Story: Get out of time (1. At the wrong period 2. Not in accordance with the right rhythm)
English Version : À Contretemps
Date : 23 Juillet 2021 (when I cleaned it up, lay around in my DoomBox since the 24 december 2020)
Fandom: Final Fantasy VII
Disclaimer: No, I don't own FFVII and I'm not making any money from this story.
To celebrate my tenth anniversary of writing, I've dived into my Doom Box (my folder of ideas and bits of unpublished fics) and here's one of the stories I've pulled out! I just corrected a few spelling mistakes, formatted it and came up with a title, and voilàààà! Makes me wonder why I never posted it before…
Enjoy your Reading!
Get out of time
It was peaceful.
The green river flowed all around him, slowly, surely... The wisps enveloped him warmly, caressing gently, promising him fulfilment, a peaceful belonging if only he would join Them.
And he wanted to, oh how he wanted to...
It frightened him a little, yes, but he had been here for so long... It was nothing compared to Them, of course, but he had already long expired the time a newcomer spent here alone. The waves reassured him that he would be with Them soon. Yet hundreds and hundreds of Others had come after him, and most had already merged with Them. So why not him? He wanted to, he dreamt only of the peaceful existence that awaited him at Their side. No longer alone... part of a whole...
But no, something was holding him back, wrapping around him like titanium chains. It wasn't painful... but it prevented him from dispersing into Them, it kept him... whole.
There were no words, it wasn't conscious, but the chains weighed on his presence, begging him to stay with it, not to leave it alone, that it was almost there, that he should wait...
Wait for what?
The thing looked so sad, terrified even. But he understood: he didn't want to be alone, either. Maybe... if it didn't take too long... they could evaporate into Them together? It would be less scary. In any case, he had to wait for it, the Other wouldn't let him go. He had tried to struggle, to sink between the meshes like water, to lose his corporeal form and evaporate. But every time the idea formed, the chains tightened and the whispers intensified. It was going to find him, it was almost there, patience, Cloud...
And every time the chains tightened, the whispers swirled around him, they were worried. They wanted him to join Them. Now. But he couldn't. So he waited in his warm cocoon. It was pleasant, like a half-sleep. Oblivion was near.
He didn't even know what he was any more.
Cloud...
Cloud...
Ah... There you are.
What...? The chains pressed against him a little more, as if to greet the approaching being. All around, the swirls froze, and a feeling of unease crept into his bubble of wellness.
Did you really think you could escape me in death? Oh, Cloud...
The words echoed inside him, shaking his mind and recalling what little consciousness he had left. They were soft, still distant, but they were getting closer and closer... More and more... beside him, the river moved again, but unlike its previous soothing movements, they were now rapid, almost violent. It turned and turned around him, as if to hide him from the Other Being.
You have rested enough, don't you think? Come to me, Cloud, another world awaits.
The swirls were so fast now, he couldn't feel anything but them. The river seemed to be panicking, lighting up his mind as if trying to hide the Otherworld from him. Why were they afraid? Shouldn't they be happy? The Other had arrived, which meant that It and himself could finally join Them... Didn't it? But the Other Being had spoken of a next world... But then... weren't they going with Them?
No, Cloud, we don't need Them.
He and the Other didn't need Them? But he'd been waiting to join Them for so long... They'd been waiting for him for so long... The river hugged him so tightly now that he could barely hear the Other. It was as if the swirls were trying to squeeze him until he disintegrated into Them. As it should be. But the Other didn't want to... the Other wanted him to go with it. When could they join them then? After they'd seen the next world?
Never. I already told you... I won't let you disappear.
A sword... blood... a sigh... a soft but decisive voice… Our world will become a part of it… one day. But I will not end. Nor will I have you end. A smile... green eyes... the cosmos... It was... a memory? Of the Other? Of Him? Suddenly, the river's anxiety seemed much more real. Something he had long forgotten was painfully revealed again. Fear and anger. They began to rise up inside him, even though he didn't understand what was happening. It was as if something innate had awakened, urging him to fight, to distance himself from the Other, to flee while he still could. So, responding to his primal instincts, he struggled as never before, not stopping when the chains wrapped themselves more tightly around him, preventing him from melting into Them. But his struggle did nothing, the Other only gave a little laugh as its presence closed around him, replacing the river's embrace with its own.
I was afraid I'd left you here too long, but it looks like that was just enough. You're a lot easier to manipulate when you can't remember who you are, aren't you, Puppet?
Who was he? Puppet? Cloud? Him? He'd been here too long... did he have to fight the Other? Or Them? He didn't know... he didn't know any more... Panic rose inside him as he tried to conjure up other memories that might tell him what to do. But just as the smell of blood and flowers began to take hold of his mind, the Other came down on him, taking all his attention with a disapproving little noise.
Shhh, Cloud, it's all right. You were so good in this last universe, you did everything I wanted of you. That is, until you tried to run away from me again... but I expected no less of you.
Said the other, and it was undeniably happy. Its presence was peaceful, so peaceful that he could barely feel the fear and anger of the river all around them.
Perhaps... Yes... I'm going to offer you a gift, a respite if you like, a way of having everything you've ever wanted... if you make the right decisions, of course.
Everything he'd ever wanted? But he only wanted to get to the river and all the beings waiting for him there... but this thought didn't seem to please the Other, because immediately its presence increased in strength, and it was now impossible for him to think of anything that wasn't the Other. The Other was angry, annoyed that he didn't accept his gift straight away.
Anything but that, Cloud, anything but that... Perhaps after you've tasted what I can offer you, you'll be more cooperative in our next life.
With that last thought, the Other increased its force again and again and again... until it exploded into one point, forming a tunnel that split the green river in two above them. The Other wrapped itself around him even more, protecting him as they suddenly moved, picking up speed in the tunnel, leaving the green river behind. Suddenly, they hit a membrane so hard that for a moment he thought they were going to fall back into the choppy waves of the river. But no, with a final burst of power, they tore through the surrounding swirls, replacing the green of the universe with a blinding white.
They were out.
Don't disappoint me... Cloud, whispered a voice in his ear and with a start Cloud sat up in bed, panting and his skin dripping with sweat.
"Hey, Blondie, you all right?" Muttered a sleepy voice a few steps from him, and he turned his head to see a shapeless mass under the covers of the bunk bed opposite.
"Are you guys serious? Enjoy your sleep while you can, it's not even... shit! It's 5:40, they haven't rung the bell!"
"5h40 ?! So much for the shower!" shouted a voice from below him, and a kid suddenly appeared in the aisle between the two bunk beds, a uniform in his arms as he hopped in place to put on a pair of trousers.
"What are you standing there for? You don't want to get kicked out on your first day do you? Hurry up Blondie!" Called the first boy as he himself grabbed his uniform and jumped down.
But Cloud barely heard him, remaining frozen in place as he stared at his own military uniform carefully placed on a hanger at the end of his bed.
The brand-new chest plate with the ShinRa logo neatly engraved on it reflected his wide-eyed reflection back at him.
The last thing he remembered was being in the middle of a delivery to Kalm some five years after the fall of ShinRa and the subsequent bonfire of all their insignia. Cloud, he had to admit, had no idea what the hell was going on.
But somehow...
He blamed Sephiroth.
Here we go! I really want to make it into a long story, but I've got lots of other ideas in the pipeline too, so... we'll see which one appeals the most ^^.
But yeah, I love time travel stories, how characters can change history by being aware of it, so I had to write one one day... Unfortunately, this one-shot doesn't really show everything I want to put Cloud through in this story... but that's why there are multi-chapter stories :3
Also, I just posted another FFVII one-shot-that-could-turn-into-a-long-fic too if you want! A Kunsel centered one with an healthy dose of Turks and Zack.
Consider leaving a review on your way out and see yah!