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lazerv4 · 1 month

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Thoughts on Final Fantasy VII Rebirth [2 out of 2]

Refer to part 1 before reading please

The cast has seen improvements all around Brianna White’s Aerith was already an all time performance for the series and it being joined not only by Suzie Yeung’s Yuffie but also by John Eric Bentley’s Barrett was a great surprise and a huge glow up from Remake. It might be too early to tell but between the interview where they told her to tone down her acting because it was too good (her vomiting noises specifically) and the sheer strength of the cast this time around I wouldn’t be surprised if she was the performance of the year at The Game Awards later this year. As for Barrett the main factor is that Rebirth gave Bentley more to work with and he sure took advantage of it delivering a performance worthy of the nuance Barrett deserves. This is not to say the other performances where bad as Cody Christian, Britt Barton, Max Mittelman and Paul Tinto all did great jobs as Cloud, Tifa, Red XIII and Cait Sith respectively or the side characters like Caleb Pierce, Kayli Mills and Piper Reese all did fantastic jobs as Zack, Cissnei and Elena but we would be here for like 8 more paragraphs if I listed every performance[also wanted to drop here Matt Mercer and J Michael Tatum as Vincent and Cid to finish up the main cast].

Gameplay wise it plays like a faster version of what Remake was doing which is just an ATB version of Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII’s combat which is to say it plays really good, the game now includes way more commands and allows you to stack even more wacky materia to make your characters as customizable as you can without dropping what made them unique and letting you work with whatever party you vibe with the most (Aerith and Yuffie is the best party and I will die on this hill), the second most important gamemode is the exploration section of the game which unlike 7 Remake or 16 is very open while still filling condensed unlike 15’s huge vastness this one is closer in approach to the always reliable Witcher 3 open world zones but that doesn’t mean it drops the basics of the huge open world trend, like many of its kind Rebirth has the infamous Ubisoft towers, (which hot take but I enjoy in a checklist sort of way) some random busywork and the third gameplay pillar minigames which there are a lot, probably too many to talk about here without making this longer than it needs to (which it already kinda is) but one I do wanna talk about is Queen’s Blood as its questline was a great little distraction with bizarre analogue horror elements that I didn’t expect from the obligatory FF card game at all while also being a somewhat fun game with some interesting strategic depth.

From here on out I’m gonna talk about the ending so skip from here to the conclusion if you want to keep reading spoiler free but otherwise. [First off the second visit to the Golden Saucer is great fun, this time the “date” goes fantastic as you visit Loveless, a beautiful rhythm game and the story of a knight fighting darkness to save his beloved accompanied by some of the best music the game has to offer and topped with a musical performance by Aerith with her singing voice being provided by Loren Allred who performs a gorgeous ballad to close out a contender for moment of the year, and afterwards if you upped your relationship to your date enough you get one of the “intimate endings” which are little character moments between Cloud and whoever he is with that I hope will be revisited in the third game as they are just wonderful. Afterwards we get a slightly better version of the Cait Sith liar reveal during the Dio vs Don Corneo tournament and soon we are, sailing through the Meridian Ocean chasing the turks with the help of Vincent to arrive at the fortress of the ancients, where another moment of the year takes place in the trial, a small section where we essentially make everyone face their worst moments again so that they may be prepared for what comes ahead (special shoutout to Yuffie’s Intermission revisit, it felt crushing in all the right ways),in general things were shaping up great and we were wrapping the most ravishing bow to finish up the gift that was the middle of the VII series, but then suddenly a dog arrived and bit everything, that dog is called the temple of the ancients. That final push started strong with the isolation of Cloud trying to save Aerith from the grim fate she is predestined in the original game and surprisingly succeeding in saving Aerith from fake Sephiroth only for what I can only understand as a convergence of timelines to start happening and switching our Aerith into a different timeline while leaving us with a dead one from another but I will get into that in a second, then everyone is able to arrive and they see the dead Aerith which prompts the start of the bossfight, an interesting detail is that everyone but Cloud starts with their Limit as they are fighting to avenge their dead friend while Cloud still needs to build it up since he is fighting to restore her and prevent Sephiroth from fusing the timeline, in a bizarre way Zack is also there for a bit of the fight until he gets separated into another world again while still being attacked by Sephiroth, what is curious is that for brief moments (synergy attacks in this case) Cloud can join Zack as a sort of projection without entering this dimension fully as well as fighting Sephiroth now in a white void instead of the usual dark one that represents his subconscious even being joined by either the summation of Aerith across all timelines or just our Aerith now aware of her role in all of this to finish the story of Rebirth. At the end we see that everyone Aerith was killed by Sephiroth except for Cloud who is still communicating with her from the other dimension (if he was losing his mind we would have the static and not the rainbow) while everyone else mourns her loss. This leads to the ending cutscene where Cloud and Aerith go their separate ways to finish the story and frankly I kind of hate it, Remake already had a decently open ending that needed some input from the Ultimania (a book about the game that Square Enix releases like a month after the game) to fully get and now it feels like they just doubled down and made the Ultimania a required part of understanding what is going on since everything is just very speculative and borderline impossible to confirm as a thing that actually happened. Maybe it will fix it and an explanation will be available online for people that finished the game to look up but it's still an incredibly scummy way to sell us the Ultimania and a blight in what was otherwise an outstanding game.]

Bringing everything to an end, I really loved this game, despite my issues with some parts of it, it's good to see that like with Remake, VII can carry the franchise while the main series struggles to turn out greatness again. The sheer love that was put into it can be felt all around and the team deserves all the praise they are getting, iIt was a great experience and I can't wait for the final one in a few more years.

#final fantasy vii #final fantasy vii rebirth #final fantasy 7 #final fantasy #cloud strife #aerith gainsborough #yuffie kisaragi #square enix #video games #ramblings #rambles

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djinmer4 · 2 months

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Weird FF7 Dream

So after the original FF7, instead of Sephiroth or Hojo being the one sticking around, it's Lucrecia. Of course, she's also trying to destroy the world, but it's to posthumously vindicate her theories on CHAOS and Omega. Cloud's mostly still recovering for Sephiroth possession (and the whole absorbing Zack's memories and thinking he was him), so Tifa is the one who takes charge of hunting down Lucrecia (also, maybe something about how her presence really wasn't helping Cloud sort himself out, so she needed something else to focus on).

Anyway, the whole chase starts by breaking into her cave behind the waterfall, destroying her crystal and burning her body (suggested and carried out by Vincent, who is now determined not to make the same mistake and actively try to protect the world rather than waiting). She then goes body surfing (at one point she possesses Rufus, causing the FF7 crew and the Turks to team up), and then a lot of taking over electronic equipment and trying to reactivate old Shinra projects to destroy the world. Oddly, not a lot of mutations though, despite being one of the characters most heavily infected by Jenova.

Ends with Tifa finding her last ROM, destroying any means she has of transferring herself away, then dropping the Lucrecia smartphone into the Mako spring at Nibelheim where Aeris forcibly dissolves her into the Lifestream. One last conversation where Aeris and Tifa talk (something something, Aeris asks her to tell Cloud she's sorry, but she's got Zack waiting for her on the other side and won't be appearing again). They hug and then Aeris also dissolves away.

For some reason the dream was mostly focusing on the friendship between Aeris and Tifa working together to hunt down Lucrecia, but there was a lot of Vincent also supporting Tifa and a growing romantic between the two of them as well.

#weird dream #ff7 #tifa lockhart #aeris gainsborough #vincent valentine #vinti #tifentine

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axgmented · 8 months

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How do they greet someone they like / love?

@meteodrives

The Turks ╰┈➤ There are some Turks she's closer to than others. Reno, understandably, is the one she always finds herself drawing close to. He was her mentor, without explicitly being given the title. However, when she broke out of the tank, Tseng held her in interrogation and had the redhead accompany him; he was, after all, the fastest turk. : ̗̀➛ Reno: Rem greets him with lazy touches against his hands, his arms; she'll pull his ponytail or flick the markings on his cheek. She relaxes around him, if the setting calls for it. In battle, she feeds off of his energy: if he swaggers, she stalks. if he walks, she prowls. If he smirks, she's grinning that mad-cat smile. If he's in high spirits, she's at ease. If he's mad, she's furious. If he's sad, she's reserved. : ̗̀➛ Rude: Rem greets him with quiet nods. She lets her smile peek through, quick and in a hurry-- if you blink, you may miss it. She's timid around the brawler but never is she afraid of him. His anger makes her ready, snapping at the heels of the enemy. To see him rattled makes Rem focused, picking up whatever she can to help him-- whether it means she's the speed or the distraction, whether she heals him or aids him from a distance. : ̗̀➛ Tseng: Nothing about her greeting is superficial, yet it isn't warm. Sharp nods, barely spoken sentences. It's a "yes, Taichou." or a "no, Taichou". Rigid shoulders from standing at attention, it's a serious face that lacks the teasing glint in her eyes. Her jaw is set, she stands at attention. Formal, to the point, and never asking too many questions: she is seen and not heard. : ̗̀➛ Elena: brazen, loud-- she treats the woman like a little sister, despite the blonde being of higher rank than her. She pinches Elena's cheeks, slings an arm over her shoulder-- laughs like lightning and loves to make the other woman blush and stutter; loves how "by the books" she is, often pushing her luck with her attitude. When Elena cries, Rem levels mountains to make her smile again. When Elena is angry, she's backing her play-- she's slugged a grown thug before in Wall Market because he made Elena's cheeks flush with rage. Protective: ready to jump down someone's throat for treating Elena like a child.

╰┈➤ The President : ̗̀➛ In the privacy of his office, when the blinds are drawn and the door is shut, she stalks towards him like he's her prey. She skitters across his desk with playfully, walking fingers. Her ass doesn't sit in the chair, but rather on the corner of his desk or sometimes in his lap. Always toeing that line of having herself thrown into HR but the real punishment comes in his home. When he's hurt, Rem is hurting. When he's displeased, Rem would slaughter a whole planet to make him happy again. When he's in hospital, Rem lays at his side like the loyal dog she is. She's clocked out and welcomed into his home, Rem kneels before him with her head bowed and her lips parted; she is pliant, she is playful but demure. She sheds the want of being a killer and only wishes to be for him.

╰┈➤ AVALANCHE : ̗̀➛ Tifa: with jumpy looks and hesitating touches; always wanting to help her. Rem's been known to clean her path before speaking to Tifa: hands full of empty bottles if the bar is busy. She wants, so badly, for the other woman to treat her the way that she does Marlene and Denzel, but Rem knows she isn't a child. She greets Tifa with respect, a sharp tongue of slum slang and swear words, and sometimes it's harmless barks or a tongue laced with anger but never is it directed, specifically, at Tifa. She is wary of the woman, walking on eggshells and just on the precipice with her. : ̗̀➛ Marlene: with a scrunched-up nose and hands crooked into harmless claws, chasing her around the bar or the dusty ground. With breathless laughter and whispering hisses as she feigns to snatch her up and tickle her until she's squealing and giggling. When Marlene cries, Rem panics and immediately seeks Tifa; she tries to watch her mouth, and never smokes around the girl. A little sister, indeed. : ̗̀➛ Denzel: not-too-rough punches to the shoulder, a ruffle of his hair. Sometimes she hooks him in a headlock and feigns punching him in the gut. Her hands are open towards him, instructing him on how to fight (much to their dismay). She wrestles him, obviously letting him win, and sometimes they argue. Sometimes, Rem forgets she isn't his mother, isn't his sister but Denzel never seems to mind. She picks him up carefully when he falls asleep waiting on Cloud, trying her best to be careful when she puts him in his bed; she doesn't hide situations from him. Rem is cautious, just like with Marlene, because she shouldn't get attached and these children are pure. Rem ruins things that are pure. : ̗̀➛ Cloud: always running to him like an injured pup. Their days vary, and their mood varies on how she reacts; if Cloud is calm then Rem is a flurry of chaos. She'll get as close as she can stand, just to watch him squirm. She cackles loud, sharp to see him jump and she loves to get a rise out of him. She'll steal his 10mm and pocket it for a week, only to have him call her and demand it back: playful, and never afraid to get into a fight with him. She touches him briefly, pushing his hair out of his face when he's falling asleep on the bench in the garage. When it's a bad day, her eyes are cold and she bares her teeth when he comes towards her; spiteful words, words that aim to wound and he gives it right back to her. She wants, eventually, to be able to touch his hand and not want to peel her skin off-- eventually, she wants to greet him like she greets her Turks, but it will never happen.

#headcanon;;#answered;;#LONG POST;;

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dansantcaparet · 2 years

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Aerith Gainsborough: Not your typical damsel in distress

Female characters in video games are a funny thing. They, just like women in the real-world, receive unfair and often sexist criticism no matter how they act.

With the current trend of female protagonists reaching new heights in Hollywood, I think it's important to remember one particular heroine we were introduced to in 1997: the Flower Girl and last remaining Cetra -- Aerith Gainsborough.

Aerith, unlike many female characters, was unafraid to be opinionated. She wore her heart on her sleeve, and is sometimes criticized for doing so. Many gamers found her to be "annoying" or "bossy". But what I saw was someone that wouldn't let anyone, especially a man, tell her how to behave. This was both refreshing and, well, awesome.

I just wanted to scream: YOU TELL HIM AERITH!

This Flower Girl sure as hell wasn't going to let Cloud get away with that comment, and good for her! She was unapologetic as a woman in charge of her own destiny and choices, and felt comfortable taking the lead. As she so bluntly put it:

Aerith had a confidence about her that was captivating.

She was unafraid to go after what she wanted, something female characters are rarely shown doing. Aerith was attracted to Cloud and boy did she let him know it!

I'm truly grateful Square Enix showed us a female protagonist that was unapologetic in her quest to get what she wants. Unfortunately, whenever women are shown acting this way, they are accused of being overly aggressive and slutty. My response? This is the 21st century.

Women should never feel guilt or shame in chasing their dreams or desires, something Aerith taught us in Final Fantasy VII. This confidence is what drew Cloud to Aerith and kept him infatuated with her. It's no surprise he told Marlene he 'hoped' Aerith liked him and decided to infiltrate the Shinra headquarters to save her. He even re-affirms his commitment to be her bodyguard in-front of Tifa.

What started out as a physical attraction soon grew into an emotional attraction on Cloud's end. He just couldn't get enough of this spunky Flower Girl, and neither could I. Both her confidence and blunt humor had me cracking up at every turn:

But what made Aerith a truly remarkable female character is she was so much more than just a confident, pretty girl. She was also unafraid to show vulnerability and ask for help, two things truly confident people are comfortable doing. When she knew she was in over her head with the Turks, she sought Cloud's assistance. Aerith wasn't stubborn and knew that asking for help isn't a sign of weakness, but a sign of strength.

Beneath her confidence was a woman filled with conflicting and complex feelings regarding her heritage and history. Often times her humor and confidence masked these feelings, but as with all humans, Aerith is multidimensional and has her own personal struggles. What truly makes her remarkable is she was confident enough to show that yes, even confident people can be vulnerable sometimes.

Unfortunately, her confidence could never change the fact that she is the last remaining Cetra and her biological Mother and Father were taken from her at an early age. Part of what made Aerith so strong is because she survived these tragedies. But these tragedies also reveal a real person and someone that needs a shoulder to lean on every now and then. It takes someone truly confident to reveal their inner-most thoughts, fears, and struggles. Cloud adored Aerith for this, as shown by his reaction to her confession in Cosmo Canyon. Cloud wanted Aerith to know that he would always be there for her, showing us that these two truly did complete one another.

Aerith brought to the surface the caring and compassionate side of Cloud, while Cloud brought Aerith the security she needed to allow herself to let her guard down and be vulnerable. He made sure she knew that no matter what, she would never be alone as long as she had her bodyguard. They both brought out a side in one another that was rarely seen, which is exactly why they are perfect for each other.

While playing Final Fantasy VII, I felt stronger and safer having Aerith in my party. I was confident in her because of her confidence as a strong female heroine, something we desperately needed against the seemingly invincible Sephiroth. Her combination of fearlessness and unimaginable power as the last remaining Cetra made me feel as though we had a fighting chance against Sephiroth.

And guess what? I was right.

#clerith #cloud strife #aerith gainsborough #final fantasy 7 remake #ff7r

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istanleyff7 · 3 years

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TOTP, Episode Aerith, Scenes 22-27

Final Fantasy VII Remake: Traces of Two Pasts Episode 2: Aerith Scenes 22-27 A Light Novel by Kazushige Nojima Translated by Stanley (@istanleyff7 on twitter) Scene 22

After Meguro and his children had left, Elmyra went out on her own. When she returned home after an hour or so, she updated what had happened while she was out. First, she went to the Sector 5 House to apologise for failing to watch over Marcellus and announced that Rona's real name was Aerith and that she would be keeping the alias. But Elmyra hopes they continue to have good relations with her and requests them not to talk about Aerith's name outside of the House.

"As much as possible, I wouldn't want to lie to them. I didn't tell the teachers our reasons, but they understood where I'm coming from. Moreover, Jean is an imaginative and clever boy. I'm sure he'll be able to keep the children in check. I've also gone on to explain the situation to my acquaintances living across the alley."

"Okay."

"Well, I've told them not to talk about it to anyone else, but I can't say just by doing that is enough. I've discussed with Butch, and he mentioned that the members from the third in charge would come over to the house and look after us. That's rather reassuring, isn't it?"

↞↠

Elmyra's plan may or may not have worked. The time had passed peacefully. Aerith became accustomed to being Aerith at home and being Rona while outside, and she was getting used to living in the slums. She was also used to having one of the third in charge and his subordinate in the house. Meguro came to visit a few times a month but never brought his children. Butch retired because of old age, and Carlo filled up the vacancy as a third in charge. February came, and Carlo planned a birthday party for Aerith’s 8th birthday, where the members would bring over their families to gather at the Gainsborough house and celebrate Aerith's birthday. When Aerith heard the plan, she was so delighted that she hugged Carlo. It was also decided that the children from the Sector 5 House were to be invited. Aerith did not want Marcellus and Rona to be invited, but Carlo did not allow her request.

However, the party did not happen. The day before Aerith's birthday, Carlo brought his subordinates over to begin decorating the house for the party. Then Rodin appeared in a panic and reported that Meguro had a heart attack and collapsed. His life was also in danger. The actual head of the organisation had collapsed. For everyone involved, this was more important than a birthday party. Carlo flatly declared that the party was postponed. Aerith was stunned by this but was comforted that it was postponed instead of cancelled. However, the thought of the party being postponed on an ordinary day did not excite Aerith. The excitement and thrill had faded. While the adults were in disorder, Aerith shut herself in her room and cried. For one moment, Aerith's anger welled up towards Meguro for collapsing, and the next moment, she was tormented by guilt.

On the early morning of Aerith's birthday, Elmyra went out to visit Meguro. Someone from the House came over to invite her to play, but she ignored him. Elmyra came back home in the evening.

"Meguro is fine. His condition is no longer life-threatening."

"I'm glad he's fine."

"If something were to happen to him, he'd ask me to take in his kids."

"What!?"

"It's an absurd request, isn't it? Shall we pray for Meguro's complete recovery from the bottom of our hearts?"

Elmyra laughed, and Aerith could not help but laugh along with her.

"You finally laughed! Why don't we go somewhere more lively in the evening? Let's have something nice to eat."

"Okay, let's eat."

"We will. Actually, I've also hired a bodyguard. He should be here any moment."

"Who is he?"

Just then, the doorbell rang. A person's figure could be seen standing outside through the window of the door.

"Coming!"

Aerith opened the door with great vigour. It was an unfamiliar face, but she recognised his suit. She had an encounter with Professor Hojo one day, was not there a man in a full black suit standing behind him? During the one time she had seen President Shinra, there was also a man in a full black suit standing in the corner of the room. The Shinra Company came at last.

"Aerith, so you're here after all. Everyone has been worrying about you," The man in the suit said in a friendly manner.

"No... Go away!"

Aerith backed away from the door and hid behind Elmyra. The man did not care, and he walked in on his own accord. Elmyra stopped him, but the man ignored her and continued talking.

"Aerith... You know you're not just any little girl. You're a descendant of the Ancients."

"Who the heck are you? This is my house. Don't you think what you're doing is rude?"

"My apologies. I'm a representative from the Shinra Company."

"You're surprisingly young. Are you a newcomer? You forgot to mention your name. Did you think you could scare me off by saying Shinra?"

The man lost the composure in his eyes.

"It's Tseng. I'm Tseng from Shinra Company's Investigation Sector of the General Affairs Department."

"And, what's your business here?"

"I'm here today to talk to Aerith."

"I don't want to talk. I don't want to!"

"You mentioned something about the Ancients. What the heck is that? You sure it isn't someone else?" Elmyra stood forward and said to him.

"They were the original stewards of the planet whose boundless knowledge and wisdom shall guide us to the Promised Land. Some believe the promised land to be a myth. Others, an allegory of sorts. But we take the words of the scriptures at face value and believe it to be quite real. Which is why Shinra would like very much for Aerith to help us—"

Aerith couldn't bear the thought of being separated from this house. She never wanted to go back to Shinra Building.

"You're wrong! I'm not an Ancient!"

"But Aerith... Even when you're all alone, don't you hear voices whispering secrets?"

"No, never!"

Aerith ran upstairs to escape. She crawled into bed and pulled the blanket over her. It was not cold, but her whole body was shivering.

She felt this one year would disappear like a dream. She shut her eyes tightly, trying to chase away the fear she has never felt before. All that came to her mind were negative possibilities. Eventually, she imagined Elmyra facing a terrible situation. What should she do? But she was afraid to go downstairs to see what's going on. No, what should she do if he comes upstairs?

"We came to an agreement," Aerith heard Elmyra's voice close by.

Aerith looked up from my blanket and noticed there was no one else in the house. There was sympathy in Elmyra's eyes.

"You’ve been through lots of scary things, haven't you? Don't worry. He already left."

Elmyra sat down on the bed and held Aerith close to her.

"You're an Ancient?"

That was so Elmyra, with a straightforward question.

"I'm actually called a 'Cetra'. My mother was a Cetra, and I'm only a half-Cetra."

Elmyra nodded again and again.

"That man... from what Tseng mentioned, it seems that Shinra regretted not obtaining the information they wanted most because of the horrible things they did to your mother, Ifalna. It was regarding the Promised Land. So it seems that they decided not to ask you for any other information except about the Promised Land."

It was not that she did not know about the Promised Land. She had heard of such a place from Ifalna. But what kind of place is it? Where is that? She did not know the information that Shinra wanted.

"I don't know. I don't know anything about that."

"That's what Tseng said. But he also mentioned things like, even if you don't know about it now, the day you may know it may come."

"I don't want to go anywhere. I like Elmyra, and I want to stay here."

"That's very nice of you to say, and I feel the same way too. That's why I suggested this to him. You'll live with me every day, and I'll observe you, and if I seem to see any sign from you, I will inform Shinra. Until then, Shinra is to absolutely not come near you. Tseng contacted his superior, and we had an agreement right away. I think he's a pretty good kid."

"So, can I still live here?"

"That's right. And too bad for Tseng, I'll probably only be observing my daughter's behaviour."

Elmyra let out a laugh.

Scene 23

"When Shinra found out about me, I no longer had a reason to hide my name. So I could be Aerith, not only in the house but also outside it. For a while, it was really peaceful. The Turks didn't really come, and Elmyra's business was going well. Of course, it wasn't all fun and games. There were times when I felt terrible and wanted to cry. But that's because we were living a normal life."

"That's nice," Tifa said empathetically.

"But then, another incident occurred. And it's because of Marcellus."

"Oh..."

Scene 24

Carlo came to visit.

"Hey Aerith, are you well? Here's a gift for you."

He presented her with a bundle of sweets. It was a little childish for a ten-year-old girl. Elmyra thought that sweets were detrimental to the development of healthy teeth and made a glum face.

"I've got some business to attend to with Elmyra. May you take this and head upstairs?"

"Okay~"

This was a common occurrence when one of the in-charge came over. Elmyra, who used to tell her everything, was becoming more like a mother and distinguished what her daughter should and should not hear. After entering her room on the second floor, she slammed her door shut with all her might. There was a loud bang. And immediately after, she quietly opened the door. She opened the door just enough for her body to slip through, and she concealed the sound of her footsteps and crept close to the stairs. The house was old, and the floor would creak when stepped on, but she already knew the safety zones where no noise would be made.

"It’s bad. It’s really bad."

Carlo could be heard saying that out loud.

"How much do you know about Meguro's illness?"

"His heart is fine, right?"

"Well, yeah. But the rest isn't so good. He has three diseases I can't even remember the name of. Since Rona was born, he has gained weight at an alarming rate, hasn't he? After his wife passed away, his life was a mess. He ate all kinds of goo and slop."

"I also tried to warn him, but I didn't know if I should have been harder on him."

"Well, he will either ignore you or flip you out. I wonder what he would do, though. And besides, Meguro also decided to move to the plate to facilitate his medical treatment. He's willing to manage the business from the plate, and it seems that he intends to bring a third in charge along with him to be his liaison officer. So what does that mean? From the way we see it, that guy is practically the second in charge. He didn't consult with you about such an important matter, did he? You're the same rank as him. He’s taking you lightly, isn’t he?"

"What a bother. I'm just only a representative, and I've been leaving everything up to Meguro up till now. I don't wish to get involved in all of this politics."

"You live with this job. How can you not be involved?"

Aerith could not hear Elmyra's voice, but she probably would let out a big sigh.

"Anyways, I didn't come over today to talk about the organisation. It's about Marcellus. That cocky shitty brat ran away from home. I only know this much but Meguro had ordered all the in-charge to search for him. He told me to pass it onto you, and so I did.

"Marcellus... I haven't seen him for two or three years. He's thirteen or fourteen now, isn't he?"

"Yeah. I ran away from my shitty home when I was twelve. I thought he merely just caused a big uproar by running away from home, but..."

"Did something happen?"

"Meguro's condition was leaked out to the public, and there seem to be people taking advantage of the situation. Such as Corneo from Sector 6, all the way to the Manson brothers. Meguro thinks that these people may have kidnapped Marcellus. What do you think?"

"If it was kidnapping, the kidnappers probably would say something?"

"Not yet, it seems. It's been three days since Marcellus disappeared. He most likely just probably ran away from home. But the worst case would be what I had just mentioned."

"Okay. I'll keep this in mind. Even so, I live on the wholesome side of the slums. I don't think I will be of much help though."

"We'll be the ones to find Marcellus. You keep Aerith safe. If Marcellus is kidnapped, there is a chance that Aerith will be kidnapped too. Regardless of what we regard you as, from the outside, you're the second in charge, Elmyra. Aerith is her daughter. If I had to use her as a bargaining chip, I'd choose her too. You'd rather give up your business for Aerith, wouldn't you?"

Aerith was astonished and took a step back. She stepped out of the safety zone, and the floor creaked.

"Aerith, are you there?" Elmyra called out sharply, "Come down here."

She had been caught, so it cannot be helped.

"Did you hear everything?" Carlo asked her the moment she got off the stairs.

She had no choice but to admit it.

"Don't worry. Nothing will happen to you."

There was nervousness in Elmyra's voice when she said that.

"However, I think it's better if we take precautions. It's probably better to head out from here. There is someone in Kalm whom Gabriel used to take care of a long time ago. I think we can turn to him for help."

"If it's possible, that's probably better."

This saddened Aerith. She decided to raise Aerith on her own, and now Elmyra had to leave this house.

"Pack up your things tonight. I'll arrange for a car and a driver to Kalm. No, I'll drive. It's been a while since I drove, but I think I’ll manage. I'll pick you up before dawn tomorrow. You'll both have to walk to the gate, so wear comfortable clothes to move about in.

The conversation went on and on.

"Aerith, don't look like that... I’ll come pick you both up as soon as we solve this problem."

Carlo's chest tightened as Elmyra held Aerith's shoulders and pulled her close for an embrace.

↞↠

It was nighttime. Elmyra and Aerith stuffed their belongings into a small briefcase Elmyra and Clay used for their picnics and then went to bed. Aerith was so nervous she could hardly sleep. She wondered what Marcellus was doing. She had not thought about Marcellus in a long time. His voice suddenly came to her mind, as well as his malicious manner of speaking, the lemonade that he spilt on the table and the dirt that stained his pure white suit. However, she does not remember his face. She wondered what kind of face he had. His mouth leaked out blood. His nose. And then his eyes.

"Ahhh, that was it."

The moment she remembered how Marcellus looked, she felt goosebumps running down her body. Behind the shut curtains of the window, there came a flash of light.

"What's that?..."

She got out of bed and opened the curtains slightly. She could see the garden. In the garden, she saw Marcellus, around the area where Jean had pinned him down that day.

"What?"

The next moment, Aerith was in the garden. Marcellus was lying on his feet, covered in blood.

"No!"

"Ugh..."

Marcellus moved his hand and felt the toes of Aerith's bare feet. She felt goosebumps throughout her body again. The scenery surrounding them changed in a split second.

"Ehh!?"

An unfamiliar landscape was spreading across. Walls. Wired fence. When she turned around, she saw Midgar, and it seems that beyond the wall was the wilderness.

"Help... me..."

A faint glow radiated from Marcellus' body. That was the form of life, and she felt as if she had known it all along. Now, at this moment, Marcellus was close to dying.

"Where? Where is this?"

"Sector 6... gate..."

"Ehh? I don't know where we are, but wait for me!"

Aerith started to run in the opposite direction of the wall — towards what appears to be the slums. She intended to call for someone. However, the landscape disappeared. When she turned back, she could not even see Marcellus. She ｗas within a lukewarm, white blur, and she could not see anything anymore. Her body felt itchy, and she could feel the blood rushing through her body. It was an unpleasant sensation.

"No! No! Help me! Elmyra!"

She could hear her own voice in the distance, and it gradually became louder. And the scenery returned. Her eyes seemed to remember their function. She was in her room, somewhere she was familiar, and was lying by the window. She hurriedly got up and looked out of the window. It was still dark, but she knew that dawn was approaching. She noticed someone in the corridor. The door then opened, and Elmyra peered in.

"Ahh, you're awake. Carlo will be here any moment now, so hurry up and get ready."

"Marcellus, he's at the Sector Six gate. He has injuries and is covered in blood. He looks like he's in a lot of pain."

Elmyra's stare made her feel uneasy, but Aerith did not look away.

"Let's tell Carlo about this."

Soon after, Carlo came over and called for them. He urged them to leave in a hurry, but Elmyra held him back.

"It seems that Marcellus is near the Sector Six gate, and he's injured. He appears to be in critical condition, so can you quickly go and save him?"

Carlo furrowed his eyebrows.

"Where did you get that information from?"

"Don't ask me anything, please. I owe you one."

Carlo first looked at Elmyra and then looked at Aerith's face. After that, he departed from the house.

Scene 25

"And then, Carlo found Marcellus collapsed near the Sector Six gate. He was in a critical condition, but I'm glad he somehow managed to survive."

"That's strange... Sorry, I'm repeating myself, but that's strange."

"I don't think it was just my powers, but I think the land had an influence too. It's because that area around my house was different from others."

"Such as the flowers being able to bloom?"

"Yup. I think that's the same way my mother, Ifalna, was able to come over to my room. But I can't even aim to try and do that. It's because I'm not a pure-blooded Cetra, and more importantly, I don't have the same state of mind as when I was a child. I think that's a huge factor. I can no longer tame that pure-like feeling similar to when I was a child. I wondered if I became insensitive once I grew up."

"Ahhh what a waste that you can’t have it anymore."

"Yea. Especially after starting this journey."

The two fell into silence. The definition of happiness changes from day to day.

"Oh," Tifa raised her voice.

"Did Marcellus run away from home after all?”

"Yup. It was just as Carlo thought. Marcellus didn't want to move to the plate, so he ran away. While he was aimlessly wandering around Wall Market, he got tangled up with Corneo's thugs, ran away, got lost, and lastly, he was attacked by a monster."

"Hey. Moreover, Carlo did a splendid job, didn't he?"

"Yeah, he did. He's a different person from the first time I saw him. He's like a dependable uncle. I used to think that he was an uncle, but clearly, he's like a brother."

"So, what’s he doing?"

Scene 26

Marcellus was brought under protection. However, the fact that the Corneo’s were involved, albeit they only had little influence, could not be overlooked. They cannot afford to stop being vigilant. The two young men under Carlo's care, Banquo and Zoot, were sent to the Gainsborough house to lodge for a while. They were still in their late teens. As they ate Elmyna's home-cooked food with relish, they seemed like children, and it felt that they could not be relied upon if a malicious enemy came over. Carlo, who paid a visit every other day, was seen to be very reliable compared to Banquo and Zoot.

One day, Carlo bothered Elmyra in an unusual way. He insisted that he wanted to eat deep-fried bread with meatballs. Elmyra refused, saying she did not have the ingredients. But Carlo was persistent, and in the end, Elmyra gave in. With Banquo and Zoot as bodyguards, they went out shopping.

"Hey, Aerith."

As soon as the both of them were alone, Carlo called out to her. He was very gentle in his voice.

"You know about how Elmyra told me where Marcellus was? How did Elmyra know about it?"

"Well, I don't know," Aerith responded bluntly.

She intended to pretend that she was calm, but she wasn't confident.

"I see. To tell you the truth, my colleagues suspect that someone was involved in the kidnapping. And in reality, it was Corneos' thugs who beat Marcellus up."

"Yup."

"And they believe Elmyra had something to do with it. Because she knew where he was, that's why she's a suspect and that her purpose was to warn the ones in command. Elmyra would be ready to make Meguro obey her. Something like that. Do you understand?"

"They suspect Elmyra?"

"That's the case. And they suspect me too. You see, ever since Clay passed away, I've been coming here frequently. Now that they suspect that we’re a couple... Ah, sorry, excuse me... that both of us are planning to sell the organisation away and stuff like that. To be direct with you, we aren't in a good position. And as a matter of fact, Meguro suspects us too."

"What should we do?"

She thought of the time when Meguro was angry. It sent chills down her spine.

"I need to know why Elmyra knows where Marcellus was, and if it's a reason that everyone can understand, we can be justified. It's hard to clear our name once we're under suspicion, but if I know the truth, at least, I will feel different about it."

Carlo looked at her with downcast eyes.

"You know, Aerith. Elmyra is in a terrible situation. That's why Aerith. If you know anything, please tell me."

She knew what Carlo was saying very well. No, she understood the meaning of his expression. Carlo would not continue supporting them anymore if she did not say anything.

"About that."

Aerith's voice was trembling. In truth, Elmyra had told her not to reveal it at any cost.

"She heard it from me. I saw Marcellus in a dream. It actually wasn't a dream. It was something else. But that's the kind of feeling that I can only describe as a dream. In it, I met Marcellus, and he told me where he was."

Carlo nodded his head several times as he listened.

"You don't have to believe me, but it's the truth."

"I see. Aerith, does this happen often?"

"It doesn't happen often, but... It's not the first time."

"I see. That's why Elmyra believed you. Is that so?"

Carlo lifted his head and gave a sweet smile as he patted Aerith's head.

"Aerith, you really like Elmyra, don't you?"

She did not know what Carlo was thinking. She was not sure if he'll stay on their side or not. Or had she let him down?

"Carlo. What's going to happen? I'm scared."

"I'm scared too."

↞↠

Eventually, Elmyra and the others came back home from shopping.

"Elmyra," Carlo called out for her, "The situation has changed. I'll have the deep-fried bread some other time."

"What the heck! I took the trouble to head out..." as Elmyra was saying that, it seemed that she noticed the unusual atmosphere in the room. "Did something happen?"

"Remember what I told you about going to Kalm? It turns out that it's probably better for you to go. If you don't wish to leave, then let Aerith go on her own."

"Are the Corneo's coming? Or is it Manson?"

"It's Meguro."

"What?"

"From the moment you knew where Marcellus was, he suspects you have connections to Corneo's. And they think I'm in on it too."

"Who's telling you that?

"Rodin, Marvin, Roger, Bowman, Louis and of course, Meguro himself."

"Isn't that all of them?"

Elmyra closed her eyes. Aerith wondered what she was thinking. Eventually, she opened them and stared at a point on the table. It was a picture of Clay and Gabriel.

Then, she transferred her gaze to Carlo and...

"Where's Meguro at?"

"He's at home. He has postponed the move and has been tirelessly working to solidify his security. Are you going to march into his place?"

"I just want to talk to him. I'm going to let go of the business and give up all my rights to Meguro."

"Woah woah woah woah! Are you serious?"

"I've thought about it several times, but to be honest, because when I thought about my livelihood, I couldn't follow through with the decision. Well, I guess this is the right time, isn't it?"

"Wait a minute. Even if you do that, that's not going to clear your name, isn't it? In fact, they might think that you're leaving us because you're going over to Corneo's. If you're not careful..." Carlo hesitated to say.

"I understand what you want to say, Carlo. But even so, I still have to go. Please take care of Aerith a little for me."

Carlo shrugged his shoulders.

"And Aerith?"

"No," a husky voice came out of Aerith.

Elmyra smiled and touched Aerith on the cheek.

"I may be back late, so go to bed. You can eat with Carlo and the others."

"No!"

Elmyra turned her back on her. Aerith tried to stop her, but Carlo grabbed her by the arm.

"Let go of me! Mummy, don't go!"

However, Elmyra went off. Banquo and Zoot looked at Carlo in disbelief.

"Banquo, Zoot, make us some food. Anything is fine."

"Carlo, I hate you."

Carlo had a sad look on his face. Moreover, he did not want to let go of Aerith's arm.

"Elmyra should clear up about this. We’ll be understood eventually."

↞↠

Aerith didn't have much appetite, so she caved herself in upstairs without touching Banquo's omelette at all. She was so worried about Elmyra that she could not concentrate on anything. She looked out of the window and peeped for signs of life downstairs numerous times. It was nearly midnight when the door opened.

"Elmyra!" Carlo called out in a lively voice.

"Let go of me!"

Aerith ran down the stairs and almost fell over. Carlo was scratching his head as though he was embarrassed, with Banquo and Zoot grinning at him.

"Mummy!"

Elmyra came over and squatted before Aerith's eyes.

"I'm home. You must have been worried."

Aerith could not resist it and gave Elmyra an embrace. Elmyra could not support the weight of her daughter and fell on her bottom.

"You've grown up, haven't you?"

"So, Elmyra. How did it go?" Carlo asked impatiently.

Elmyra helped Aerith to her feet and then took her time to stand up herself and fixed the wrinkles on her clothes.

"Meguro no longer thinks that Marcellus has been kidnapped, much less that you or I had anything to do with it. It didn't even cross his mind once."

"Eh? Is that so?"

"He said that you and I wouldn't go around doing that kind of stuff."

"Damn you, old man. You underestimate me!" Carlo tried to behave like a villain, but he couldn't hide his delight.

"So, what was with the talk that I heard about?"

"Who the heck did you hear that from?"

"Butch. I heard it from Butch. He retired, but he still meets Meguro often, so he knows what's happening inside pretty well."

Elmyra looked at Carlo in silence.

"Butch!? Butch set me up!? That old man!"

Carlo scratched his head off, swore, made his face funny, rubbed his eyes and paced around the room.

"Carlo, calm down. I'm not finished yet."

Carlo stared at Elmyra intensely. His breathing was still heavy.

"I have no idea how Butch was related to this, so let's put this talk behind us. I've brought something for you to keep from Meguro."

After saying that, Elmyra took a small box from her bag and presented it to Carlo.

"What is that..."

Carlo accepted the box and opened its lid. He was lost for words.

"It's Gabriel's ring. President Shinra also has the same ring. It was a token of their friendship. It was supposed to be Clay's, but that wasn't possible. So Meguro held onto it."

"In order words, that's..."

"It's to mark the first in charge, the head of the Gainsborough household. And this too."

Elmyra held out an envelope.

"Inside holds the title deed, a memo regarding Shinra's liaison officer to us, and the others are documents which you'll need for the job. It also has the blood-sealed certificates of the current in-charge of the household. I just did my blood-seal earlier too."

Elmyra then showed him the ring finger of her left hand. There was blood on the plaster.

"Big brother Carlo! Doesn't that mean you're the head of the household!?" Banquo excitedly exclaimed.

Elmyra looked at Carlo and gave him a big nod.

"Meguro has been sick and turned completely weak. He called upon all the other heads, and it looks like that was to prepare for his retirement. He intended to talk to you for the last time."

Carlo mumbled something in his mouth and went on to take the envelope. But then quickly withdrew his hand.

"I'm scared. It's too sudden. What should I do?" ― Carlo was worrying about all these as his men, Elmyra and Aerith, observed him.

"You're amazing, Carlo," said Zoot, sniffing and rubbing his eyes.

It took Carlo three minutes to make up his mind. He took the envelope from Elmyra's hand, who had been patiently holding it, and put it in his black bag, which he always carries with him. He then took his gun from the bag and placed it on the table. A heavy thud sounded in the room.

"I won't be coming here anymore, so I can't protect you both. You both have to do it yourselves."

"You won't be coming back?"

Aerith could not help but ask. Everything was settled, and things seemed to be going well, but Aerith could not wrap her head around why.

"I won't be."

Carlo suddenly made a weird looking face and looked as though he was on the verge of crying.

"If I keep coming and going to visit, won't nothing change? If members of other organisations know about this, you both will definitely become their target. It's not about the business anymore. Aerith, be a good girl, okay? Elmyra, continue being the great woman that you are."

After quickly saying those words, he left the house as though he was escaping. Banquo and Zoot hurriedly followed behind him. Right after that, the door opened once more, and Carlo came back alone. Once inside, he got close to Elmyra, and without looking aside, he embraced her tightly. He let out a deep sigh afterwards, lowered his shoulders and left the house.

He never came back.

↞↠

The days that followed were so peaceful that it was almost anti-climatic. Because nothing anxiety-inducing occurred, Elmyra put her gun in the attic after about half a year, when in the beginning, she would not even let go of her gun no matter where she went. Aerith wondered what Carlo and the others were doing. What happened with the hostile organisations afterwards? She wasn’t given any information. Elmyra probably knew something, but she did not say a word in the house. Elmyra is a workaholic and decided to earn her living by cleaning cafés, hospitals and orphanages in the neighbourhood. Elmyra told Aerith with surprise that she seemed to get a job no matter where she went in the slums. Even though she had enough on hand, she was often introduced to other customers, and there were people everywhere who cared enough to make sure that Elmyra and Aerith did not fall into poverty. Elmyra expectedly thought it was strange and asked them for their reasons, and they told her about the debt of gratitude that they and their families had for Gabriel Gainsborough. When Midgar only had its foundations, the wages paid to the workers were astonishingly measly. And a massive bunch of people who were neither from Shinra nor construction workers had money extracted from them in the form of referral fees, brokerage fees, and administration fees. It was Gabriel who reconfigured the structure and got rid of those who exploited the workers. There was lots of bloodshed, but workers' enemies were exterminated, and a large part of the wages paid by Shinra went to the workers since then. He also negotiated with Shinra and also won the workers an increase in remuneration. Many of them were able to open shops and start businesses because of Gabriel, and these people did not forget to pass on their gratitude to their children.

"I'm grateful for this."

Aerith heard Elmyra saying that numerous times.

↞↠

The children of the Sector 5 House would head out to work once they become thirteen years old. To mimic them, Aerith decided that she also wanted to work. However, Elmyra did not allow her.

"Why can't I?"

"It's not that I want to lock you up in the house, but I'm worried about you. You've been through a lot, haven't you?"

"I know, but for a long time, nothing has happened."

"That's true. But you know what? This is my problem, you know. Even up till now, this happens to me. Whenever I feel happy and secure, something happens. It's always been like that. I wonder if I had that kind of fate."

Elmyra let out a deep breath and shook her head.

"If I do that, I'd be restraining you as Shinra did. Alright, you may work. But, only around the neighbourhood, please."

"Thank you, Mummy."

Her mother's frank confession struck a chord in her heart. At the same time, she wondered about the possibility that she was one of the problems that she's holding onto.

Scene 27

"And my mother's fears were right on the mark."

"Ehhh?"

Aerith tiredly nodded to the surprised Tifa.

↞↠ You’re on page 119/142 of Aerith’s segment of the Light Novel Next Scenes: Scenes 28-35 Previous Scenes: Scenes 15-21 Back to Content Page (click/tap here) follow @istanleyff7 on twitter for updates support the TOTP translation project financially here (click/tap here)

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daxieoclock · 3 years

Text

Okay let’s do this. TW for scientific dehumanization

This is Vee, my Final Fantasy 7 OC (primarily with the remake in mind, though the meta aspects of that story don’t play a part here). Formerly from a small village whose inhabitants were captured and experimented on by Shinra, she possesses minor draconic abilities and an affinity with fire Materia as a result of those experiments. She only escaped the labs at all by accidentally faking her death – going into cardiac shock during an experiment and then surviving their attempt to dispose of her body through incineration, due to her newfound immunity to flame. Vee was then nursed back to health in a small religious collective centered around worship of the Ancients, and spent a few years there until she had recovered enough to leave. While she isn’t quite an amnesiac, the trauma from those labs has fucked significantly with her memories and self of self.

Personality-wise, Vee is brash and self-assured, displaying both an abundance of confidence and a general sense of polite ease. She’s a hopeless flirt, but drops that behavior immediately around her elders and anyone who shows discomfort in being flirted with. While she jumps at the chance to make a show, she also shies away from attention outside of her control, hiding her fiend eyes behind sunglasses and keeping her wings dismissed. That overly casual persona also helps hide a deep insatiable fury towards Shinra, SOLDIERs and especially that snickering scientist bastard, whose throat she would personally like to tear out for everything he’s done to her and her family.

In combat, she keeps at least one hand in her pocket at all times, and fights with close-range fire magic and a flame sword she can summon and dismiss at will.

AU summary (including Gay Details) under cut.

EDIT: I’ve made a few minor edits and added events up until a little ways past the departure from Midgar.

EDIT 2: I made this into a fic.

Initial

A large aspect of the “Vee AU,” so to speak, is the change of timescale: stretching out the events of the plot over the span of a couple months rather than a couple weeks, with multiple periods of reprieve between urgent setpieces. Other than that, the first big change comes after Cloud’s meeting with Aerith, in that he makes it back to Seventh Heaven without being pulled into the Wall Market nonsense – Aerith tagging along the whole time. Aerith meets Tifa and decides to stick around for a bit, Cloud slips back into his friendly neighborhood merc gig, and Avalanche stresses in the background about their next move.

It’s during this point that Cloud investigates a commotion nearby Sector 7 only to find the cause to be a bloodied Vee standing amidst a bunch of ko’d Shinra soldiers. When she notices Cloud’s mako eyes, she attacks him – SOLDIERS were the people who took her to the labs – before half-collapsing from her injuries. Cloud heals her, and makes the ‘ex’ part of ex-SOLDIER very clear, as well as his open contempt for Shinra. Vee apologizes for losing control, thanks them, and decides to stick around to help out – since they have a common enemy, and she wants to pay back Cloud for saving her life after she almost murdered him. Vee Joins The Party.

A few days later, we enter the leadup to Wall Market. Desperate for details and noticing a surge of Shinra activity in and around Sector 7, the gang decides to try and get info from the one man who might know anything: Don Corneo. Unfortunately, he’s an asshole, so they’re going to have to threaten him for it. While Barret and the rest of Avalanche stay behind to keep Shinra from trying anything, Aerith, Tifa, Cloud and Vee head to Wall Market. On the way there, Tifa and Vee get separated from the others when part of the collapsed highway collapses further, and they spend some time getting to know each other while Aerith takes Cloud on a more direct route.

Tifa and Vee smooch after roughly a day of romantic tension. No further relationship is established at this time.

In Wall Market, the gang splits up into two teams to try and pincer Corneo’s security. Vee and Aerith hit up the tournament under Madame M’s supervision, passing themselves off as a Shinra rep and her Turk bodyguard to get an invite through the front door, while Cloud and Tifa go through Andrea Rhodea to try and weasel their way into Corneo’s audition for his next wife.

Aerith and Vee smooch after kicking ass in the tourney. No further relationship is established at this time.

Corneo’s security is dispatched from two angles, and the gang rushes back towards Sector 7 after hearing the info about Shinra’s now ongoing plan to collapse the plate. They get there, and fight their way up to Barret and the other Avalanche crew, managing to minimize the damage from the plate’s fall by locking the center supports in place, but they cannot fully prevent the collapse. While the majority of Sector 7 remains livable, the outskirts are devastated. (Aerith is not approached by Tseng at this point. Jessie, Biggs and Wedge survive.)

There’s a terse, tense celebration in Seventh Heaven. A lot of lives were saved, but not all of them, and there’s still the financial cost to the already destitute slums – not to mention that Shinra will likely try to take credit for the collapse’s partial prevention, and pin the collapse itself on Avalanche. This isn’t even close to the end of hardship. Regardless, it is a victory.

Over the next few days, the gang recovers and focuses on helping Sector 7 rebuild. Tifa tries to push Aerith and Vee together, seeing herself as an obstacle between them. Aerith confronts Tifa about this, they discuss their feelings and reservations.

Aerith and Tifa smooch. At this time, we establish a relationship between Aerith, Tifa and Vee. Many more smoochings occur.

Saving Aerith

One morning, the gang wake up to find Aerith missing. Tifa, Vee, Cloud and Barret go to her house to look for her, and Elmyra tells them she visited late last night to say she wouldn’t be coming back home for a while. Elmyra realizes something is wrong, and tells the gang that Aerith is a descendant of the Ancients, and her birth mother was captured by Shinra. Vee and Cloud are especially tense when she says she suspects Shinra’s head scientist of being involved in Aerith’s disappearance. When the party returns to Sector 7, Wedge shares a message from Avalanche HQ: the Turks brought someone matching Aerith’s description into Shinra headquarters last night.

After tangoing with Corneo and Leslie in the sewers, the gang fights their way to the Shinra Building. On the elevator up, Vee and Barret have a bit of an ideological clash. Vee makes it clear she doesn’t care about the suffering of Shinra Employees, their paychecks are soaked through with the blood of Shinra’s victims, and their complicity is guilt enough. Barret fires back that while they’re taking the easy road out, there are fewer and fewer non-Shinra jobs out there every day, and some employees have more than their own mouth to feed. Not everyone can afford to make the sacrifices he did, and while they don’t have to be buddy-buddy with Shinra’s suckers, the company would fall apart without them. Draw them over to Avalanche’s side, and Shinra wouldn’t last a day.

Mayor Domino helps the gang get into Shinra R&D, and they’re forced to fight a whole floor full of mutant experiments to get to where Aerith is kept. When they reach her, she’s contained in a glass cylinder, overlooked by Hojo in an isolated observation room. Vee immediately lunges at the reinforced glass between her and the scientist. She asks if Hojo recognizes her, and he expresses delight that she managed to survive. Vee tries to break the glass but hesitates when more experiments attack Tifa, Barret and Cloud. She does issue one last threat to Hojo: she’s going to walk out of here with Aerith, and then she’s going to track him down, so he’d better start running. Next time they meet, she’ll make him hurt in every way he hurt her, and she’ll enjoy it. Vee punches the glass hard enough to crack it, and she gets one good look at Hojo’s surprised – maybe frightened – face before metal shutters close off the observation room completely.

After being freed and embracing both of her girlfriends, Aerith explains that she was captured voluntarily – half to keep Avalanche from being targeted by Shinra, and half to find out the truth. She takes them down a floor to a place she identifies as her mother’s room, and her own. Aerith spent most of her childhood here, and her mother managed to escape with her just long enough to hide her with Elmyra before being captured again. Aerith returned because she thought her mother might still be alive, but apparently the woman didn’t survive more than a year after being recaptured. Vee reminds Aerith that she’s still alive, and she has a life outside these walls now, with people who love her. Tifa simply asks her to promise not to leave like that again, and Aerith gladly does so. She doesn’t plan on chasing ghosts, not anymore. She knows where her home is.

The reforged quintet meets with Red XIII, who Vee immediately takes a one-sided liking to, trying to befriend the more tempermental catdog. They head farther into the labs to both chase Hojo and make it to the roof for extraction, and find Jenova. Sephiroth appears, sending Tifa into shock and Cloud into blind fury, and the latter charges at the specter – who severs the bridge and sends them plummenting into the depths of the labs. Cloud is seperated from the others for a time, and fights alone and half-berserk through a small horde of experiments, nearly attacking Barret when he runs into him. Barret and Red manage to calm him down, and they fight up the Drum to Tifa, Vee and Aerith, then back up to the elevator.

The gang follows Jenova-infected footsteps to President Shinra’s office to find the bigwig himself danging off the side of his big fancy tower. Vee immediately hops over the railing and extends a hand to pull him up, but digs her nails into his arm and keeps on holding him over the edge. It’s his fault. Everything that happened to Aerith, to Vee herself. Guilt travels upwards, and there’s no one higher than Shinra. Killing him won’t bring back Aerith’s mother, or the people killed by the plate, or Vee’s family. It won’t take away what happened to her. But it’ll make her feel a whole lot better. Vee is ready to drop him, but Barret talks her down, convinces her that Shinra is more use clearing their names and owning up to dropping the plate. With him as a hostage, they can bring the company to its knees. Vee relents, and pulls Shinra to safety, only for Sephiroth to stab him through the chest.

Cloud barely holds it together, and Sephiroth taunts him, trying to egg him on. Doesn’t Cloud want to hurt him? Doesn’t he want to take revenge, for his family, for his home? For his companion? Cloud is a breath away from trying to take his head off, but it’s Tifa who strikes first, forcing Sephiroth back with a roundhouse kick. She tells him to leave her friend alone, and the rest of the gang backs her up. That manages to shake Cloud out of his fury, and he stands by his friends as they take on the legendary SOLDIER hero.

And lose. They’re barely a match for him, their attacks don’t phase him in the slightest, and he seems impossibly fast. With one final mockery, Sephiroth takes Jenova’s body and dives off the side of the Shinra building, leaving Cloud almost numb, hollow. Tifa manages to pull him out of it, and he doesn’t understand how she’s still herself aftering seeing him. She shows that her hands are still shaking, and admits she’s not letting it catch up with her. Right now, she’s focused on trying to stay alive, and keep the people she cares about alive. Our six rebels fight their way back through Shinra security and, with one look back at the home they’re leaving behind, they steal a ride out of Midgar.

Once they make it to the inn in Kalm, Cloud finally fills everyone in on what he hasn’t told them. He’d only meant to tell Tifa, originally, but the others deserve the truth as well. With her permission, he recalls the Nibelheim Incident. After Sephiroth killed his hometown and injured Tifa, Cloud attacked the man, overpowering him and throwing him to his death – or he assumed, at least. Another Nibelhiem resident, Zangan, took Tifa to safety, promising to come back for Cloud. He didn’t make it, and Cloud was captured and experimented on by Hojo; toughing through thanks to the mako infusions he got as a SOLDIER. After five years, he managed to escape, and make it to Midgar. The others are horrified, but Cloud almost no-sells it. It’s in the past. It’s fine. He’s fine. And with that, and without taking any questions, he goes to his room and sleeps.

Tifa admits once he’s gone that there’s something odd about the story, about the way he told it. She can’t quite pick out what, but it feels as if he’s leaving out something big from the parts that she can’t corraberate. Barret and Red agree, they felt similarly, but Vee reminds them that traumatic events like that can fuck with a person’s head, muddle their memories. And she knows firsthand how traumatic Shinra’s labs can get. The five agree not to push him on it, and follow suit to get some sleep.

When she’s finally alone with Aerith and Vee, Tifa breaks down completely as the events of the day wash over her. The man who scarred her, who slaughtered her family, who burnt down her home, is alive. Her best friend has years of trauma he’s never told her about. And she almost lost her girlfriend. Vee and Aerith hold her, and the three fall asleep together. For now, they’re safe.

#ask to tag #red gaia au #vee #okay to reblog????#im very nervous haha #i want to share vee but also Aww Jeez What If My Oc Is Bad Actually

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im-totally-not-an-alien · 4 years

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Final Fantasy 7 prompts # 34

1. Sephiroth makes Cloud have a full on mental breakdown and now he feels bad. On the other hand the blond is crying into his chest, and he's really not sure what to make of that.

2. Cloud Strife: King of the Chocobos

Yuffie wouldn't stop calling him that, particularly on the account that they were being followed be no less that nine chocobos. It doesn't help that it's mating season. Yuffie keeps telling him to flirt with them to get a free ride.

3. AVALANCHE giving Nanaki a bath, which somehow induces a water war

4. Protective Cloud looking out for Tifa. He somehow gets pulled into the "Bouncer" role

5. Vincent scaring off one of Clouds many stalkers (of which, Cloud is oblivious)

6. Tifa's wolf ring can call to/ summon Cloud in cases of emergencies via the wolf emblem on his pauldron. Kinda like a summon materia

7. I'm in love with the Commander Strife thing where he joins Shinra post time travel shenanigans and fixed everything.

So:

A. Commander Strife being babied by Genesis

B. Commander Strife becoming Zack and Clouds pseudo big brother

C. Sephiroth, Genesis, Angeal, Zack and Cloud try, and fail, to find out Commander Strifes first name.

D. Commander Strife babying the Infantrymen and looking out for them since few people in the company actually care about them.

E. Sephiroth and Commander Strife exploring the bond through the J-cells

F. Commander Strife is given a soft light blue sweater, "so he doesn't have to wear his uniform at the mall again"

G. Kunsel is obsessed with discovering Commander Strifes backstory. He has the corkboard with pictures and string and everything!

H. "Bold of you to assume I know what I'm doing." - Commander Strife

I. Someone vandalized six large walls within Shinras training facilities. Six whole beautiful and highly detailed paintings, each portraying one of the Commanders and one of the General. The last one was all of them together, standing side by side with thier swords at the ready.

The five people in question were so flattered that the investigation was halted and the paintings remained. The perpetrator(s?) was never caught.

J. Cadet Cloud sending home a picture of him and Commander Strife together, to his mom.

She couldn't help but laugh at the goofy faces they were making.

K. Commander Fair cackling madly as he sprinted down the corridors carrying a blushing Commander Strife while being chased by an enraged cake covered Reno.

....the troops decided that they saw nothing.

L. A picture at a holiday party with the four Commanders and the General, all with hot chocolate in hand and wearing a whipped cream mustache

M. Commander Strife just hands Zack a whistle and walks away.

Curious, Commander Fair blows the whistle, and is immediately swarmed by dogs.

N. Genesis drags Strife out on a spa day

O. The Commanders were all in a room when Zack started asking hypothetical questions about thigh high socks and stuff.

He questions how they keep them from sliding down.

Strife answers the question without thinking, and grumbled about how uncomfortable sagging thigh highs were.

===============================

He froze, jaw closing with an audible click and slowly looked behind him to see Genesis and Zack looking at him with an odd gleam in thier eyes.

"And pray tell, little bird," Genesis cooed with a overly sweet voice, "how would you know that?"

The blond panicked a little, "It's a long story."

Zack snuck up to his side and linked thier arms together, "A story that you will definitely be telling us...if you don't want any rumors!"

Cloud stared that them in disbelief, "You're blackmailing me?"

"Of course!" The redhead sang.

===============================

P. Cloud making Genesis a custom LOVELESS themed motorcycle as thanks for letting him cry on his shoulder. Literally.

Q. Everyone is in honeybee outfits. Reno snaps a picture, and runs for his life.

R. Commander Strife is confronted by a man who claims to be his father, which he knows is impossible for time traveler reasons.

He quickly realizes what the man wants when the guy demands a DNA test...after all, the science department has been practically foaming at the mouth, wanting a sample of his DNA.

S. Sephiroth never gave up on figuring out what the mysterious blonde was hiding. He becomes even more invested in his investigation when he hears him mention the Wutai princess by her first name. Suspicious.

T. While he was on the run with AVALANCHE, Strife had always slept with his group. Being the way he was he unconsciously sought out things that were both soft and firm to use as a pillow, which often lead him to sleeping on his team mates.

He wake with his head resting on Vincents chest, Barrets arm or Tifas abs and always, always, always, they would wake him gently by running thier fingers through his hair.

He missed them so much.

U. Vincent has rejoined the world, but refuses to fully rejoin the Turks. This doesn't stop them from throwing him a birthday party.

V. Vincent is commonly referred to as "Vincent the Vampire" and "My Valentine" by Zack and Genesis respectively.

W. Cloud met the chairman/ chairwoman for his fanclub and he realy wishes he didn't.

X. Commander Fair is forbidden from picking movies at movie night. Thats what he gets for bringing X-rated movies, Though the part that Strife didn't like was that everyone was trying to cover his eyes and ears. He wasn't a child!

Y. Commander Strife runs into younger Tifa and has to explain that no, he is not Cloud.

She doesn't believe him.

Z. Zack, Kunsel, and Sephiroth somehow wind up inside Commander Strifes head and decide to snoop. They find out everything and aren't sure how to proceed.

8. Time travel fix it, but from Kunsels perspective

9. Time travel fix it, but from Zacks point of view and he gets caught up in the madness

10. Time travel fix it, but from random SOLDIERS/ Turks point of view

11. Clouds mom goes back in time and takes her 13 year old son by the hand and, armed with only a few materia, marched into the ShinRa mansion and went strait to Vincent.

She gives the wide eyed Turk the tounge lashing of a lifetime. She becomes enraged however, after the former ShinRa spy gives her some flimsy excuse and slams his coffin closed. Long story short, she drags the man out by his cloak with her son close behind, fiddling with his small sword and glaring at the man as if daring him to do anything to his Ma.

Valentine is baffled.

12. Reno makes the wrong move and Cloud finally snaps, telling him exactly where he can shove his rod

13. Cloud is just so tired of being grossly hit on and sexually harassed. He starts coming up with one liners/ insults /refrances to combat the crude remarks.

Example:

Woman: How big is your ****?

Cloud: *said in the tone of those tootsiepop commercials* The world may never know.

14. Tifa gets turned into a frog, but doesn't turn back. Even when using maidens kisses and ensuna she remained an amphibian.

Aerith convinces Cloud to kiss Tifa, which he does, shyly on the cheek. She poofs back to her normal self and they both blush while the flower girl giggles.

No one even suspected that it was her doing.

15. Sephiroth revives and meets Cloud and Tifa's kids, who took one look at him and decided to latch onto his legs and demand his attention.

They also boldly declared him to be thier uncle/ the moon God, and tell him all about thier wierd family.

They told Sephiroth that he'd fit right in with AVALANCHE, to which he genuinely laughed at the irony of the situation.

#sephiroth #ff7 story prompts #Cloud strife #tifa lockhart #avalanche #SOLDIER #genesis rhapsodos #zack fair #angeal hewley #aerith gainsborough #ff7 #ff7 prompts #Reno #reno of the turks #vincent valentine #long post #loooooong post

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synnefo-nefeli · 4 years

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I am loving that there’s a brand new generation of gamers discovering that Aerith is pretty much feral in FFVII

She’s not this soft spoken, angelic, pure ideal as she’s often portrayed in spinoff media and games. The “Lifestream Aerith” portrayal of her character in games like Kingdom Hearts, has always chafed me because it’s so one-dimensional compared to how she actually is and was in the original game. Yes she is kind and radiates a sense of purity but she’s also: sassy, playful, flirtatious, and a baddass in her own right.

Aerith has been running from Shinra since she was 5, has grown up in the slums and isn’t afraid to walk around in the dangerous parts of Midgar by herself, can handle herself in a fight (she’s not a brawler like Tifa but she has her own scrappy style). Makes a living selling flowers- despite them being a rarity and a luxury- in the impoverished areas of Midgar, because not only is she industrious and good at tending the flowers, but because she’s an extremely persuasive saleswoman.

She’s evaded the Turks so many times, that she’s on a first name basis with most of them. Let’s face it, Reno coming into the church and Aerith peacing out on him is a common enough occurrence that you half expect her to yell “see you next Wednesday, Reno!” on her way out.

Also the Turks fucking respect her because even macho dicks like Reno, know not to incur Aerith’s wrath should they harm her flowers The only reason why she asks Cloud for an escort is because *this* particular time, Reno brought backup.

Aerith’s got this spunk and zeal for fun and adventure as she’s knows how rare and hard it is to carve out any excitement or beauty in the slums; She’s so open for any excitement, that when Zack falls ass-up through the church’s roof, she doesn’t shy away from this “big bad” SOLDIER guy who may turn her in to Shinra. No, she teases him, is super forward and flirty with Zack (which totally piques his interest), and puts his ass to work to build her a flower cart (she’s down to clown, but a girl’s still gotta work) and Zack’s like “yes, ma’m!”

Seriously, if Zack hadn’t been called away to Nibleheim you know these two feral goblins would have gotten into shenanigans that would have culminated in Zack getting fired from Shinra and Aerith running the underbelly of Midgar.

So when Aerith Gainsborough gets her second chance at adventure with the latest himbo to crash through her church’s roof...she takes it.

Her’s and Cloud’s relationship goes from “hey, can you keep these jerks away from me?” to “yoooo let’s get pretty dresses and seduce a crimeboss” in a matter of hours.

Poor Cloud thinks he’s just going to drop this lady off at her house, catch a nap and that’s the end of it. But then Aerith catches him sneaking out and is like, “The hell you think you’re going? Did you honestly just sneak out of my house? How the hell are you going to get to Sector 7- you don’t know where you’re going! You owe me a drink when we get to this bar your friend has. Let’s go.” And Cloud just lets her drag him along.

Then, she sees Tifa getting carted off to Wall Market and is like “IDK WHO THIS WOMAN IS TO YOU, CLOUD, BUT WE GOTTA GO AND SAVE HER!” and schemes their way into Cornero’s mansion. “Oh you want to come with me into the mansion, Cloud? I mean, I got this and all, but if you insist, you’re gonna have to do this my way! Now are you a bikini-cut or a thong panties kinda guy? (essentially)”.

She also, gleefully threatens to rip the Don’s dick off (and you know that threat ain’t empty), gets a new best girlfriend, joins Tifa and Barret in co-parenting Marlene, joins an eco-terrorist group hell bent on taking down a mega corporation, gets captured, helps fuck up Shinra’s research department, sasses Rufus, takes down some of Shinra’s best weapons, gets involved in a high speed chase, to striking out on an adventure to finally get some answers about herself IN THE COURSE OF LIKE TWO DAYS.

Like...fucking respect to this woman

#aerith #aerith gainsborough #ffvii

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turkoftheslums · 4 years

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Some things I noticed in the Sector 7 boss fight - original thought was wondering what Reno was doing during that cutscene at the last 3rd of the fight

First plan: go in, make a show of pressing the button, delay the party, leap from platform to helicopter, getaway time. Boom, done.

But then Cloud actually straight up charges Reno, as was clearly hoped for based on Reno’s grin, which means they can draw out the evacuation time. Hence why the button isn’t pressed when Cloud dares it.

Second plan: waste time ‘dicking around’ with the party, wipe the floor with them, press the button, leap from platform to helicopter, getaway time. Boom, done.

Down to 75% overall health, Reno realises that the party isn’t going to give up easily: they’re really fighting for this pillar. Rude realises this too and attempts to provide Reno with some extra help from above - AGAINST any formulated plan. So during the 15 seconds Rude spends on his bombing run, Reno decides to continue on with the third plan.

Third? plan: continue wasting time, pretend to get knocked down, Rude continues the fight while Reno presses the button, leap from platform to helicopter, getaway time. Boom, done.

However both of them misjudged how long to hold out for and how much damage the helicopter had taken, so when the engine finally gave out from damage, it distracted Reno while he ran for the button (50% overall health). If he didn’t stop at the sound of the helicopter, it probably would have killed him.

The “dammit” as he gets back up isn’t just for Rude; it means his plans list is running out. The helicopter going down was further down the list but losing Rude was even further and he was ready to drop the plate then and there - especially given his injuries - but then a hand is placed on his shoulder and he plays off thinking Rude was dead moments ago.

This is the look of someone reckless wanting revenge. Rude is definitely Reno’s reality checker.

Also take note of how fast his expression changes: this man thinks fast.

Next plan: incapacitate the party, Reno calls for a helicopter, press the button, board helicopter, getaway time. Boom, done.

But then Reno gets knocked down to <10% HP for real and Rude knows Reno is in real trouble. If Rude goes down first, Reno doesn’t call to him because he knows his partner is fine. Reno, however, was already battling with injuries from the ‘copter crash.

Even while left on the ground, Reno tries to reach for his EMR because he has to be the one who releases the support. It has to be him. Even his eyes are twitching from concentration and exhaustion.

But Cloud gets in the way, sword to Reno’s neck and breaking the Turks’s concentration. It’s over for him now, but he tries to have a little fun before passing out.

Final plan: Rude presses the button.

Because Reno is no longer in commission, Rude has to step up and drop the plate. After tussling with Tifa, he orders a helicopter before pressing the button. Cloud charges him but Rude slides under the sword gets lucky Tifa called out to Cloud. But why does he stop and hesitate after looking at Reno?

Because of the rest of the final plan:

Reno likely told Rude to leave him to die should he get knocked out because he believed he would die from his injuries on the way back to ShinRa anyway. Plus stopping for Reno would put Rude in danger should he be pursued (hence why Rude got lucky when Cloud stopped chasing after him)

But instead of doing as asked, he picks up Reno and takes him back because you can’t just leave your best friend behind as a missing body. Plus his composure cracks briefly to show concern as he stares at Reno’s body and he grimaces to himself after securing Reno on his shoulders (who is completely still).

[Separate note: the helicopter that picks them up is completely different to the usual ones. Maybe it’s a medic/rescue helicopter?]

Now all that’s left to do is for Tseng to antagonise the party.

#Observation #Analysis #Sector 7 #long post #very long post #spoilers #ff7r spoilers #look at my screenshotting skills #this took a lot out of me #I should have a hc post detailing each stage of the plan up next #depends how I feel when I wake up #WhatQueueDoin

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miss-tc-nova · 4 years

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A SOLDIER’s Memories - Cloud Strife x Fem!Reader Pt 7

Not gonna lie, I struggled a lot around this section of the story, but I think I finally got everything lined out.

Part 7: Dispelling Suspicions

The Gold Saucer. Fuck.

I barely want to be around Cloud. I really don’t want to be at the Gold Saucer. And I sure as hell don’t want to be at the Gold Saucer with Cloud. This is bad. Not that I’ve been doing myself any favors.

Honestly, my brain is kind of giving me whiplash. Up until the event that flipped my world, I was a bit of a joker who could take her job serious when she needed. But then shit happened. I became unapproachable. Only the Shinra executives and the Turks seemed alright interacting with me while everyone else seemed on edge, which was fine by me; I was an empty husk taking orders. Now, I’m kind of in an unknown state of who I am. I’ve already displayed that I still have access to that wrath that keeps people at bay, but I’m slipping back into that joker I used to be. I’d only meant it to aggravate my captors, but it came much more naturally than I expected.

That’s no excuse to let my guard down though.

This is our second pass through the Gold Saucer. The first was so chaotic that I couldn’t dwell on the past. Plus, we picked up a suspicious cat. We’ve been going on as if we’ve never met before, but I’m sure he’s up to something. It becomes far more obvious when we start running into Shinra grunts everywhere we go and whispers spread that there’s a spy among us. Since I’ve healed from my injury, courtesy of Saint Aerith, they decided that I needed constant babysitting and now it’s doubled since Cait Sith came along. I know it’s him, but I haven’t figured out what exactly he’s after yet. I’ve been biding my time, waiting for proof because I’m the obvious suspect.

I lounge across the bed of the Ghost Square inn, trying to block out the memories attempting to bubble to the surface. Not wanting to be here any longer and needing a distraction, I start for the door.

“Where do you think you’re going?�� Cloud says sternly.

I give him a toothy grin. “We’re at an amusement park. I’d like to be amused.”

He scowls. “I don’t think so.”

“C’mon. I’ll be back before midnight.”

“No.”

“If you’re that worried, come with me.”

That wipes the strictness from his face. “What?”

“Well you can’t keep me here. So you can either waste your energy trying to keep me in this room or you can keep an eye on me and come with me.” I slip my hand from the glove he’s had a hold of and wave my fingers at him. “So what’ll it be?”

The blonde heaves a sigh. “Fine. Let’s go.”

We let the others know we’re heading out and go, to the objection of some. And out we go into the amusement park where I try to lose my tail; sucks for me that he’s got a good eye. Since I can’t lose him, I steer far away from Chocobo, Wonder, and Round Squares; who knows what’ll happen if I go there with him.

“Oh! Wonder Square!” and I jump into the entrance of Battle Square. Once I make it out, I look back and see that he’s still following me. Dammit. “Oops. Wrong entrance.”

“Stop that,” he huffs. “I know what you’re doing.”

I shrug and wander further up the stairs of the square. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Seriously. I know you’re trying to shake me which convinces me even more that you’re the spy.”

“Pfft. I’m not the spy.”

“Then why are you being so suspicious?”

I turn to him, still climbing. “Let me start following you around and see if you don’t try to escape. You’re killin’ my fun. Remember that things I said about morale?”

“That doesn’t apply to hostages.”

I actually pause to laugh, purposely annoying him. “I am not a hostage, despite what you and your random gang of miscreants might think.”

“Pretty big words for someone reluctant to fight unless she can get in a cheap shot.”

Oh, he’s pushing it. “Fine.” I wave to the help desk. “Let’s play.”

A glint of true interest flashes in his eyes. I know he’s been dying to take me on since I did get in that cheap shot at Shinra HQ. “You’re on.”

So Cloud and I register for the upcoming tournament, but drawing odds place us at opposite ends of the battle tree, meaning we’ll have to win every round to make it to the finals to take each other on. I have my fun with the warm up rounds, but Cloud’s attempting to make it obvious these rounds are worthless to him—he wants that final match.

“I hope you’re more fun than the gigas,” I call out over the roaring of the crowd. Cloud simply readies his sword. “Then again, you’re never any fun,” I sigh.

The round starts and Cloud is after me in a heartbeat. He’s definitely gotten better, become a challenge to actually take on compared to being susceptible to black-out sucker punches. I’m actually very impressed with the progress he’s made in such a short time. He’ll quickly overtake me at this rate. But not today.

I swing a khopesh at the man which he swats away and he barely has time to recover and stop the one in my hand from striking him. I take a few swipes to push him around before lunging. He steps back and I slam my sword into the ground where he’d just been standing. As I stand back up, I’ve got both blades in my hands and give him a smile. Cloud’s eyes widen and I very quickly jerk back, successfully pulling his legs from under him. I prevent him standing with a blade pointed at his chest.

“Face it, if I wanted you dead, I would’ve killed you myself. Shinra grunts just aren’t that reliable as you’ve noticed,” I say gloatingly. “I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t want to be and there’s nothing you and your misfit band of hooligans could’ve done to stop me.” Cloud’s glare fades somewhat. “I’m not your enemy.” I don’t know why the next words come from my mouth, but they’re true. “I never was.”

Suddenly, Cloud’s sword comes up between us, knocking my blade from my hand. The man recovers his feet and, just before I can separate from him, he swings. The sword slams into my stomach, sending me flying back, crashing heavily into wall of the arena. I’ve lost.

I lie in the crevasse created for me, listening to the audience cheer on the chocobo. A crooked grin pulls at my lips even though I’m still struggling to regain my breath. I’d be dead had he chosen to use the sharp edge to do me in. His boots stop in front of me.

“A smart enemy wouldn’t let their guard down until they’ve won.” I let my gaze trail upwards, finding the victor offering his hand to me. “Guess that makes you ally.”

My smile widens and I take his hand. “’Bout time you figured it out, you cheater.”

“I didn’t cheat.”

“Liar.” I spot a bouncing crown making its way through the crowd and point it out. “And you guys thought I was the spy.”

He huffs and we chase down Cait Sith. Long story short, he gives away the Keystone to the Turks and I dangle him over a ledge until he spits out he’s got Marlene held prisoner. Annoyed, we follow him back to the inn where he explains to everyone that he was the spy and that it’s best to keep him around. Meanwhile, I curse myself for letting him get this far, though I suppose there was nothing I could’ve done with Barret’s little girl in his grasp.

I head for the stairs up to the rooms when the feline calls out to me. Pausing, I look back at him.

“What do you want?”

The moogle hops closer and Cait Sith plays in his cape. “I managed to sneak in before they cleared out your room at the military complex.” My brows pull together and he holds his hand out. “I know you don’t trust me, but this seemed important to you, so I brought it.”

Unsure of what he’s going on about, I open my hand to receive his gift. He drops in my hand a pendent strung on a silver chain. My heart implodes. Before I can even think about it, my other fist snaps forward, sending Cait Sith nearly halfway across the room. Immediately, Cloud and Tifa are on me to prevent me further mauling that feline. I shake the two off and climb the stairs without a single word, fist tightly clenched around the jewelry. The cool metal burns against my skin, dredging up memories of past visits to this place.

In the room I shared with the other girls, I rip the window open and wind my arm back to hurl the locket out of my life. That innocent face flashes behind my eyes. I clamp them shut and will myself to throw the necklace. But I don’t; I can’t. I’m still far too infatuated with the dead. Gnashing teeth and cursing myself, I look down at the simple, round trinket. Of course I had to be reminded of the things I’ve lost, of the life I’ll never have.

I give into my lapse of judgment and loop the chain around my neck, stuffing it down my shirt and out of sight. It feels like it weighs a ton but that’s just emotional baggage. Tifa, Aerith, and Yuffie all return to the room.

“Heeey,” Tifa says awkwardly.

Hands behind her back in an attempt to be non-threatening, Aerith steps closer. “Do you wanna talk about it?”

“Talk about what?” I say innocently.

“Talk about what?!” Yuffie exclaims. “You nearly busted in Cait Sith’s face!”

A giggle escapes me. “Oh that. That was for accusing me of spying on everyone.”

The girls all stare with blank, maybe-mildly-concerned expressions while I just smile at them.

#cloud strife #cloud x reader #cloud strife x reader #ffvii cloud #ff7 cloud #fem!reader

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lowritesthings · 4 years

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Resonance

Part 6 of ?? (Part One) << Previous // Next >>

In the hours before it comes down, you shower and change back into your own clothes before washing Tifa’s loaner clothes. Next you sit down to examine your new weapon. There’s materia already slotted into the gun’s grip, two green orbs that radiate a healthy glow. Healing and wind materia, you see once you’ve examined them more closely. You vaguely remember how to tap into the materia’s power and hope you won’t need to until you get a refresher course in that, too.

You take the day to rest up, but as night sets in you decide you’re still too tired to cook and head out to find dinner in one of the food stalls along the main street. That’s when you hear the rumors around town.

“Yeah, some merc beat up a Turk at the church—”

“Nah, he beat up the Turk near the Leaf House. He had a huge sword—”

“Have you seen the blonde guy with Aerith, helping people out?”

“I think he used to be a SOLDIER? Oates knows more…”

It’s got to be Cloud. Your heart leaps in your chest at the idea, and your first thought is that you need to tell Tifa he’s alive. Your second thought is that she’ll be on her way to Don Corneo’s tonight, probably before you can reach her with the news.

Maybe if you can find Cloud and send him over to Seven, he can stop her in time and the team can come up with a better plan. But no one you ask knows where he is. Some say he’s gone into the scrapyards, but most seem to think he’s on his way out of Five already. Oates shrugs when you find him.

“He was here doing odd jobs with Aerith, but he kept saying he was in a hurry.”

You consider going to Aerith’s house before deciding that you’re just looking for an excuse to go back to Sector Seven. Plus you’ve been walking around town for a while and haven’t caught a glimpse of either Cloud or Aerith, so perhaps he has already made his way out of town.

Then you spot the first helicopter.

It’s a long way off, but you can see that it’s headed for Sector Seven. The dread you’ve been feeling all day starts to rise again, making your stomach feel like a pit of snakes.

You stop trying to justify your desire to return to Seven and just move, stopping only to grab your emergency medical bag from home. Then you’re heading toward the chocobo carriages at a jog. Normally you’d never spend so much gil on something as trivial as a drive over to Sector Seven, but tonight you don’t even flinch.

“Hurry,” you tell the driver. Then there’s nothing to do but wait with a stomach full of wriggling eels for the ride to be over.

—

You can see muzzle flash and hear gunshots long before the carriage stops. You dive out of the back and hit the ground running, shoving past The Shinra guards at the gate trying to keep the panicked Sector Seven residents from leaving the slums. You ignore their shouts and head directly for the pillar and they let you go, too busy securing the main exit to bother chasing you. There are crowds of other residents in the streets, confused and afraid, and more than once you have to shove through or swerve around them as you press onward.

You skid to a halt at the gate surrounding the bottom of the towering structure, your eyes searching through the members of the Neighborhood Watch and Avalanche as they make their way up the stairs. You can hear Barret a few flights above you, shouting orders and shooting up at the helicopters they swoop in to drop off Shinra ground security.

Suddenly you spot them. Biggs, Wedge and Jessie are preparing to head up the pillar themselves. It’s Jessie that sees you, eyes widening as she takes in your rapid breathing and flushed face.

“Did you run the whole way here?” she asks, beaming at you when you scowl at her. She winks and slings an arm over your shoulders, hauling you over to Biggs and Wedge by the neck.

“Hey, good to see you again so soon,” Wedge says with a jovial smile. How he can be so cheerful seconds before charging into battle is slightly baffling to you, but part of his charm. It certainly helps you gather your own courage.

You glance at Biggs and find his eyes already locked on to your face. His brow furrows as he searches your expression.

“The whole idea of dropping you off today was to keep you out of trouble,” he says. You ignore the disapproval in his voice.

“Hard to do that when all my friends are about to run right into it,” you reply, trying to sound casual. You almost nail it, but your voice wavers a little at the end, and the arm Jessie’s thrown around your shoulders tightens in a comforting gesture.

“Don’t worry, we’re not public enemy number one for no reason. They’re the ones that just picked the wrong fight,” she tells you with a wink and a predatory grin. “I’m gonna go, see you two at the top,” she says to Biggs and Wedge. Then she kisses the side of your head, gives the guys a jaunty wave, and takes off up the steps.

Your eyes move up the pillar, catching a glimpse of Barret as he continues barreling up the metal stairs toward the top. Dread creeps higher, like an icy flood pooling in your belly.

Wedge wraps you in a hug. “It’s gonna be okay,” he murmurs in your ear. “We’ve been through tougher fights than this.”

He lets go and gives you a confident smile, then shoots Biggs one last significant look before following Jessie up.

As soon as he’s disappeared around a bend in the stairs, Biggs is on you in a flash. He grabs your arm, his eyes burning into yours.

“You can’t be here,” he says in a low, urgent voice. There’s panic in his eyes, you think...panic because of your presence here? “They’re trying to drop the plate. You can’t be anywhere near here when that happens.”

You’d already guessed that, but horror still flashes through you like lightning when you hear it confirmed out loud.

“What I can’t do is leave when you’re about to run up those stairs and make some kind of heroic last stand,” you reply, your voice sharper than you mean it to be because of your own rising panic. “Biggs, we should be evacuating, not—”

“Evacuations have started, but the guards aren’t budging and people are having to go the long way, through the sewers. We’ve got to hold these guys off long enough for everyone to get out,” he tells you.

Your heart clenches painfully. “You don’t think you’re coming back down,” you say in an odd, flat voice you don’t recognize as your own.

He doesn’t answer but his throat bobs as he swallows hard, and you know you’re right. Tears fill your eyes and you give them an angry swipe with the back of your free hand.

“I’m staying,” you tell him, firm and uncompromising.

“No way in hell—” he starts, but you glare at him and say, “I can help the ones that get wounded. Or I can help with the evacuations. But I can’t just run off and save my own skin, and you know me too well to think that was ever really an option in the first place.”

“You got to,” he says, a pained sort of helplessness in your voice. “Damn it, I thought you were safe. I’ve got to know you’re getting out of here in one piece before—”

“No. If you’re staying, so am I. So you and Barret and the others had better win, do you hear me?”

You hadn’t noticed you were doing it, but now you realize that your hands are on his chest, fingers curled tight in the fabric of his shirt, and you give him a shake. His hands are gripped around your arms now, just above your elbows.

“You come down or I’m going up after you.” The tears are back and you grit your teeth and fight them down, along with the huge lump in your throat.

“You crazy, stubborn—” He chokes off and yanks you into his chest, wrapping his arms around you in a desperate embrace. “When this is over, I’ll find you,” he promises. You bury your face in his chest, feeling your tears dampening his shirt.

“You’d better,” you reply. He pulls back, just a little—just enough to look down into your eyes again. Then his jaw clenches. He cups your face, tilts your head back and kisses you. It’s hard and anguished, both of you gripping each other like the universe itself is trying to drag you away from one another...and then you’re both forced to break apart to gasp for air. He closes his eyes and rests his forehead against yours.

“I had to do that,” he says after a moment, lifting his head from yours, “just in case…”

He trails off and you surge up on your toes to kiss him again. “I know,” you say. “I’m glad you did. Now get up there and stop them and save us all.”

“Will do,” he says, trying to flash his usual, roguish smile. It doesn’t quite work, but you attempt your own smile in return.

“See you soon,” you tell him. It comes out like an order and his smile turns into a bit of a grin.

“Soon,” he promises, giving you a gentle squeeze. Then he presses one last, lingering kiss to your forehead before he lets you go and turns, charging up the stairs before you can stop him.

You stand there feeling utterly bereft for a couple of seconds. Then turn to a small group of Neighborhood Watch members trying to keep the area at the base of the pillar clear.

“I’m a medic,” you tell them. “Where can I set up?”

—-

The night passes in a blur after that. Barret’s shouts can be heard from above, though it’s not long before he’s too high for you to make out his exact words. You push out everything but the work: you patch bullet holes and treat burns from flamethrowers. When burning debris falls from the sky, you start having to treat civilians as well as combatants.

Wedge falls from the tower, but you don’t get a chance to help him. You see him limp off with Aerith toward the gates and realize that Cloud must be here too. The fighting intensifies above you. A chopper goes down, then another.

Then Wedge is grabbing you.

“What are you still doing here?” he yells. “You’ve got to get out!”

“People still need my help—” you start to say, but he shakes you hard.

“We’re losing. Even with Cloud. Tifa sent someone to get Marlene. It’s time for you to go too.”

“But Biggs—”

“That’s why you’ve got to go. You know he’d do anything to save the people he cares about. You’re the only one left he can keep safe. Don’t let him fail,” Wedge says, and you’re forcing down sobs because you know he’s right even though you can barely stand the thought of escaping while your friends are still here fighting.

“Go.” Wedge shoves you toward the gates. You stumble another step forward on your own, then hesitate and turn back.

“GO!” he roars, and you turn and run.

You make it to the playground at the border, start to help pull other people out of the tunnel and direct them deeper into Sector Six, but you’ve only been there for a few seconds when the plate begins to fall out of the sky.

You watch, stunned, as huge chunks of city rain down into the slums, accompanied by giant explosions with shock waves that knock you off your feet. Someone reaches out and drags you under some playground equipment: later you’ll find out it was Wymer trying to protect you from any falling debris here at the edge of the sector.

You huddle under cover and watch, frozen and horrified, as one eighth of the city—upper and lower—is completely annihilated. Then you curl up around your knees and bury your head in your arms as the grief crashes into you like a train.

No one else notices. No one comes to comfort you. They’re all grieving too.

Next >>

#biggs x reader #ff7 biggs #ffvii biggs #ff7 remake #ff7r #fic: resonance #lo writes things

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sapphire-weapon · 4 years

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I'm glad you think the people who claim the Turks are evil for the enjoyment of being evil are wack for that. Surprisingly, I've seen that come from their fans more than their critics. Yeah, they dropped the plate, but it's implied that it was probably the worst thing they've ever had to do. They even show them lamenting about it and to call it a retcon of their "true" characters is just weird. I think that if Rufus's coup went as planned, maybe even sooner, the platefall wouldn't have happened

Plus, we're shown that the Turks do have human sides ever since the og game. The fans who love them for being these evil bastards who killed all those people with no remorse must have forgotten that Reno tells his guards not to step on the flowers, Rude likes Tifa, Elena is a bumbling rookie, and Tseng helped Zack and Cloud several times and kept Aerith's letters. They aren't completely good, but they aren't completely bad either. Idk why no one wants to accept this.

yeah rufus would’ve never dropped that plate because rufus is a man of efficiency, and the overall cons to platefall far, far outweigh the pros. senior drops the plate because money is inconsequential to him and he’s still chasing the fairy tale of the promised land anyway.

if rufus was president at the very start of the game, he would’ve sent SOLDIER and the turks in to lock down sector 7 in the middle of the night, stormed all of the local businesses, and declared martial law there until avalanche gave themselves up. and that would’ve worked -- because avalanche would’ve wanted to protect the sector -- and at no extra cost to rufus or shinra. the military is all salaried -- it’s not like he’d even be paying overtime checks.

and remember “a little fear will control the minds of the people. there’s no reason to waste good money on them.” when you’re dragging people out of their homes and out of their businesses at gunpoint, you’re the one in control.

and also just from that line alone, i always got the sense that rufus was actually very frugal and would’ve never just openly caused 1 trillion gil of damages in some bogus scheme that wasn’t even guaranteed to work. even if he already had the promised land and preparations for neo midgar were already underway, i STILL can’t see him doing that.

avalanche was lucky that senior was in charge at the start of the game. rufus would’ve ended the fight before it ever really got started.

i get that that wasn’t the point of your asks, but it got me thinking and i had to vomit those thoughts onto this post lmao sorry

but people ignore the human sides of the turks because we live in a very... strange era of fandom currently. fanpol is running wild, black-and-white thinking is the accepted mainstream, and everyone is quick to categorize and file everything that happens in a story into boxes labeled either “good” or “evil.”

part of the reason for this is because of the simplistic nature of most modern video games. you play as a hero. you defeat the villain. the ps3/360 era was FILLED TO BURSTING with morally gray protagonists that never fully let you feel like you were on the “right” side of things, and as a backlash in terms of counter culture, a lot of current-gen games have regressed and gone back to basic “good vs evil” plots.

but final fantasy vii existed in a world before this was the norm. so, when you release a game like this in which there are no heroes (only villains), modern fandom doesn’t know how to actually handle that. so they just stick with what they know: the playable cast is good and the characters and organization working against them are bad. so, avalanche is by default good, and shinra is by default bad.

if shinra is bad, then the people working for shinra are bad. that means that they can’t be good. that means that the turks, who work for shinra, are bad people. this must also mean that they delight in being villainous and performing acts of evil.

that’s really all it comes down to. final fantasy vii wasn’t written with this generation’s understanding of narrative in mind, and so it’s being widely misunderstood by this generation.

#Anonymous

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rcdwrxck · 3 years

Text

@oflockhearted ( delivered gifts ) With colorful wrapped boxes cradled in her arm, she proceeds to set them down directly in front of the Turk’s home; two boxes for him, and one box for the monster that lived with him. Both of Reno’s gifts contained silly gag gifts—a book on zombie apocalypse survival, a bag of candy…shaped as tiny colorful penises (or rather, “a bag of dicks”). The other box contained Tifa’s baked goods, a mug with a middle finger printed on the bottom, a scarf personally knitted by Tifa herself, and a card which read, “Reno, I hope you find joy in these gifts I personally picked for you and made, myself. Merry Christmas! Have a good one. -Tifa” A picture with said barmaid was also tucked inside, wearing a pair of antlers and making a silly face towards the camera. The box addressed to the “feline” however, included cat toys…for tigers.

HE’D FOUND THE BOXES ON HIS DOORSTEP as he’d arrived home that night , he’d had no clue who they were off at first. His head tilted to one side as he lifted the boxes and took them inside his apartment. Kicking the door shut behind him , Berlioz , the demon feline that he’d adopted from Hojo’s lab coming to greet him , swishing it’s black tail -- sharp at the sides yet still fluffy. Bright red eyes staring at him and the gifts he carried. “ I dunno what they are either. “ He told the animal , who hissed before sitting by the table , ears pricked and waiting for Reno to set them down. The cat pawed at one and Reno raised his eyebrow and looked at the tag. “ Well that one is yours , mate. “ He pushed it towards the cat. “ From Tifa , actually. “ The cat looked at him , tilting his head to the side -- Reno would swear it understood every word spoken to it.

He opened the box and the cat dived in , pulling out the toys and treats one by one. Large toys , it was a good job really considering the size of the cat. It looked more like the size of a wolf than a cat. But he wasn’t overly surprised considering it came from the labs. The cat hit the ball and chased after it , whacking it around his living room with such force Reno had to duck. “ Fuckin’ hell! Watch it would ya! “ A small huff from the cat clearly told him that the cat did not approve of his tone.

Reno couldn’t help but laugh at the book , he flicked through it for a moment. Stock up on canned goods and either store them in the attic with no access ladder or below ground where the zombies can’t get you. He rolled his eyes , but put it next to him anyway , planning on reading it later. The mug had instantly become his new favourite one and he’d resolved he would drink out of nothing else. He pulled the scarf out of the box and tied it around his neck loosely , it was comfortable , which surprised him. He usually didn’t like having anything around his neck. Though the thing that got the most laughs out of him was the bag of dicks. He picked one up and popped it in his mouth as he removed the picture of the fighter and smiled at it , he stood and placed it on the fireplace next to the ones of himself , Rude , Elena and Tseng. An odd combination and one he didn’t think he’d ever find himself in , but there you go. The card took pride of place too.

He snapped a quick picture of himself , complete with scarf and dick and sent it to her. “ Merry Christmas to you too , Princess. Enjoy yourself. “

#christmas shenanigans 2020 #christmas gifts 2020 !

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natsunoomoi · 4 years

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FFVII Thoughts

-This whole thing with Jessie is so much filler it’s mostly unnecessary. Plus I feel like the whole impact of Jessie and her arc and even this filler is detracted by her being a former actress. Like I mentioned before I feel like her being an actress and known for toying with men kind of takes away from her crush on Cloud and makes it seem cheap. Also even though she’s someone’s daughter who is more tech inclined, I always thought of her as an engineer herself and like a former Shinra engineer that quit would have been a more powerful message than that of an actress. Even if you keep her Dad getting sick it adds an extra layer. Like say she worked in R&D and they like pushed an experimental mako enhancement for the plant too soon and she warned it would make people sick and it made her Dad sick. There’s a lot of ways her story would have been better and fit more nicely into the narrative. :/

-Even though Jessie annoys me, Biggs is kind of okay but he comes off to me as a little cliche. Wedge is kind of a little nicer.

-Aww, they took out the pickpocket on the train during the ID scan. That would have been a lot harder to deal with, but yeah.

-Good lord they stretched out these areas.

-Completely lost in this lamp and platform maze, but after a long time I finally figure out how to get out even with the items.

-Another maze and more reactor context change.

-Robot change where you can screw it over. That’s interesting.

-Yay Aerith!

-Dang Reno. You hard.

-OMG stupid ghosts get out of the way. I bet I have to trek all this way back to get this materia.

-This church is now also a crazy rat maze.

-Now onto roof rat maze.

-Ugh, why do I have to take the long way just to avoid Rude?

-Let me explore the town!

-Cloud and Aerith are way more helpful in this game. The kids have a secret hide out. Cool, I guess.

-Chadley is seriously simultaneously frustrating and useful.

-Yay I can go back and get crap from the church.

-Okay, so sneak out. Why tf is there a pot right outside my room that I can’t see?

-Okay, so there’s Aerith. We have a secret tunnel-ish. So many ladders. So much up and down.

-Out of that maze and yay they kept that scene where Aerith brings up Zack. Still not sure I’m liking all the foreshadowing cuz this was a spoiler in the original game.

-Tifa looks nice in that outfit. Like in general in this game though. They gave her a pretty thoughtful makeover that like captures the essence of her original profile, but also with some added tweaks in style that I actually like better. Like she didn’t have those thigh highs before, but those are a nice touch. And instead of her mini skirt her skirt is actually a skort and is pleated. Plus like the better boob support.

-Good lord Wall Mart is so involved now. So many alleys. Get out of the way yo!

-Leslie seems kind of cool, but I’m not sure cuz he works for a creep.

-Ugh hussle of trying to figure out how to get in. This sponsorship thing is new. I guess Corneo got more exclusive in this game.

-I have to go to the coloseum? Ugh, why?

-This crowd is full of haters.

-Okay winning over the crowd....

-I have an extra battle? WTF is this BS. I almost wish it was the Turks making a surprise appearance. That seems like a silly stupid thing the original would have done.

-Obviously Cloud caught someone else’s attention.

-Yay! Finally dress up time.

-Awesome. I’m doing a bunch of quests now.

-Whoops I didn’t level up my materia all the way. I got most of them so it’s doing fine but just the medicine thing.

-I saw a lot of people complaining about Jules, but he wasn’t so bad? I just needed to remember the rhythm and what I was doing by saying it so I could keep track of the pattern.

-Ugh, Johnny where you taking me? I have to wait for someone not yet.

-Oh Aerith looks nice. I like her outfit.

-Okay time to dress up Cloud.

-Whoa, Folia is a honeybee? Teh shock.

-What is this mini-game? It’s hard to keep rhythm and sometimes I actually can’t see the queue. Why do you design a mini-game where you can’t see the thing clearly?

-Oh shit I missed a track because I didn’t want to sit there and keep playing a frustrating mini-game. D:

-Yay! At least I got the cute dress. But real talk I kind of miss the old way to dress up Cloud only cuz I would want to see what the different colored wigs look like, but that whole storyline is very trans insensitive. Or even drag insensitive, so I understand why they changed it.

-Andrea is kind of cool. I was worried they were going to make him into some kind of flaming stereotype, but actually although he definitely has some flare, he’s a pretty well balanced character and none of the characters really judge him for his personal choices. Although definitely some judgement for the stuff they make them do, but that’s fair because you’re being subjected to it. Good on Cloud for following along.

-Okay time to take down this fat loser. So how does this work? How do you know who he’ll choose?

-Wait does he just choose Cloud every time? That’s a little less fun. I liked dressing Cloud up as the prettiest princess so that you could get him picked.

-This bit of them threatening Corneo’s private parts is still one of my favorite things. It was teh shock when I saw it the first time back in the day and I still enjoy it now.

-Ugh, the sewer. Also a lot of denial. But ugh the sewer.

-My sister was right. The train graveyard is creepier.

-Oh crap I forgot to steal from Eligor. !@#$@#%

-Alright climb the pillar. This is kind of slightly more fun with the extra scenes from Reno and Rude.

-Whoa, they saved Wedge. Cuz he originally totally ate it. Like straight fell off the pillar several stories and was unresponsive.

-Biggs and Jessie still die. That’s fine. I actually feel less sorry for Jessie dying than I did with the original. :/ I think because they managed to actually make her irritating with how over the top they made her.

-Aerith and Marlene is so cute!

-Helicopter shots are annoying, but I like hearing Reno. It’s sad that Fujiwara Keiji died two days after this came out. This is like the last thing he did probably. But his voice fit Reno really well. I don’t think it fit Ardyn well. Ardyn I think deserved a lower register, but I think Square gave him the part probably because of his diagnosis cuz I think Ardyn’s in-game struggle in a sense reflected his real life trials in some way only in the game he became immortal. Real life not so much, but immortalized in a sense through these works. I wonder if Square would have wanted it to come out sooner so that maybe he could have played it himself a little bit before passing, but they had to push the date for quality and stuff.

-I don’t know why, but I really like looking at Reno’s open shirt. Like I think the way they did his abs are a bit different from Advent Children. I think his shirt is even open wider than in AC. *checks* Yeah, it is. AC it’s buttoned up toward the top and just the top one or two are left open. And okay for real Remake has his shirt open even more than even in the original. Nevermind him buttoning up more for AC, but like in original FF7 polygon Reno and original Nomura art Reno looks like it’s only unbuttoned to about mid-pecs. Remake Reno is like down to like the top of his stomach. I guess I can’t complain about the equal opportunity fan service.

-Tseng is actually done pretty well, but I keep looking at him cuz he just strikes me as odd.... Oh wait is it his hair? Is that a hair tie? I don’t think he had a hair tie before. I think we were just supposed to assume he had his hair slicked back and kept in place by gel or hair spray. Also his face is interesting cuz I think they tried to make him actually look Chinese, but I think he just turned out looking kind of like Tamaki Hiroshi. Oh and Suwabe-san!

-LOL Rude carrying Reno like a rag doll.

-And there goes the plate. Oh, no, Wedge. I guess he did die. But the kitties. ;o;

-Let me explore Wall Market! Ugh, fine.

-That Kyrie chick seems kind of a little annoying. I kind of want to let Barret hit her. But I’m probably biased because I had a hot mess of a flatmate with that name and she like didn’t clean up after herself and left dirty dishes in her room and like pushed it up against her roommate’s bed. >.> Like passing responsibility over them to someone else. And I think she maybe broke one of my cups? And like tried to use my stuff without asking? Maybe stole some stuff too but idk. And like worst of all was like she sold her car so she could get money because she couldn’t hold down a job and like needed money and instead of like you know paying rent and bills, she spent it on shoes and make up and left the receipt out for us to find.

-Wall Market is...different in the day time.

-All teh quests.

-Okay Kyrie is still kind of annoying and stupid when you talk with her one on one, but she at least seems better than my flatmate.

-Oh old lady is the Angel.

-Findin’ all the birds. It kind of strikes me that they added this in cuz of how much time it takes to get places and it’s kind of like XV and even the XIV MMO, but not. I guess it’s a staple now with their newer titles because of how grand they make the scenery.

-Down in the sewer again....

-I just really wanna find Corneo’s stash.

-OMG I got a chase this little asshole now.

-Okay so now Leslie. Leslie is a good guy after all. Not a bad new character too. Nice decent development and stuff.

-But gdi Corneo’s still alive. I mean, I knew that cuz Wutai, but ugh.... I think he deserved at least a punch in the face.

-Okay so anyway I guess I’m going up now. Just going to finish up stuff before I go past the point of no return. Get all teh things I can from the coliseum and all that.

-Climbing, climbing. Oops I missed a thing. Was I supposed to?

-Gdi this helicopter thinger is annoying. I can’t slash any boxes. Just kick them around.

-Okay done so I guess I’m going in.

-...Is this a parking lot?

-Oh okay so here’s the entrance.

-Shinra headquarters actually looks like a bigger version of Square Enix’s headquarters in Higashi Shinjuku. I’ve been there pretty recently and also like to cut through the office building to get to Artnia cuz I don’t want to walk all the way around. Decor and stuff and specifics are definitely different, but like the double tower U-shaped look with the walkway in the middle thing is very much how the building is in Shinjuku. Specifics with the stairs and escalators are also different, but kind of the same deal with some amount of ambient lighting at night time and the lobby and such is still mostly open in the evening for people who work late or want to pass through. Some of the doors being locked or like certain staircases and such being roped off are a thing as well. I just know this cuz I often go to Artnia around dinner time when I’m there, so it’s generally after hours already.

-I think even the parking lot situation might even be the same? I’m not sure because I usually take the subway and that let’s out into the mini mall downstairs, but parking if you go there and do that is like subterranean for sure and would be the first layer if it was on a plate.

-I mean, the HQ is also technically kind of on a plate also. Cuz the mini-mall is like below normal street level, but it’s like more cool with like a Lawson’s and restaurants. Coming up from the subway is also a lot similar POV-wise to coming up through grappling hook too in terms of perspective.

-Getting the key. Getting a glove on the way. This part is kind of cool. I always liked this part of the game in the original too and exploring an empty office.

-This is suspicious. I have to take a tour...?

-I guess this is interesting to learn about the company and stuff.

-Weird movie theater. Oh look a spoiler hallucination in the theater. It’s nice to see more of Sephiroth.

-Oh yeah the mayor. That’s a bit of a change that he’s secretly Avalanche. Whatever cool. Yay I got a weapon.

-I gotta do a battle simulator. Oh great I guess if I want items I have to sit here and do all the simulators.

-Oh look it’s Chadley. I have turn ins. Take my stuff.

-Okay so hike upstairs....oh shit they’re going in. Sneak slowly behind and like go around and explore stuff.

-Found the toilet. Haha. Tifa yells at Cloud if he goes in the wrong one. Good.

-This is a nice bathroom.

-Okay up in the vent.

-Interesting extra context and oh yeah Palmer saw Sephiroth.

-Hojo is more gross looking than I remember. Like piled on extra creep factor for him.

-Following into the lab. I guess I should be glad he wasn’t a dumbass and trying to mate Aerith with Red XIII.

-Interesting that it’s only now that they’re really making good use of Those Who Fight Further. I don’t think I’ve really heard it all that often before.

-Yay! Yamaguchi Kappei!

-This part getting serious with Sephiroth is appropriate, but kind of different with him starting to freak out.

-Oooh, Turks scene! It’s nice that they know they are fan favorites now and they put them in more scenes. I wish it would actually play their theme every time they show up like it used to. That’s what made them badass too.

-Aww, Aerith’s room.

-Interesting they are talking in Aerith’s room instead of getting captured and Aerith talking through the wall.

-Shinra science experiment...You’re probably not entirely wrong.

-Huh, wisdom from Red XIII. That’s different context.

-Wow, that’s different. Pointing out a different greater enemy so early. I guess it makes sense Aerith would know because of the whispers she hears, but also it kind of sucks the mystery of the progression of the original story.

-Dang, Sephiroth and Cloud confrontation-ish now? Not going to mysteriously take a body and stab the President?

-Oh joy another crazy rat maze.

-Hojo is definitely more gross than he used to be.

-Oh, nope. Just different order. There’s the trail of blood.

-Well, “blood”. Jenova blood is now apparently purple bubbling ooze.

-President Shinra is just hanging?! DISAPPOINTED. I liked it better when you just showed up and he had a giant sword in his back. Also wondering if you’d be blamed for it, but yeah, sword in the back!

-This is what you get for showing mercy. :/ Sword in back was better.

-Oh shut up already so Rufus can take over.

-Oh you get to watch the sword in the back.

-WTF. He’s not supposed to stab your party.

-Ghost things protecting fate is weird. But also I have some theories like the game is conscious that it’s a remake or something and for some reason they’re repeating history, but some things are different because people don’t do things in exactly the same way but certain things are fated to happen so they have to be preserved.

-Interesting that this game shows the cloaked figures going back and forth between Sephy. Kind of takes away the fun from years of debate on the subject about wtf is happening.

-And here’s Rufus. Still better than his Dad.

-I like that there’s more Turks footage than the original.

-Kind of nice that there’s more tender moments between Tifa and Cloud or rather we can experience them bonding more first hand.

-Did they make Wedge die in a different spot?

-Motorcycle bit is a bit different. Boss on motorcycle is kind of hard. Died once.

-I think it’s just cuz it’s a Remake that they added him here, but Sephiroth is at the end of the highway and I kind of think it sucks. :/ Cuz like it shouldn’t be like this.

-Why is Zack alive? Oh I think this is a flashback. Aww, this is supposed to be a hidden thing. ;o; Stop feeding them all the stuff. Let them find it.

-Whisper monsters...Okay this is just some kind of an AU. Like not really entirely a remake, but a different game in the same timeline cuz Sephy figured out somehow how to alter time and space. Aerith knows kind of what’s up because she became god essentially during AC. Would also explain why the game itself is giving away so many damn spoilers too.

-Holy shit, is Zack dead or not? D:

-Okay I looked up a thing and it said his death is ambiguous, but he’s never seen. Zack was an actual SOLDIER too so he could be a cloaked guy for all we know. But also at the end of AC it was both him and Aerith chilling together welcoming people to the lifestream so who the hell knows what she did.

-Biggs is alive?!

-So okay, if this is an AU things can change and I’m less gripey about the weird things that happened. Cuz it’s like just another pinpoint on the timeline that kind of has pseudo time travel and when you repeat things over again they’re not always exactly the same. I suppose for Square itself it’d be kind of boring to make an actual Remake because they don’t want to take away from the original and they want people to still buy that too cuz it was so good even though the graphics didn’t age so well. Instead they slapped Remake on a new title and trolled us all into thinking they actually did it when actually it’s like a timey wimey thing.

#ffviir spoilers

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