Come, sit next to me and let me give you cash.
Title: For Love Of…
A Final Fantasy VII Fanfiction
Author: Sanjuno Shori Niko
Summary: She's not dead yet!
Timeline: More fic here.
=/=
(In which Aeris does NOT get killed.)
Aeris was kneeling before the underground alter in the Ancient City, praying for Gaia’s aide and completely defenceless in her single-minded concentration. It was Zack and Cloud who reacted first to the threat, leaping forward with their swords out, pouring all of their considerable resources into getting between the last of the Cetra and the rapidly descending Sephiroth.
They were not going to make it.
Aeris smiled, faint and wistful, accepting her fate.
A blast of lightning wreathed flame shot between Cloud and Zack, sending the two SOLDIERS tumbling into dark water as it cleared the length of the cavern in a bare second. Sephiroth’s eyes went wide in shock as the blast threw him away from Aeris and hammered him two feet into the wall. Avalanche was knocked off their feet by an incredible gust of wind, ground zero of a thunderclap, and when they staggered upright, ears ringing and blinking the multicoloured spots from their vision they all nearly fell over again in surprise.
Aeris was nearly invisible, hidden behind the coiled bulk of a gold-scaled dragon.
“Where the hell did that thing come from?” Yuffie screeched, clutching her oversized shrunken defensively.
“Who cares!” Zack shouted back as he hauled himself out of the water. “It saved Aeris!”
Any further conversation was forestalled by Sephiroth pulling himself out of the pile of rubble created by his high-speed meeting with the wall. His hair was frazzled, his leathers were scorched, he looked badly sunburned and supremely pissed off.
“You.” Sephiroth growled in angry recognition. “You worm. How dare you come to this place! I will kill you for what you did to Mother.”
“BITCH PLEASE.” The dragon rumbled, its voice neither male nor female but somehow transcending gender in power. “I’D LIKE TO SEE YOU TRY. YOU’RE NOTHING BUT A SHADOW, A PALE IMITATION OF THE REAL THING. A MINDLESS PUPPET, DANGLING FROM JENOVA’S STRINGS.”
Cloud sucked in a sharp breath at the familiar taunt, but Sephiroth screamed in rage, Masamune drawing back to strike as he leapt for the dragon.
Who completely failed to react, calmly watching the former general come.
“Move!” Zack shouted in desperation, belatedly starting his charge for the alter again, Cloud a half step behind him. “That sword’ll go right through you!”
The dragon ignored Zack’s warning, and seemed to smirk. “NOW.”
Masamune struck, serpent quick.
Clashed with another identical blade that deflected the legendary sword, flung it back as Sephiroth fought a cloaked doppelganger in a whirl of black and flashing silver. Sparks struck with the force of each blow, it was not long before the cloak was torn away to reveal the face of Sephiroth’s opponent.
“Another Sephiroth?” Tifa asked numbly, eyes wide with horror.
“Damn.” Barrett growled. “As if one wasn’t enough trouble.”
“You.” The first Sephiroth hissed, eyes blazing in anger. “Traitor.”
“I am no traitor.” The second warrior coolly replied. “Nor am I a witless fool who allows a demon to dictate my actions and thoughts for me, as a master does his dog.”
The blades clashed again and again, evenly matched until the first Sephiroth with his charred leathers leapt up into the air and kept moving against gravity with the help of the wing that sprouted from his shoulder. The second Sephiroth smirked, unimpressed as he crouched, leapt - the first dodged the charge, aiming to strike the other down while he was airborne and unable to avoid the blow - and the second Sephiroth snapped out both of his wings, one from each side, perfectly formed and balanced, kicking the one-winged Sephiroth in the face with an audible crunch. The first Sephiroth’s head snapped back and the two-winged Sephiroth blasted his opponent into the wall with a bolt of electric flame.
“NICE SHOT.” The dragon commented cheerfully, for all the world sounding like it was commenting on a little league match.
“Thank you, Mother.” The Sephiroth with two wings responded with out-of-place politeness.
The Sephiroth that had tried to kill Aeris snarled and leapt from the wall, casting Bolt at the dragon as he retreated.
“Mother!” The other Sephiroth cried out, ignoring his opponent and he leapt towards the dragon.
“I’M FINE!” The dragon roared, shrugging off the spell with a lash of its tail. “GO AFTER HIM!”
Sephiroth about-faced with a swirl of his cloak and went.
Avalanche tried to make sense of the last few minutes and failed.
“Um?” Zack finally ventured, hesitating halfway up the stairs. “Er, Ms. Dragon? Ma’am?”
“YES?” The dragon asked, turning large glowing eyes on the first class SOLDIER.
“Uh.” Zack blinked, taken aback by the familiar shape of those eyes in a distinctly non-human face, but was saved from speechlessness by the reappearance of Sephiroth. The Sephiroth with two wings, who had saved Aeris’ life, and who looked kind of really ticked off.
“I am sorry, Mother.” Sephiroth said as he drifted down for an elegant landing in front of the dragon - and between it and Avalanche a few of the group noticed. “The Jenova-spawn escaped.”
“SHIT. AH WELL.” The dragon sighed, sounding for all the world like a mildly inconvenienced housewife. “WE’LL GET HIM NEXT TIME.”
“Yes, Mother.” Sephiroth said obediently.
“Ah.” Zack said from a few steps below Sephiroth, swallowing harshly as the face of his old friend turned to look at him. That calm face, one eyebrow quirked up in question, was so much like the Sephiroth Zack knew that it hurt. “I hate to interrupt, but can I have my girlfriend back please?”
The dragon snorted and uncoiled, releasing a dishevelled, wide-eyed Aeris.
“Miss Gainsborough.” Sephiroth said politely, offering her a hand over the bulk of the dragon’s tail.
“Thank you?” Aeris sounded stunned as she looked as the Cetra girl took Sephiroth’s hand and climbed over.
“NINNY.” The dragon snorted and flicked its tail, sending Aeris tumbling into Zack’s arms with a startled yelp. Sephiroth watched passively as his former lieutenant scrambled to drop his sword and catch the Cetra girl. They made an impressive splash when they hit the water. Cloud snatched up the dropped Buster Sword and froze, obviously trying to figure out what to do.
“Mother.” Sephiroth chided mildly, proving to Avalanche that even if he was not trying to kill them all, this Sephiroth was just as cracked as the other one. “That was rude of you.”
“SHE DESERVED IT FOR THAT PASSIVE-AGGRESSIVE SACRIFICIAL ASSISTED SUICIDE BULLSHIT SHE TRIED TO PULL.” The dragon growled back, ignoring the way Avalanche tensed at the sight of its teeth. “THAT’S THE PROBLEM WITH CETRA, THEY SPEND SO MUCH TIME CRAWLING AROUND IN THE DIRT PLAYING WITH THEIR FLOWERS THAT THEIR FIRST RESPONSE TO EVERYTHING IS TO HIT THEIR KNEES.”
“I beg your pardon!” Aeris coughed, insulted and dripping onto the stones, slapping Zack’s hands away as she glared up at the amused looking dragon.
“What does she mean by suicide?” Cloud asked, making Aeris pale as she went abruptly silent and looked away. “Aeris?”
“Doll?” Zack asked when Aeris failed to respond, horror growing on his face. “Come on babe, tell me you weren’t planning on just letting Sephiroth kill you!”
“I…” Aeris stopped, looking guilty as she bit her lip.
“No.” Tifa said, standing with the rest of Avalanche at the end of the path, tears welling up in her eyes as she pleaded with her friend. “Why would you do something like that to us?”
“MORONS.” The dragon stretched out its long body catlike, settling more comfortably atop the alter space. “FIRST OF ALL, YOU NEED TO GET IT INTO YOUR HEADS THAT THE SEPHIROTH THAT ALL OF YOU HAVE BEEN CHASING IS NOTHING MORE THAN A JENOVA-SPAWNED PUPPET-CLONE. IT HAS NO REAL MIND OR WILL OF ITS OWN, AND HAS ONLY FAINT, TWISTED COPIES OF THE REAL SEPHIROTH’S MEMORIES. THE REAL SEPHIROTH BEING MY BOY HERE. SECONDLY, HOLY WILL ONLY WORK IF THE LIFESTREAM IS STRONG ENOUGH, AND THAT CAN ONLY BE ACHIEVED WHEN ENOUGH SOULS HAVE REJOINED IT. GET THE IDEA?”
“Aeris?” Zack asked softly in the silence that fell in the wake of the dragon’s explanation. “Were you really going to kill yourself to summon HOLY? You don’t need to do that, babe. We’ll find another way!”
“Oh. Oh, I’m sorry.” Aeris sobbed, bowing her head into her hands. “But HOLY needs a Cetra to guide it from the inside! We’re the only ones strong enough to keep ourselves separate enough to do it!”
No one could think of anything to say, and so a respectful silence fell. Except…
“YOU’RE A TWIT.” The dragon said bluntly, breaking the solemn mood into itty-bitty pieces. “THERE’S A FUCKLOAD OF DEAD CETRA IN THE LIFESTREAM ALREADY, GET ONE OF THEM TO DO IT. HEL, GET YOUR MOTHER TO DO IT. SHE’S ALREADY HALFWAY THROUGH THE PROCESS BY NOW. WHY DID YOU THINK YOU COULDN’T USE YOUR MA’S MATERIA?”
“Be-because the time wasn’t right.” Aeris said, blinking at the dragon in bewilderment as it rolled its eyes.
“GENIUS. NO WONDER THE CETRA ARE ALL BUT EXTINCT IF YOUR RESPONSE TO EVERY LITTLE THING IS TO ROLL OVER AND DIE.” The dragon ignored the squawks of outrage and continued right on talking, steamrollering over any protests. “YOU CAN’T USE HOLY PROPERLY WITHOUT SOMEONE TO START IT UP ON THE OUTSIDE. IT NEEDS TO BE BALANCED BETWEEN LIFE AND DEATH, ECHOING THE CYCLE OF THE LIFESTREAM.”
“How would you know?” Yuffie demanded with snort. “You’re just some big old snake.”
“Mother is the Living Memory of the Cetra.” Sephiroth said with a disapproving frown. “She knows of that which she speaks.”
“That’s a Cetra?” Barrett asked in a loud whisper, looking critically between the glowing scales of the dragon next to Sephiroth and the dishevelled Aeris, who glared at him for his comment. The big man held up his hands in surrender.
“DO I LOOK LIKE A WEAK-KNEED DIRT-DIGGER TO YOU, JACKASS?” Light rippled over the dragon’s scales, the blaze lighting up the whole underground chamber. When it faded, a blonde woman with gold wings and glowing blue beast eyes glared down at them all and flipped Barrett off. “I provided the Cetra who was trapped inside Jenova with a refuge when I kept Sephiroth from her control five years ago! In exchange, I got her knowledge and some of her memories. That’s it. I ain’t no pansy-assed Cetra!”
“So, but, you’re really Sephiroth’s mom?” Yuffie asked, face scrunched in confusion as she shook her head. The woman had been a dragon, and now she was not (and yeah okay, Yuffie could kinda see the resemblance, what with the eyes and the wings and the spiky hair, but) but she had been talking before, when she was still a dragon, and that was not how Limit Breaks worked!
“Oh, I’m Sephiroth’s ma alright, brat.” The woman tossed her head, and grinned, looking up at the towering, black winged warrior with fond eyes. “I’ve got the memories of both that whiney bitch Lucrecia and Jenova’s ride. I’ve been his mother for the last five years, and I’ve shown him more damn motherly love in one day than that crazy whack-job who popped him out managed to show in his entire fucking life!”
“How dare you!” Vincent hissed, hellfire eyes alight with fury. “Sephiroth’s mother was Lucrecia! Not you! She was a kind, gentle, human woman who loved him!”
“That’s true.” The winged woman, turned and looked down at Vincent, sympathy glowing in her sky blue eyes, but her voice was hard and incontestable. “That’s true yes, to a point. Only to a point.”
“To what point?” Vincent snarled, offended, hand on his gun in silent threat. Sephiroth shifted, gaze sharpening on the gunman as the argument continued. “What exactly do you mean by that?”
“What I mean is that you lover was kind, yes. Gentle and human too, I’m not disagreeing with you.” The woman sighed, one hand on Sephiroth’s arm to hold the obviously upset swordsman back. Sephiroth glared at the man attacking his mother with harsh words, and the blue-eyed woman sighed again, patting Sephiroth’s hand with a helplessly amused quirk to her lips. “But Lucrecia Crescent was wilfully blind to the faults and sins in the people around her. Self-deluded to the true horror of the choices she made. Trusted the wrong people for the wrong reasons to the point of idiocy. Worse, she sold her child to a monster, justified herself with science and fake altruism. Failed to love her child soon enough or well enough to do any good, and then selfishly abandoned him into the sole care of a sadist in a futile attempt to escape from her own pain.”
A ringing silence fell in the wake of the woman’s words. Vincent looked like a man forced to swallow something exceedingly unpleasant, but could not refute the truth in what the winged woman had said.
“Whoa.” Yuffie whispered to Nanaki when the silence grew too heavy for the young ninja to bear any longer. “That was kind of harsh, don’t you think?”
(Word Count: 2172)
=/=
This is like, totes one of my favorite scenes for this particular AU. The confusion, the chaos, the curses... Cid being Cid, even if that means being a woman or a dragon or a mother. Ah, I loves it so~♥ Also, Cid's opinion of the Cetra is in no way supposed to bash pacifists. He's just Cid, and he'd rather kill and eat his opponents rather than give up or take the easy way out.
Have decided that my LJ needs organizing, and so will be reassigning tags, because I am OCD like that. Also, I have resolved to post at least one thing a week that is not Transformers. It seems like I've been woefully neglecting my other fandoms, so I shall now devote the weekends to Transformers fic, and one weekday to other, not-TF fic.
Driving to Buffalo tomorrow to pick up my Mum from the airport. Thank the spirits for my grandfather, as my darling father figure forgot to mention that there would be a toll. Grandfather gave me monies for gas and the toll, and we ♥loves♥ him for it.
Here there be dragons! Hey, look. My Black dragons are actually producing Black eggs. Wow. It's been a while since they did that. *blinks*
♠
♣
♠
♣
♠
♣
A Final Fantasy VII Fanfiction
Author: Sanjuno Shori Niko
Summary: She's not dead yet!
Timeline: More fic here.
=/=
(In which Aeris does NOT get killed.)
Aeris was kneeling before the underground alter in the Ancient City, praying for Gaia’s aide and completely defenceless in her single-minded concentration. It was Zack and Cloud who reacted first to the threat, leaping forward with their swords out, pouring all of their considerable resources into getting between the last of the Cetra and the rapidly descending Sephiroth.
They were not going to make it.
Aeris smiled, faint and wistful, accepting her fate.
A blast of lightning wreathed flame shot between Cloud and Zack, sending the two SOLDIERS tumbling into dark water as it cleared the length of the cavern in a bare second. Sephiroth’s eyes went wide in shock as the blast threw him away from Aeris and hammered him two feet into the wall. Avalanche was knocked off their feet by an incredible gust of wind, ground zero of a thunderclap, and when they staggered upright, ears ringing and blinking the multicoloured spots from their vision they all nearly fell over again in surprise.
Aeris was nearly invisible, hidden behind the coiled bulk of a gold-scaled dragon.
“Where the hell did that thing come from?” Yuffie screeched, clutching her oversized shrunken defensively.
“Who cares!” Zack shouted back as he hauled himself out of the water. “It saved Aeris!”
Any further conversation was forestalled by Sephiroth pulling himself out of the pile of rubble created by his high-speed meeting with the wall. His hair was frazzled, his leathers were scorched, he looked badly sunburned and supremely pissed off.
“You.” Sephiroth growled in angry recognition. “You worm. How dare you come to this place! I will kill you for what you did to Mother.”
“BITCH PLEASE.” The dragon rumbled, its voice neither male nor female but somehow transcending gender in power. “I’D LIKE TO SEE YOU TRY. YOU’RE NOTHING BUT A SHADOW, A PALE IMITATION OF THE REAL THING. A MINDLESS PUPPET, DANGLING FROM JENOVA’S STRINGS.”
Cloud sucked in a sharp breath at the familiar taunt, but Sephiroth screamed in rage, Masamune drawing back to strike as he leapt for the dragon.
Who completely failed to react, calmly watching the former general come.
“Move!” Zack shouted in desperation, belatedly starting his charge for the alter again, Cloud a half step behind him. “That sword’ll go right through you!”
The dragon ignored Zack’s warning, and seemed to smirk. “NOW.”
Masamune struck, serpent quick.
Clashed with another identical blade that deflected the legendary sword, flung it back as Sephiroth fought a cloaked doppelganger in a whirl of black and flashing silver. Sparks struck with the force of each blow, it was not long before the cloak was torn away to reveal the face of Sephiroth’s opponent.
“Another Sephiroth?” Tifa asked numbly, eyes wide with horror.
“Damn.” Barrett growled. “As if one wasn’t enough trouble.”
“You.” The first Sephiroth hissed, eyes blazing in anger. “Traitor.”
“I am no traitor.” The second warrior coolly replied. “Nor am I a witless fool who allows a demon to dictate my actions and thoughts for me, as a master does his dog.”
The blades clashed again and again, evenly matched until the first Sephiroth with his charred leathers leapt up into the air and kept moving against gravity with the help of the wing that sprouted from his shoulder. The second Sephiroth smirked, unimpressed as he crouched, leapt - the first dodged the charge, aiming to strike the other down while he was airborne and unable to avoid the blow - and the second Sephiroth snapped out both of his wings, one from each side, perfectly formed and balanced, kicking the one-winged Sephiroth in the face with an audible crunch. The first Sephiroth’s head snapped back and the two-winged Sephiroth blasted his opponent into the wall with a bolt of electric flame.
“NICE SHOT.” The dragon commented cheerfully, for all the world sounding like it was commenting on a little league match.
“Thank you, Mother.” The Sephiroth with two wings responded with out-of-place politeness.
The Sephiroth that had tried to kill Aeris snarled and leapt from the wall, casting Bolt at the dragon as he retreated.
“Mother!” The other Sephiroth cried out, ignoring his opponent and he leapt towards the dragon.
“I’M FINE!” The dragon roared, shrugging off the spell with a lash of its tail. “GO AFTER HIM!”
Sephiroth about-faced with a swirl of his cloak and went.
Avalanche tried to make sense of the last few minutes and failed.
“Um?” Zack finally ventured, hesitating halfway up the stairs. “Er, Ms. Dragon? Ma’am?”
“YES?” The dragon asked, turning large glowing eyes on the first class SOLDIER.
“Uh.” Zack blinked, taken aback by the familiar shape of those eyes in a distinctly non-human face, but was saved from speechlessness by the reappearance of Sephiroth. The Sephiroth with two wings, who had saved Aeris’ life, and who looked kind of really ticked off.
“I am sorry, Mother.” Sephiroth said as he drifted down for an elegant landing in front of the dragon - and between it and Avalanche a few of the group noticed. “The Jenova-spawn escaped.”
“SHIT. AH WELL.” The dragon sighed, sounding for all the world like a mildly inconvenienced housewife. “WE’LL GET HIM NEXT TIME.”
“Yes, Mother.” Sephiroth said obediently.
“Ah.” Zack said from a few steps below Sephiroth, swallowing harshly as the face of his old friend turned to look at him. That calm face, one eyebrow quirked up in question, was so much like the Sephiroth Zack knew that it hurt. “I hate to interrupt, but can I have my girlfriend back please?”
The dragon snorted and uncoiled, releasing a dishevelled, wide-eyed Aeris.
“Miss Gainsborough.” Sephiroth said politely, offering her a hand over the bulk of the dragon’s tail.
“Thank you?” Aeris sounded stunned as she looked as the Cetra girl took Sephiroth’s hand and climbed over.
“NINNY.” The dragon snorted and flicked its tail, sending Aeris tumbling into Zack’s arms with a startled yelp. Sephiroth watched passively as his former lieutenant scrambled to drop his sword and catch the Cetra girl. They made an impressive splash when they hit the water. Cloud snatched up the dropped Buster Sword and froze, obviously trying to figure out what to do.
“Mother.” Sephiroth chided mildly, proving to Avalanche that even if he was not trying to kill them all, this Sephiroth was just as cracked as the other one. “That was rude of you.”
“SHE DESERVED IT FOR THAT PASSIVE-AGGRESSIVE SACRIFICIAL ASSISTED SUICIDE BULLSHIT SHE TRIED TO PULL.” The dragon growled back, ignoring the way Avalanche tensed at the sight of its teeth. “THAT’S THE PROBLEM WITH CETRA, THEY SPEND SO MUCH TIME CRAWLING AROUND IN THE DIRT PLAYING WITH THEIR FLOWERS THAT THEIR FIRST RESPONSE TO EVERYTHING IS TO HIT THEIR KNEES.”
“I beg your pardon!” Aeris coughed, insulted and dripping onto the stones, slapping Zack’s hands away as she glared up at the amused looking dragon.
“What does she mean by suicide?” Cloud asked, making Aeris pale as she went abruptly silent and looked away. “Aeris?”
“Doll?” Zack asked when Aeris failed to respond, horror growing on his face. “Come on babe, tell me you weren’t planning on just letting Sephiroth kill you!”
“I…” Aeris stopped, looking guilty as she bit her lip.
“No.” Tifa said, standing with the rest of Avalanche at the end of the path, tears welling up in her eyes as she pleaded with her friend. “Why would you do something like that to us?”
“MORONS.” The dragon stretched out its long body catlike, settling more comfortably atop the alter space. “FIRST OF ALL, YOU NEED TO GET IT INTO YOUR HEADS THAT THE SEPHIROTH THAT ALL OF YOU HAVE BEEN CHASING IS NOTHING MORE THAN A JENOVA-SPAWNED PUPPET-CLONE. IT HAS NO REAL MIND OR WILL OF ITS OWN, AND HAS ONLY FAINT, TWISTED COPIES OF THE REAL SEPHIROTH’S MEMORIES. THE REAL SEPHIROTH BEING MY BOY HERE. SECONDLY, HOLY WILL ONLY WORK IF THE LIFESTREAM IS STRONG ENOUGH, AND THAT CAN ONLY BE ACHIEVED WHEN ENOUGH SOULS HAVE REJOINED IT. GET THE IDEA?”
“Aeris?” Zack asked softly in the silence that fell in the wake of the dragon’s explanation. “Were you really going to kill yourself to summon HOLY? You don’t need to do that, babe. We’ll find another way!”
“Oh. Oh, I’m sorry.” Aeris sobbed, bowing her head into her hands. “But HOLY needs a Cetra to guide it from the inside! We’re the only ones strong enough to keep ourselves separate enough to do it!”
No one could think of anything to say, and so a respectful silence fell. Except…
“YOU’RE A TWIT.” The dragon said bluntly, breaking the solemn mood into itty-bitty pieces. “THERE’S A FUCKLOAD OF DEAD CETRA IN THE LIFESTREAM ALREADY, GET ONE OF THEM TO DO IT. HEL, GET YOUR MOTHER TO DO IT. SHE’S ALREADY HALFWAY THROUGH THE PROCESS BY NOW. WHY DID YOU THINK YOU COULDN’T USE YOUR MA’S MATERIA?”
“Be-because the time wasn’t right.” Aeris said, blinking at the dragon in bewilderment as it rolled its eyes.
“GENIUS. NO WONDER THE CETRA ARE ALL BUT EXTINCT IF YOUR RESPONSE TO EVERY LITTLE THING IS TO ROLL OVER AND DIE.” The dragon ignored the squawks of outrage and continued right on talking, steamrollering over any protests. “YOU CAN’T USE HOLY PROPERLY WITHOUT SOMEONE TO START IT UP ON THE OUTSIDE. IT NEEDS TO BE BALANCED BETWEEN LIFE AND DEATH, ECHOING THE CYCLE OF THE LIFESTREAM.”
“How would you know?” Yuffie demanded with snort. “You’re just some big old snake.”
“Mother is the Living Memory of the Cetra.” Sephiroth said with a disapproving frown. “She knows of that which she speaks.”
“That’s a Cetra?” Barrett asked in a loud whisper, looking critically between the glowing scales of the dragon next to Sephiroth and the dishevelled Aeris, who glared at him for his comment. The big man held up his hands in surrender.
“DO I LOOK LIKE A WEAK-KNEED DIRT-DIGGER TO YOU, JACKASS?” Light rippled over the dragon’s scales, the blaze lighting up the whole underground chamber. When it faded, a blonde woman with gold wings and glowing blue beast eyes glared down at them all and flipped Barrett off. “I provided the Cetra who was trapped inside Jenova with a refuge when I kept Sephiroth from her control five years ago! In exchange, I got her knowledge and some of her memories. That’s it. I ain’t no pansy-assed Cetra!”
“So, but, you’re really Sephiroth’s mom?” Yuffie asked, face scrunched in confusion as she shook her head. The woman had been a dragon, and now she was not (and yeah okay, Yuffie could kinda see the resemblance, what with the eyes and the wings and the spiky hair, but) but she had been talking before, when she was still a dragon, and that was not how Limit Breaks worked!
“Oh, I’m Sephiroth’s ma alright, brat.” The woman tossed her head, and grinned, looking up at the towering, black winged warrior with fond eyes. “I’ve got the memories of both that whiney bitch Lucrecia and Jenova’s ride. I’ve been his mother for the last five years, and I’ve shown him more damn motherly love in one day than that crazy whack-job who popped him out managed to show in his entire fucking life!”
“How dare you!” Vincent hissed, hellfire eyes alight with fury. “Sephiroth’s mother was Lucrecia! Not you! She was a kind, gentle, human woman who loved him!”
“That’s true.” The winged woman, turned and looked down at Vincent, sympathy glowing in her sky blue eyes, but her voice was hard and incontestable. “That’s true yes, to a point. Only to a point.”
“To what point?” Vincent snarled, offended, hand on his gun in silent threat. Sephiroth shifted, gaze sharpening on the gunman as the argument continued. “What exactly do you mean by that?”
“What I mean is that you lover was kind, yes. Gentle and human too, I’m not disagreeing with you.” The woman sighed, one hand on Sephiroth’s arm to hold the obviously upset swordsman back. Sephiroth glared at the man attacking his mother with harsh words, and the blue-eyed woman sighed again, patting Sephiroth’s hand with a helplessly amused quirk to her lips. “But Lucrecia Crescent was wilfully blind to the faults and sins in the people around her. Self-deluded to the true horror of the choices she made. Trusted the wrong people for the wrong reasons to the point of idiocy. Worse, she sold her child to a monster, justified herself with science and fake altruism. Failed to love her child soon enough or well enough to do any good, and then selfishly abandoned him into the sole care of a sadist in a futile attempt to escape from her own pain.”
A ringing silence fell in the wake of the woman’s words. Vincent looked like a man forced to swallow something exceedingly unpleasant, but could not refute the truth in what the winged woman had said.
“Whoa.” Yuffie whispered to Nanaki when the silence grew too heavy for the young ninja to bear any longer. “That was kind of harsh, don’t you think?”
(Word Count: 2172)
=/=
This is like, totes one of my favorite scenes for this particular AU. The confusion, the chaos, the curses... Cid being Cid, even if that means being a woman or a dragon or a mother. Ah, I loves it so~♥ Also, Cid's opinion of the Cetra is in no way supposed to bash pacifists. He's just Cid, and he'd rather kill and eat his opponents rather than give up or take the easy way out.
Have decided that my LJ needs organizing, and so will be reassigning tags, because I am OCD like that. Also, I have resolved to post at least one thing a week that is not Transformers. It seems like I've been woefully neglecting my other fandoms, so I shall now devote the weekends to Transformers fic, and one weekday to other, not-TF fic.
Driving to Buffalo tomorrow to pick up my Mum from the airport. Thank the spirits for my grandfather, as my darling father figure forgot to mention that there would be a toll. Grandfather gave me monies for gas and the toll, and we ♥loves♥ him for it.
Here there be dragons! Hey, look. My Black dragons are actually producing Black eggs. Wow. It's been a while since they did that. *blinks*
♠
♣
♠
♣
♠
♣