Wutaiverse Update
Not much to say, 'cept enjoy the fic!
Title: 1987 - 07 - Fear
Author: Scrolls
Rating: PG-13?
Fandom/Pairing: FF7/None (eventual Aeris/Cloud/Sephiroth/Zack)
Disclaimer: SqaureEnix Owns, I'm just having some fun.
Notes: Everyone has fears, even her.
Summary: What if Momma Strife had taken Cloud and Aeris and gone to Wutai, what would be the same, and what would be different?
Constructive criticism will be hugged while flames will be used to line the bunny hutch.
Enjoy Ladies and Gentlemen.
1987 - 07 - Fear
Despite the sun shining in a clear sky, it was still to cold for Aeris to take off her jacket. Early spring, especially still so close to the turning of the year was wet, windy, and cold.
It was also the perfect time of year to cut the wisteria.
Many were mistaken in thinking that the vine liked being pruned, nothing liked losing a part of itself; plants were no exception to this. No, it was simply that wisteria took an almost mischievous pleasure in growing back even wilder wherever they had been hacked at.
And while she knew this, Aeris was quite happy to use the plants’ own nature to get it to do what she wanted. By chopping away at most of the vine, she was able to get underneath to the wood of the building, using her powers to undo the passage of time and the damage of insect, as well as give it her own version of waterproofing. In fact she had only just begun and the plant was already whispering to her about how wild and tangled it would grow back once it was warm enough. That was fine; she would simply tie its tendrils to the lattice-work that she would be putting in tomorrow.
And it wasn’t just the vine that was talking to her; all around her the various plants whispered their promises of beauty once it got warmer. Bushes told of wide leaves that reached for the sky and cut off this little garden from the world, Sakura trees giggled of blizzards of small white, pink, and red petals, flowers dreamed of bursting forth and painting the ground with colors.
When those of Wutai spoke of a gardener’s patience, they spoke of the wait of decades, the willingness to do years of work, and happily know that there is still more to do.
Aeris didn’t mind being patient with her flowers; it was part of their nature to require it. It was when she had to deal with people that she tented to get short on it. Especially lately, several young maidens, newly introduced to the court, had discovered that Aeris could see things. And as a result they were constantly bothering her with questions. From the way they spoke, you’d think that there was nothing in their minds but marriage!
They weren’t the only ones nagging at her, for the past month the winds and water had spoken to her of something not belonging, of something not right. But never once could they be more specific, no flashes of a face, or bits of talk, just a warning.
Warnings that had gotten louder and more dire with each few days, until today, when in order to have some semblance of quiet, she had been forced to banish the winds to just outside her garden and still the waters within. She loved her elements, she truly did, but she didn’t need them tearing up her garden.
She could still hear them, still feel them, after all-
After all-
Aft…
Silence.
The plants, the water, the wind; for one moment her ears and mind were filled with nothing but silence. A silence that was waking up old fears with every heartbeat.
And then, with a voice that should have been loud enough for the world to hear, they screamed.
Turning Aeris slammed back into the wall behind her, where she could feel the vines rearranging to curl around her, fighting off winters touch to protect her. In front of her, was a woman, carrying a tray with rice balls, who dressed like a servant, and was a completely different creature altogether.
The woman, seeing her reaction, kept her façade only long enough to place the tray on the ground. After that, the servant was gone, leaving nothing but the creature she truly was, a creature that walked towards her with the same quiet that had resulted in the queens death.
Watching her come closer, Aeris felt a piece of her mind go blank as old memories from a time of glass and steel and concrete and pain. She doesn’t know who this woman calls master, but she knew where she would end up regardless.
The winds and the waters, even the plants were picking up her fear and anger and-and-and the winds pushing and pulling at her, screaming for movement-scalpels slicing skin, covered faces observing blood-water churned, froze and melt and refroze again-things put inside of her then taken out-plants twisted and coiled around her, wanting to hold her-keep her safe-dull pain that wouldn’t stop, wouldn’t let her sleep or eat or anything but shake and whimper within empty rooms-
The touch of a fingernail brushing her cheek brought Aeris back to reality with a snap that made her elements pause.
The feel of the woman’s hand on her shoulder freed her voice.
“NOOOO!” She put it all into that one word, all her fear, all her anger, all her pain both of the past flesh and of her present mind when she learned how life was truly meant to be lived-
The wind split in half, one going out, carrying her scream to fetch help, the other half came inward, slamming into the woman and ripping her away from Aeris, pulling her in all directions, twirling her until she slammed into the side of the building.
The water and vines took over where when the wind let go, sprouting tendrils of leaf and water that weaved around the woman into a cocoon of ice and bark.
The wisteria-having felt her need to move-had gladly released Aeris when it turned its attention to the woman now being bound tight. She had perhaps gone only a dozen steps before slamming into one of the many ninja that guarded the palace.
Friends the winds told her, happy that they had brought her the help she needed.
That was close a part of her thought, the small part that wasn’t clinging to the ninja she had run into and shaking like a leaf in a strong breeze. Too close she could hear the man’s soothing words, and behind that, the sound of others arriving, guards shouting, and orders being given.
“It’s a good thing for those powers of yours child, we might have lost you without them.”
Looking up at the one holding her, Aeris knew he was right, that without her powers acting, she probably would have been taken.
Next time though, she knew they might not be enough.
*looks up at sky* Look, if you're going to be cold, will you at least snow?
Title: 1987 - 07 - Fear
Author: Scrolls
Rating: PG-13?
Fandom/Pairing: FF7/None (eventual Aeris/Cloud/Sephiroth/Zack)
Disclaimer: SqaureEnix Owns, I'm just having some fun.
Notes: Everyone has fears, even her.
Summary: What if Momma Strife had taken Cloud and Aeris and gone to Wutai, what would be the same, and what would be different?
Constructive criticism will be hugged while flames will be used to line the bunny hutch.
Enjoy Ladies and Gentlemen.
1987 - 07 - Fear
Despite the sun shining in a clear sky, it was still to cold for Aeris to take off her jacket. Early spring, especially still so close to the turning of the year was wet, windy, and cold.
It was also the perfect time of year to cut the wisteria.
Many were mistaken in thinking that the vine liked being pruned, nothing liked losing a part of itself; plants were no exception to this. No, it was simply that wisteria took an almost mischievous pleasure in growing back even wilder wherever they had been hacked at.
And while she knew this, Aeris was quite happy to use the plants’ own nature to get it to do what she wanted. By chopping away at most of the vine, she was able to get underneath to the wood of the building, using her powers to undo the passage of time and the damage of insect, as well as give it her own version of waterproofing. In fact she had only just begun and the plant was already whispering to her about how wild and tangled it would grow back once it was warm enough. That was fine; she would simply tie its tendrils to the lattice-work that she would be putting in tomorrow.
And it wasn’t just the vine that was talking to her; all around her the various plants whispered their promises of beauty once it got warmer. Bushes told of wide leaves that reached for the sky and cut off this little garden from the world, Sakura trees giggled of blizzards of small white, pink, and red petals, flowers dreamed of bursting forth and painting the ground with colors.
When those of Wutai spoke of a gardener’s patience, they spoke of the wait of decades, the willingness to do years of work, and happily know that there is still more to do.
Aeris didn’t mind being patient with her flowers; it was part of their nature to require it. It was when she had to deal with people that she tented to get short on it. Especially lately, several young maidens, newly introduced to the court, had discovered that Aeris could see things. And as a result they were constantly bothering her with questions. From the way they spoke, you’d think that there was nothing in their minds but marriage!
They weren’t the only ones nagging at her, for the past month the winds and water had spoken to her of something not belonging, of something not right. But never once could they be more specific, no flashes of a face, or bits of talk, just a warning.
Warnings that had gotten louder and more dire with each few days, until today, when in order to have some semblance of quiet, she had been forced to banish the winds to just outside her garden and still the waters within. She loved her elements, she truly did, but she didn’t need them tearing up her garden.
She could still hear them, still feel them, after all-
After all-
Aft…
Silence.
The plants, the water, the wind; for one moment her ears and mind were filled with nothing but silence. A silence that was waking up old fears with every heartbeat.
And then, with a voice that should have been loud enough for the world to hear, they screamed.
Turning Aeris slammed back into the wall behind her, where she could feel the vines rearranging to curl around her, fighting off winters touch to protect her. In front of her, was a woman, carrying a tray with rice balls, who dressed like a servant, and was a completely different creature altogether.
The woman, seeing her reaction, kept her façade only long enough to place the tray on the ground. After that, the servant was gone, leaving nothing but the creature she truly was, a creature that walked towards her with the same quiet that had resulted in the queens death.
Watching her come closer, Aeris felt a piece of her mind go blank as old memories from a time of glass and steel and concrete and pain. She doesn’t know who this woman calls master, but she knew where she would end up regardless.
The winds and the waters, even the plants were picking up her fear and anger and-and-and the winds pushing and pulling at her, screaming for movement-scalpels slicing skin, covered faces observing blood-water churned, froze and melt and refroze again-things put inside of her then taken out-plants twisted and coiled around her, wanting to hold her-keep her safe-dull pain that wouldn’t stop, wouldn’t let her sleep or eat or anything but shake and whimper within empty rooms-
The touch of a fingernail brushing her cheek brought Aeris back to reality with a snap that made her elements pause.
The feel of the woman’s hand on her shoulder freed her voice.
“NOOOO!” She put it all into that one word, all her fear, all her anger, all her pain both of the past flesh and of her present mind when she learned how life was truly meant to be lived-
The wind split in half, one going out, carrying her scream to fetch help, the other half came inward, slamming into the woman and ripping her away from Aeris, pulling her in all directions, twirling her until she slammed into the side of the building.
The water and vines took over where when the wind let go, sprouting tendrils of leaf and water that weaved around the woman into a cocoon of ice and bark.
The wisteria-having felt her need to move-had gladly released Aeris when it turned its attention to the woman now being bound tight. She had perhaps gone only a dozen steps before slamming into one of the many ninja that guarded the palace.
Friends the winds told her, happy that they had brought her the help she needed.
That was close a part of her thought, the small part that wasn’t clinging to the ninja she had run into and shaking like a leaf in a strong breeze. Too close she could hear the man’s soothing words, and behind that, the sound of others arriving, guards shouting, and orders being given.
“It’s a good thing for those powers of yours child, we might have lost you without them.”
Looking up at the one holding her, Aeris knew he was right, that without her powers acting, she probably would have been taken.
Next time though, she knew they might not be enough.
*looks up at sky* Look, if you're going to be cold, will you at least snow?