know, it's just, he's so god damn tall, you know?" he dropped onto the couch with another sigh. Rue's mouth twitched, but instead of making the idiot feel worse about his inferiority complex Rue opted to give Genesis back his girly-boots.

"Better than most," she muttered, mostly to herself. Making a point of sighing loudly and rolling her eyes, Rue thrust the boots into his chest with a melodramatic sigh and lightly jumped from the coffee table to the couch. Sitting heavily on it next to Genesis and turning on the tv without another word.

Rue was bored, she'd convinced the three idiots they could leave her alone when they all had work in one form or another and now she was paying for it. Nothing on television, book finished and not in the mood for more practice Rue found herself very, very bored and, as such, feeling a mite mischievous. Looking at the key-card from 'B' as she deliberated on whether or not to disregard Tseng's request to behave, Rue tapped her finger against the card as she thought. Then with a snort Rue strode towards the front door, she was going to go exploring today.

Upon exiting Angeal's apartment Rue made a beeline toward the elevators, fully intent to cause some havoc for the hell of it. As it was, when the elevator arrived it was not vacant. Rue smiled brightly at the sight of Reeve in his blue suit, suitcase in hand and hopped into the metal box enthusiastically.

"Morning Mr Tuesti," she greeted politely. Reeve nodded back, though he looked a little perplexed at her sudden appearance.

"Good morning, young lady," Reeve replied with a nod. "I wasn't aware you'd been given free range of the building at this point," he raised an eyebrow at her with a smile. Rue grinned back at him slyly and shrugged.

"Not exactly, I'm supposed to stay in Angeal's apartment unless someone is with me to make sure I don't do anything destructive," she explained. Reeve's other eyebrow joined the first as he studied her quietly.

"I see, and where is your escort for this outing?" he asked her with a knowing look in his eyes. Rue's eyes slid to the side guiltily as she shrugged slightly.

"I got bored," she told the executive quietly. Reeve laughed lightly at her quiet words and leaned back against the walls of the elevator, he looked tired, though not nearly as much as he would when he would meet Cloud and the others. "Bad morning?" she asked him with a smile.

"Unfortunately, it would seem the President is not in a listening mood today, and the Vice President hasn't been much better lately," Reeve sighed. Rue nodded her head and leaned next to him as she thought about what she could say to make Reeve feel a little better.

"It won't always be like that, things change, and when they do you won't even recognise yourself," Rue smiled confidently.

"You sound like you know," Reeve looked at her curiously.

"Maybe I do," the cheeky grin she threw at him only made the older man laugh some more.

"In that case, any advice?" the fact that he was humouring her made Rue's grin grow.

"Maybe, you willing to keep me company for a while?" she countered with a laugh. Reeve chuckled at her and when the doors opened onto floor sixty five he motioned for her to follow him.

"Better with me than running into someone unpleasant, I suppose," he commented as they made their way to his office. Rue decided she wouldn't tell the man too much, just enough to point him in the right direction and give him some forewarning at least.

Needless to say that Angeal was not happy with her for wandering off on her own when he and Tseng found her inside Reeve's office some hours later. Both men had lectured her extensively, to which Rue had told them both to shut up and pointed out that Reeve had been supervising her the entire time. The man in question had been deeply amused by the entire scenario.

"Are you idiots sure this is a good idea?" she asked as Sephiroth turned off the security in the Training Room. Genesis rolled his eyes at her and pushed Rue towards the door into the main room.

"We aren't idiots, stop calling us that, and you're the one who keeps complaining that she has nothing to do around here," the red head grumbled at her.

"And you're the ones who keep thinking that I need constant babysitting for some reason," Rue snipped back flatly. One of them was now her shadow at all times after she'd hung out with Reeve last month and it was getting absurd. Angeal was fine, fun even, and Sephiroth was surprisingly pleasant company, however Genesis was intent on making things difficult. He shadowed her everywhere when it was his turn, making smart arse comments all the while, even to the bathroom. She'd had to threaten to freeze him to the ceiling more than once over the last few weeks, it didn't seem like he thought she was serious though, but know matter, she'd teach him sooner or later.

"Well then you shouldn't have wandered off on your own," Angeal lectured for the umpteenth time.

"I did that one time," her attempt to argue was cut off though.

"When you were specifically told not to," Sephiroth added his two cents. Rue just glowered at them both and huffed, she'd met her matches with these two.

"I was bored,okay? It couldn't be helped," Rue threw up her arms knowing they wouldn't see how that mattered.

"Exactly, which is why you're going in there and letting loose for a bit," Genesis again turned her back toward the door into the main room and gave her a push. Rue poked at him before hesitantly walking through the door, into the Training Room.

"She's a worry," Angeal commented with a sigh. They were watching Rue practice with her 'magic water' from the antechamber connected to the Training Room and he honestly still wasn't sure what to make of it. He'd seen her practice in his apartment from time to time when she had nothing else to do, but he'd never really asked her about it. Tseng had informed them that it had nothing to do with Materia though and Genesis had not hesitated to remind them he'd said that all along. Sephiroth had questioned Tseng about what he knew about Rue, but oddly enough the Turk had told them to ask her directly about her strange abilities, finishing by saying that it wasn't for him to spill such huge secrets to just anyone.

"Indeed," Sephiroth agreed quietly.

"Ripples form on the water's surface, the wandering soul knows no rest," Genesis quoted airily. Angeal blinked and turned to Genesis, like them his friend was watching Rue as she shifted into flowing stance from flowing stance, but the curious look in his friend's eyes gave Angeal pause.

"Is that supposed to mean something Gen?" he asked dubiously. Genesis glanced over and shook his head slightly.

"You don't think she's just going to stay here with us forever, do you?"

Rue had been at it for a while now, her movements becoming faster the longer she practised and far smoother than they'd likely ever been before now. It was nice to be able to do the full forms for once rather than just the bare bones of it in the apartment where she didn't have a lot of room.

She was sweating from the effort it took to keep going for so long, her arms ached, as did her legs, but it was a good ache. One earned from hard work in a much needed workout.

Only when she brought the water stream she'd been Bending to rest in the canister did she flop to the ground happily.

Congratulations!

Your use of Basic Water Bending has upgraded your skill level!

Basic Water Bending is now level 5!

…

Congratulations!

Your use of Water Whip has upgraded your skill level!

Water Whip is now level 2!

Angeal had taken pity on Rue and had taken her to see the new cadets that had only just started their training, all the while thinking that she'd find that just as boring as staying in the apartment on her own. He did not expect her to practically press her nose to the window to watch the young boys run past. Most of the children, because that's what the were, looked like they would pass out any moment, but Angeal realised quickly that Rue wasn't looking at them, instead she was focused on a boy that was practically running circles around the others. His wild black hair flying about, even under the helmet on his head.

"You should keep an eye on that one Big Guy, he'd be a good SOLDIER," Rue said looking back at him. Angeal raised an eyebrow at her and looked back at the enthusiastic cadet. The boy looked exhausting, in a good way, almost like a puppy.

"You know, I think I might," he agreed with a smile.

AN: Well the whole, 'try to finish the Book before I move' didn't quite happen...but this is the longest chapter so far so I hope you enjoy!

Next chapter is the 'Season Finale' of Book One, WOOHOO! I hope I can do the idea in my head justice and make it awesome and I also hope that it's got a plot twist or two that you guys don't quite see coming.

My interstate move went smoothly on Tuesday, and I'm settling in well so far so I think the next chapter should come soonish depending on how busy my mother keeps me next week.

Thank you for all the reviews guys, the faves, alerts and the like are also deeply appreciated.

RLK