Immediately after Scarlet announced that 'the fun would begin', an alarm went off and the room's lighting began to flash red. Across the top of the screen, in a blue dialogue box, the words, 'Emergency! Emergency! Weapon's approaching! Attention all Military personnel! Take your positions!'
Then someone said, 'Oh, no! It's Weapon! Run!' At which point, most of the people ran out of the room.
"Were they press?" Sephiroth asked.
"Likely," Angeal muttered.
"What did I miss?" Genesis asked, exiting the bathroom.
"Apparently, a Weapon's shown up," Angeal explained while Sephiroth continued to play.
"Because of course one did." Genesis turned taking his seat into a flop of exasperation.
Scarlet yelled after them, but to no avail.
The maybe-Cait-Sith asked Scarlet how she felt now. She just said she was impressed that those who remained hadn't run. Then there was a hissing noise and she fell down with a, 'Nnnnggaaaah!"
"Sleeping gas!?' Barrett asked. Then the maybe Cait Sith turned into a definitely Cait Sith with a ridiculous whirl (what was it with this game and changing clothes while twirling around) after which, Barrett and Cait Sith ended up in a battle.
"Seriously, whose side is he on?" Genesis exclaimed.
"Theirs, I suppose," Sephiroth said with a frown.
Angeal just hummed thoughtfully.
The battle ended with new music that initially left Sephiroth with the impression of a ticking clock, and Cait Sith released Barrett's cuffs.
"He didn't have restraints in that battle!" Genesis pointed out, exasperated.
The large man asked the doll why he'd done that, and wasn't he with ShinRa? Caith Sith answered that he was against capital punishment and besides, he hated 'this broad'. Well, Sephiroth couldn't exactly fault him there.
Then they went to help Tifa. Well, Cait Sith told Barrett to help Tifa and that he'd keep a lookout. Sephiroth moved Barrett to the door Scarlet had walked out of earlier and pushed the 'x' button, hoping that would help the man open it. Instead, Barrett just pulled and pulled on it, but it wouldn't open.
Then the screen faded out and into Heidegger running up to Rufus looking out over the sea. He asked for orders, but Rufus just said he shouldn't need to ask. Heidegger simply saluted and said they'd fire from their 'big cannon'.
"Big… cannon?" Angeal asked.
"Hardly something that would stop a monster like those we saw," Genesis agreed.
"Unless they mean the Sister Ray…" Sephiroth pointed out.
The other two turned to blink at him.
"Then why didn't they say so?" asked Genesis.
Sephiroth couldn't answer.
Out on the streets of Junon, the blast shields that would protect the buildings rose into place and the street dropped down, whole sections moving back. A regular, single barrel cannon rose out of the resulting hole. Then the camera angle changed and it showed the entirety of the Sister Ray while the smaller cannon pivoted pointlessly. A few more scenes of the cannon adjusting its aim. Back inside, Heidigger posed… as if that would help.
The Sister Ray fired a shot.
"Why did they bring out the smaller cannons if they're only firing the Sister Ray?" Angeal said, shaking his head.
"This game is so utterly ridiculous, I can't even…" Genesis said as he faked a dramatic swoon. For several seconds, he just stared at the ceiling in frustration, then merely returned his gaze to the television in lieu of finishing the sentence. Sephiroth raised an eyebrow. He rarely saw Genesis at a loss for words.
To be fair, he wasn't wrong.
A shot blew out to sea… where nothing could be seen. Then it exploded in the distance.
The music stopped and everything in the game stilled. Inside the Junon base, Heidegger slowly straightened from his 'fire' position. The game then went through different shots of the infantry troops and the large cannon, each fading in and out, all still and quiet.
Inside the base, Rufus asked if they'd gotten "'em".
Heidegger said that it seemed so.
And then the alarm went off again. 'Weapon approaching! Speed, 50 knots! It's heading right toward us!"
"It's a weapon made by the planet," Genesis scoffed. "A likely miss-targeted, area of effect shot wouldn't be enough to get it."
Sephiroth wondered how he knew that.
As if in support of Sephiroth's thoughts, Heidegger said they'd hit Weapon directly. Rufus asked about the cannon. Heidegger said it would take time to reload. Rufus said to use regular firepower in the meantime.
"He has to know that regular firepower won't do anything against what we saw in the Northern Crater," Genesis said, almost incredulous.
"I don't think they have a choice. He doesn't have… well, us to throw at it," Angeal pointed out.
Sephiroth didn't know how well any one of them would fare against a Weapon, though. Not if the size and scale of the game were remotely close to real life. Although any two of them – or all three of them – might be a different story.
"He has to have some SOLDIERS left," Genesis rebutted.
On the screen, Heidegger gave the order to use all artillery on the Weapon – to not let it land. The scene changed to what looked like a cross between an enormous red, purple and blue fish bred with a lizard swimming through the water.
"Ah. That's why they brought out the smaller cannons," Genesis deadpanned. "Plot."
"Aren't the Weapons supposed to be… mechanical?" Sephiroth asked, confused. The one they'd seen up close had left him with that impression.
Genesis didn't answer and Angeal shrugged, eyes fixed on the scene as it showed infantry men with rocket launchers and other heavy artillery kneeling down to aim. Meanwhile, shots from automatic guns from multiple levels behind the men joined in shooting at the oncoming Weapon.
"Do all infantry suddenly just… have rockets?" Genesis scoffed. "How convenient."
"They could have been prepared previously," Angeal defended.
"Then they should have shown it," the red-head returned.
The view switched to show Junon fully prepped and armed. Sephiroth had never actually seen it like that. The last recorded instance of full artillery usage (before the Sister Ray was even built) had been over a decade before Sephiroth had joined SOLDIER, back before ShinRa had fully taken the Western Continent (minus Wutai, of course).
The shots, of course, did nothing.
When the screen changed to show the oncoming Weapon again, Sephiroth re-assessed his previous thought. It looked more like a flying fish crossed with an eel from above. He wasn't sure anything on the planet next to a snake had a tail that long…
A decent representation of panicked shouting appeared on screen. Sephiroth could only surmise that all the shots did was make it angry since the speed increased by 20 knots.
The scene switched again to show more infantry men (either back-up soldiers or the same ones as before, rearmed) kneeling down one at a time and firing again. The screen followed the rockets as they flew out to sea, only to do no damage at all whatsoever. Of course.
"Like brushing off flies," Genesis muttered. "I doubt it even noticed those."
Sephiroth and Angeal both nodded grimly.
Then the game showed the oncoming monster racing through the sea from the lower levels of Junon while the infantry on the screen panicked and ran. How undisciplined. Not that Sephiroth could really blame them, but he doubted they'd been given orders to retreat.
The Weapon rammed into Junon, causing the screen to shake.
Then the screen switched to Tifa, who must have felt that.
"Wait… she's still alive?" Genesis asked, disbelieving.
"Scarlet did say it would be a slow, painful death," Angeal pointed out, but his frown said he agreed with Genesis.
Then what looked like mist sprayed out from the tubes. Oh… so they hadn't actually started the execution yet. He supposed that made sense, though Genesis huffed in annoyance.
Tifa called for Barrett to help. Unhelpfully, Barrett told her to hold her breath as long as she could.
"That won't do any good!" Genesis said, throwing his hands in the air in aggravation.
"What else can they do?" Angeal asked.
Tifa kicked and yelled that she can't hold on forever…
"You won't 'hold on' at all if you keep yelling!" Genesis yelled, this time with his arms crossed.
Barrett swore at the door and Angeal had him run over to a still collapsed Scarlet, who said she'd already pushed the switch. Barrett seemed to run over her again, and the same message appeared again, so Angeal directed the gunner to Cait Sith. They discussed how it was probably locked from a different room and how they had to change plans.
"I hope that is a very slow acting poison," Angeal muttered.
"Scarlet's sadistic enough for it," Genesis said.
Sephiroth nodded. There was no love lost between the SOLDIER department and the Weapons Department.
Barrett called out that he'd help Tifa, how he promised he'd be back, and then they ran out of the room. At that point, Cait Sith bounced into Barrett. Angeal immediately equipped the not-cat with materia.
He still didn't understand how a robot/puppet/doll cat could use materia like humans did…
No sooner had they left, then that door closed and locked too. Despite leaving Scarlet in the previous room, she spoke to them, telling them they were fools and that now they could never 'save the girl'.
"To be fair, they couldn't before either," Genesis pointed out, reaching out and grabbing one of the snacks from the table.
"How are you still hungry?" Angeal asked, a little incredulous.
"I'm not. But as long as we're emulating couch potatoes," he finished with a shrug and a bite that crunched rather loudly.
'Couch… potatoes'?
After a moment of confused contemplation, Sephiroth decided not to ask.
Cait Sith said the new plan (there had been an old plan?) was to run to the airport… then he just said to trust him.
"Why should we trust you, you lying, backstabbing little cretin?" Genesis asked, jabbing one of the crunchy snacks at the screen as if it would emphasize his point more somehow, then sat back on the couch hard enough to move it a minuscule amount.
It was a good thing they had switched players when they had. If Genesis was fine with breaking the GameStation, then he would probably be fine with ruining the controller as well.
Actually… the tone of the story had shifted quite a bit. And hadn't Angeal had the controller before Genesis? He was grateful to the other two playing for him when the story got rough, but as Genesis kept saying, it was still likely to get worse. He should probably take a turn now to be less of a burden the next time the story decided to highlight Game Sephiroth. Like rotating night watches to cover for an injury in staffing.
"If you like, Angeal, I'd be willing to take the controller for a bit," he offered.
Angeal thought for a moment, turning his attention to Sephiroth. The larger SOLDIER empathized with and understood people far more easily than his pale-haired friend. So, in all likelihood, he understood the reasoning behind the offer. He looked rather touched by it, in any case. He nodded in encouragement before he handed the controller over.
"Thank you," he said.
Sephiroth just nodded his acceptance of the gratitude.
"I hope you know which way the airport is," the red-head grumbled, ruining the moment.
"Wait, we're trusting him? You just said we shouldn't," Angeal asked. Sephiroth raised one eyebrow in question at his friend.
"Do you have a better idea?" Genesis asked. "Besides, I rather doubt there are any other options."
Well, he had a point there too. They'd have far more options were it a real life situation instead of in a game. However, at this point, they had three ways to go. Sephiroth remembered this corridor from when they'd been here before, shortly after that ridiculous segment with the dolphin. One way would lead out of town, one way would lead them back to the room they'd been stuck in, and the final way would take them to the airport.
Well, he somehow didn't think they'd rescue Tifa with two of those options. That must be what Genesis meant, despite it forcing them to trust the traitor.
He sighed and directed Barrett down the hall… only to run into a fight…
With a second class SOLDIER.
What.
"They do have SOLDIERS!" Genesis yelled again, sitting back up from his slouch and pointing at the screen angrily. "Why aren't they out there fighting the Weapon?"
Good question.
It was probably notable that Barrett and Cait Sith together could match said Second Class SOLDIER. (Not that the Second moved or acted like a Second, but he was willing to let that slide since the battles in the game, despite being occasionally – and oddly – intense, weren't even remotely life-like.)
Once they finished the fight, they ran on. Outside, it showed the street as Sephiroth had the two party members rush down it. Closer to the camera, more infantry panicked and ran. Then a girl rushed by as a man behind her held a camera, obviously filming.
Except…
"That's Yuffie," Angeal said, sounding tired.
"Did they even try to hide her true identity?" Genesis asked, sitting back in a huff again. "Is that cameraman Vincent, perhaps? And why are they not in custody when Tifa and Barrett were!"
Sephiroth had no answer. Well, there was Game Insanity, but to be honest, that wasn't really an answer...
Her 'disguise' seemed to be good enough that Barrett didn't recognize her when she ran up to him, asking if she could have a word. She had to actually identify herself.
"Did he truly not notice?" Sephiroth heard himself asking, incredulous.
That seemed to happen a lot with this game.
"And what about Tifa?" Angeal asked, sounding about as annoyed as Sephiroth had ever seen him. "She's still stuck in the execution room!"
Barrett asked what Yuffie was doing there.
And Sephiroth was done asking 'what' at this point. Seriously, why else would she be there?
Before she could answer, though, a flash had them turning and looking as the Weapon rose out of the water… at which point Sephiroth amended his previous comparison again, this time adding 'squid' into the mixture.
Yuffie said she'd explain once they got to the airport. Well, Sephiroth felt far better about trusting in the Wutain Princess than the traitor cat.
And if that didn't make a statement about ShinRa, Sephiroth wasn't sure what did.
Both of the others creepily walked into Barrett and Sephiroth made sure to give Yuffie some materia… wasting more time, of course. Somehow, he didn't think there would be a problem, though.
Game.
Insanity.
I suppose the cameraman isn't Vincent, then?" Genesis rolled his eyes, as they left said cameraman behind, still filming the approaching Weapon and not running away. "Pity. It would have actually made a miniscule pinch of sense.
"How did she get away with that?" Angeal muttered as he stared.
"Don't ask. Just… don't." The red-head leaned his head back and resorted to glaring at the ceiling again. Sephiroth empathized. With Genesis. He still didn't think he'd get used to that.
The next screen showed the airport, and they ran into more SOLDIERS while rushing across it to the edge of the platform, right below one of the smaller airships. Barrett said it was a dead end, then yelled at Cait Sith.
"That's what you get for listening to a traitor," Genesis said haughtily.
The cat just asked if he'd made a wrong turn.
Apparently Sephiroth wasn't done asking 'what' yet.
Because what?
Then Barrett pointed out that 'they all' would be coming soon, meaning ShinRa's fighting force, and that 'you' (Sephiroth supposed he meant Cait Sith and Yuffie) had better watch his back to the end.
"He's a traitor cat!" Genesis practically hissed at the screen as it faded to black and Barrett struck a pose of all things.
"Is there no limit to the ridiculousness of this game?" Sephiroth asked.
"No," Genesis and Angeal said at the same time before glancing at each other in amusement.
The screen faded back in to Tifa, still stuck in her chair with gas blowing on her. Across the top of the screen, new instructions appeared. 'Move your feet and arms, and then your head to get out of the chair.'
Sephiroth stared at the screen. Angeal and Genesis seemed to be having just about as hard of a time processing that as him.
"How?" Genesis finally asked, just as Sephiroth clicked for the next screen.
Then it brought up a list of the different buttons for different body parts.
Because of course it did.
At this point, he wasn't even surprised anymore.
"WHY is there a key right there on the floor!?" Genesis burst out.
"Oh, the guard dropped it when he walked out, right after you left, actually," Angeal commented nonchalantly.
"The guard dropped the key." Genesis expression snapped from exasperated to thoughtful. Sephiroth expected an outburst of some kind, but he simply sat there calmly, not raging at the story. "Perhaps the guard was bribed?"
"You think it's intentional?" Sephiroth asked
"It makes more sense than the guard randomly accidentally dropping the key at the exact and perfect moment for the heros." He threw his hands in the air. "But knowing the Game Insanity… If this is actually telling us the future, it is in the most maddening, contrived, aggravating, and poorly told way imaginable!"
"Well… it is entertaining," Angeal said. "For what it is."
"Entertaining," Genesis's tone dripped in disbelief. The red-head put a hand to the bridge of his nose. "I never could understand how you could have such awful taste with someone like me for a friend."
Angeal smirked. "I would think that actually explained everything right there."
Genesis' mouth dropped open. "You dare?!" he gasped in mock offense.
"I got the key," Sephiroth said, pushing the buttons for the legs. He wasn't sure exactly how he was supposed to push the buttons, and it seemed far too rudimentary for anything remotely real, but he was managing… barely. He grit his own teeth as somehow, Tifa moved her arms instead of her feet and the key dropped.
"Move her head," Genesis said.
Sephiroth didn't shoot him a glare, but he had to stop himself from doing so. It really wasn't as easy as it looked.
Then advice to try different patterns and to try two at once popped up.
Sephiroth made a vow to find whoever created this and introduce them to Masamune for their sheer... Genesis had the right word earlier. Audacity.
"Are you moving her arms too?" Angeal asked.
"This is not as straight-forward as it may appear," he said tightly, making sure to keep his eyes on the screen.
The controller creaked under his thumbs as he pushed down on the buttons.
He'd only been holding it this time for maybe eight minutes. Congratulations to the game that could somehow get under his skin far faster than anything should be able to.
It took him far too long to finally get her to unlock the straps holding her arms down and stand up.
"She should be dead by now if that was any kind of actually poisonous gas, no matter how slow-acting and painful," Genesis commented.
"Many times over," Angeal agreed.
Sephiroth said nothing for fear he would lose his temper.
At a game.
He was definitely slipping and needed to get his emotions back under control. Preferably before Hojo came back.
Tifa asked 'which button turned off the gas'.
There… was a button?
"What's wrong?" Angeal asked.
"What do I do?" he finally asked. "Surely the button to stop gas wouldn't be inside…" he faded off.
Scarlet.
Game insanity.
"Oh."
"What?"
He ignored Genesis' question and Angeal's puzzled glance for a moment as he studied the room. There was a white light right above the chair, a yellow-orange light right above the entrance and another yellow-orange light behind the chair. So he moved Tifa over to the last light and pressed 'x'.
The gas turned off with a 'boing' sound.
For a couple of seconds, he just sat there, blinking at the screen.
"Oh," Angeal echoed, but in disbelief.
"I'm not entirely sure I am comfortable with you anticipating this game…" Genesis said slowly, eyeing Sephiroth cautiously.
"I… must admit that I am not sure I am comfortable anticipating the game...", he responded tightly. He took a deep breath then held out the control to Angeal. "If you wouldn't mind?" He didn't care that he'd only had it for a short while. This game tended to… to push the big red button currently on his shirt. Metaphorically, perhaps, but frequently. The aggravations frustrated him, and now seemed to be changing the fundamental way he thought.
He needed a break.
Angeal frowned at the offered appendage, then looked past Genesis and into his silver-haired friend's green eyes.
"Sephiroth… are you alright?"
He swallowed inaudibly. "I am… unsure."
"Right. Break time." He went to turn the television off.
"No," Sephiroth protested.
Angeal set his jaw and looked about ready to argue so the Silver General cut him off.
"We only have so much time to play the game. It… this disturbing insight into the Game Insanity is completely different to the personal connection and attacks on my character, or even the dubious allegations of foresight. It makes me uncomfortable at the moment. That is all. If you take the controller back, that will be all the 'break' I need."
The dark-haired man looked pained for several seconds. Then he sighed. "Step away, Sephiroth. Try washing your face. It'll help. Trust me."
It was a compromise, and with how Angeal looked, now sitting back and staring ahead at the screen, controller in hand, it would be the best Sephiroth would get.
"That is… a good suggestion," he said, rising to his feet. He walked to the bathroom and shut the door. Then he just stood there, one hand rubbing the bridge of his nose. In some ways, this seemed to be the least of his problems. Figuring out how to think around problems and understand other people's ways of thinking could be useful. However… this way of thinking…
It just made no sense at all, whatsoever.
And he was beginning to understand it.
Did that say something about his desperation? Or just his ability to learn? Or his own state of mind? A combination of the above? Something else?
He sighed and splashed his face with water to refresh himself. As he turned off the water, his shirt caught his eye, in part because he'd been reminded of it only a minute ago, and just because it was so unusual in comparison to his normal attire. Genesis and Angeal too, really, and both had been showing five-o-clock shadows. Sephiroth wondered if having scruff would annoy his sensitive fingers. The silver general hadn't had to worry about shaving very often throughout his life – had never been able to grow an actual beard. And when it did come in, the hairs were white or nearly invisible.
He blinked at the odd trailing of his thoughts. Angeal had been right; this had helped.
"Of course it won't open!" Genesis said, his raised voice easily heard though the restroom walls, likely speaking of the door to the gas chamber.
He'd retreated, as Angeal had asked. He was fine to now return to the game, so strode out of the restroom just in time to see the screen light up in a flash and Tifa look around, as if trying to find the source of the recent noise. Then the scene switched to show the Weapon. It had lowered the long shield-like structure covering the bottom of its face and chest… opening its mouth? Apparently, as the inside lit up, it shot a beam at the Junon ShinRa Tower, leaving a large gash in its side.
"I expected more damage," Genesis commented as Sephiroth retook his seat.
The Silver General saw Angeal shoot him a look from the corner of his eye and nodded at him. The dark-haired man didn't look happy, but he also didn't comment, instead returning to the game.
Sephiroth thought about that for a moment. Why would his friend be upset? Taking the break had worked. Perhaps Angeal had thought he should have taken a longer break away?
Oh. Because Angeal cared for him… perhaps? Sephiroth smiled at that and decided to speak up. "Thank you, Angeal," he said softly. Both of the other two seemed surprised, perhaps taken aback. But then Angeal's broad shoulders relaxed and he nodded again, this time looking far more pleased.
Then the Weapon looked as if it would attack again with the mouth-beam (unless this was a poor representation of a breath attack, like a dragon, it was a rather ridiculous notion), but it had stopped directly in front of the barrel of the Sister Ray… which then fired with a bright flash. Point blank, it seemed that even a Weapon would have problems.
The Weapon fell over into the ocean (sinking, he supposed), as the tail flailed with the dropping motion behind it, the light under its skin fading out.
"They are ridiculously fortunate that it just so happened to stand directly in front of the cannon. Likely finished reloading just in time as well," Genesis groused. Sephiroth agreed.
The scene cut to Tifa again… and it looked as if the Weapon's beam had cut the tower open—
"Right above her execution chamber," Genesis sighed dramatically. "Could this get any more contrived?"
Scarlet (from the outside?) asked what that was and commanded someone to 'open it', likely meaning the door. Tifa rebutted, telling Scarlet to make up her mind. Then Angeal moved Tifa towards the tear in the metal and she disappeared from sight. After a couple of seconds, she came climbing over the edge.
The screen switched to outside the tower (the gas chamber had been inside the cannon tower?)… where Tifa could, apparently, hang onto the metal and climb… and run…
"I am not the only one who sees problems with this… particular scene?" Sephiroth asked.
"No," the other two said simultaneously.
Relieved, Sephiroth nodded.
Angeal kept moving Tifa along whatever path was available… until an infantry man fell from the approximate vicinity where she'd been. Chasing her? Likely, he supposed.
Unlike him, she didn't die (although with this game…), but stood up only to realize she'd fallen onto the cannon… The literal worst place she could go.
It took a couple of minutes to finally get to the edge of the cannon.
"That is the literal worst place to run!" Genesis yelled, echoing Sephiroth's thoughts.
That didn't stop the fact that it was also the only place to run.
"The limited options in this game are… frustrating," Sephiroth said.
Genesis snorted in agreement.
Angeal sighed. "They only have so much they can program."
"Sephiroth is right. That doesn't stop it from being frustrating. My soul, corrupted by vengeance, Hath endured torment, to find the end of the journey, In my own salvation, And your eternal slumber."
It took a rather long amount of time to get to the bottom of the Sister Ray, and when they reached the end, Tifa paused and looked around. Then Scarlet spoke about ending their game of 'hide and seek'.
"Wouldn't it be 'tag'? Angeal asked. "She wasn't exactly able to hide."
Sephiroth didn't answer and Genesis shrugged.
Then the game introduced new controls for a slapping fight.
A slapping fight.
That Tifa was losing.
What.
"She's a martial artist, for Gaia's sake!" Genesis yelled at the screen. "There's no way Scarlet could stand up to that!"
This went beyond game insanity and straight into 'game stupidity' territory. Quite a bit of this particular scene did not make any sense by any stretch of logic or reasoning, if given even a moment's scrutiny.
Scarlet kept talking about how Tifa falling from this height into the ocean below would be exciting and trying to get the guards to take her… and then she continued to speak of throwing her off.
This only got a scoff from Genesis and a mild groan from Angeal.
It seemed Sephiroth wasn't the only one adjusting to the insanity.
He wasn't sure if he should be pleased about that or not.
Then the game said to run to the end of the cannon.
"WHY?!" Genesis yelled, and yet Tifa did indeed run towards the end of the cannon. And then an airship soared up, with Barrett on deck, waving at Tifa.
"Oh. So they simply commandeered an airship. Why not?" Genesis asked, disgusted.
"Not an airship," Angeal corrected, "the airship. That's one that just came into service earlier this year. Cid mentioned it when we met him and it's the same one we saw above the crater. It's the Highwind."
The ship kept rising and Barrett threw a rope out. Tifa ran for the edge, followed by the infantry, and dove for the rope.
She missed.
"What?!" Angeal said angrily.
The other two looked over at him.
"What?" he asked, noticing their expressions.
Out of the corner of his eye, Sephiroth saw Tifa catch the very long rope on the way down.
"She's fine," he said. "She caught the rope as it swung back towards her."
"Of course she did," Genesis said, rolling his eyes.
The airship flew by the Junon tower as the map music played in the background.
Then it showed that she'd made it to the deck of the ship. Barrett asked if Tifa was okay. She said her cheeks hurt a bit. Sephiroth shook his head and Angeal put a hand to the bridge of his nose while Genesis grumbled under his breath about stupid and ridiculous fan-service because that was all that made sense at this point.
Cait Sith said the airship was now theirs.
Well.
Turncoat indeed.
Barrett ran inside after the cat/robot/puppet thing, leaving Tifa on the deck and Yuffie lying off to the side. Talking to her had her say she was glad Tifa was safe, but she wanted to stay up on deck a little longer. Was she sick?
If not for today, it would have been a very long time since Sephiroth could have related.
Although, why did people get air-sick and motion-sick? Such a strange concept.
That brought up another thought though. One he was sure he wouldn't have considered before playing the game, and the surer knowledge of his friendship with the pair.
"Your opinions on a conflicting thought; I don't like the idea because my point about the limited amount of time that we have still stands," Sephiroth admitted grudgingly. "However, perhaps Angeal is right and we should take a break?" Hadn't they planned on doing so after they left the crater… And why hadn't they? The game had continued with the story, but the shift to Junon and the in-story perspective change had enticed them to continue. Then the urgency of rescuing Tifa had them keep going. And now the events of the crater, though they'd only finished playing that out about an hour ago, seemed more distant, as though several hours had passed. Curious.
"I agreed with your point on our limited time before, and I still do now," Genesis answered with a shake of his head. "Besides, I suspect that the next bit will be a break, of sorts. It's somewhat surprising that this game follows a few saga patterns and story-telling conventions I've run across before. Curiously, it mirrors some versions of Loveless when it comes to—"
"I was thinking," Sephiroth interrupted before Genesis could really get started on one of his longer lectures, "more of a proper break, one that's on our own terms rather than out of... necessity." He paused as red-head harrumphed at the interruption.
"My opinion has not changed: I still say we continue for now and find somewhere to break later," the Commander pouted. Usually, Sephiroth found Genesis' dramatics annoying, but right then, he found it normal and amusing. He thought back, remembering Genesis trusting his own opinion on continuing through earlier and felt he should return the favor.
"Angeal?"
The larger man pulled out his PHS and frowned. "It is almost 2130."
"Besides," Genesis spoke up again, "as you stated, we will likely take breaks as needed and forced by the game, whether we take a break now or not. It would result in naught but wasted time."
Angeal still didn't look like he fully agreed, but he slowly nodded his head and put the PHS away.
"Very well," Sephiroth conceded. "I will trust your expectations."
The pout on the man's face vanished into a smug triumph and he held out his hand.
"Give me the controller. I'll take a turn," the red-head half-demanded, half-volunteered.
And so, they played on.
xXx
AN: And so we get over one of the highest concentrations of game insanity to date! LMHO! This was actually surprisingly difficult to write. That being said, thanks to Imagination7413 and Quathis for all of their help on this (especially Imagination, she totally made this chapter readable).
(P.S. The guard was totally bribed... but Kunsel... yes, I got that from Escape Plan Green. ;) )
Discord: discord. gg/2acAymzqku (no spaces)