Back in March, @prismaticpichu briefly described a scene she was writing to me - roughly 2 sentence summary - and I was so inspired by what she was telling me I decided to do my own take on it. Ordinarily, that'd be where it ends. I was reminded of it recently, though, and I figure this blog is as good a place as any to share. (I did also ask her first just in case ^^)
I present to you: ouch! owie! it's Zack (degradation edition)
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"Angeal's dead, because of you. Do you know that?"
So much anger and poison lay in Zack's tone. The wound still on his shoulder, the grey starting to speck into his hair, The tension in his frame, the sword drawn - their comparatively calm woodland surroundings only lent a sense of dissonance. A sense this shouldn't really be happening.
Sephiroth had thought there was a mutual understanding, about Angeal, that death was not the plan. But then, they'd never really spoken about that mission, and here they were again. If he couldn't save them last time, he shouldn't have held onto hope this time, either.
Sephiroth had a sickening feeling, the longer he lived, that his choices were never going to matter.
"Zack, we don't have to do this," he still said, barely holding back the boiling feeling.
"You didn't have to, either," Zack spat.
Clear as day - Zack stood ready with Buster, only awaiting the moment Sephiroth drew his own sword.
Whether he turned against Zack or Shinra, what was left for him? How could he return to Shinra with blood on his hands and work for them as if nothing had changed, and they would chew on his will until nothing was left? But could he turn away from Shinra, either, who would clutch onto him 'til the last?
Quietly, he assumed his stance with Masamune, his heart and mind running through all the possibilities - to see what he could still salvage from the crumbling form, the inevitable death of yet another friend.
"Your move," Sephiroth said, because for what it was worth, damned if he was going to be the instigator.
His grip tightened around Masamune, finally deciding his path. This was going to be precise. Luckily, he had spent his whole living memory being precise.
"I get it," Zack growled, charging. "Even now, you're still putting it all on me!"
Even through the sting, Sephiroth didn't falter. He ducked beside a diagonal swing and went in for a grab around the waist.
Zack's reaction was immediate, flailing to escape before his rotting mind could catch up. And Zack was damn strong - but Sephiroth could not let go.
"Get off -"
"I'm not going to fight you!"
Zack finally slowed down. Took a deep breath. Sunk into the hug, recognising it for what it was.
"Damn it... We made a promise, didn't we, and now look what's happened..."
Sephiroth listened, quietly. To his words. To his racing heartbeat.
"I went and screwed it up again. I- you sent me, but it was me who did it, every time, this time too -"
"Zack, stop."
"It's going to keep getting worse," Zack sniffled. "Should just put me out of my damn misery already-"
"Zack!" Sephiroth loosened to look at him directly. "I will not. This entire time, haven't I been trying to avoid it? Hurting my loved ones?"
Zack blinked his teary eyes. Finally, he threw his arms back around Sephiroth. But he whispered:
"Sometimes not doing it hurts more."
And Sephiroth understood. He understood the horrible web they were caught in, where any action would disturb every thread, would call the hungry spider closer.
And he held back the words: I love you.
Because such a comfort was only the twist of a knife.
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CANNOT BELIEVE IT'S TAKEN ME SO LONG TO REPLY YOU'VE ALREADY FINISHED THE SECOND MOVIE LOL BUT
I LOVE showing The Mole Song to people because it's like, love it or hate it, you can't possibly have a lukewarm reaction to it. I'm thrilled you liked it so much!!! Hong Kong Capriccio definitely has its moments and I'm glad you enjoyed it too; on that note, I haven't seen Final yet, and it doesn't seem to be hardsubbed online, but I was able to find a raw and subs separately. They seem okay from the scene I skipped to twenty minutes in but not positive lol
It really does set the tone early! I love the cutaway gags too The manga has a lot of absurd non-sequiturs and it was a fun way to adapt that to a new medium. As an adaptation as a whole, Undercover Agent Reiji in particular definitely has the tone down and I appreciate that it kept a lot of the Moments I liked.
Hiura had me from the blood oath… one of the guys of all time… despite how I sound from what I just said, I actually didn't even know there was a manga or a sequel when I first watched it, so I was SO relieved he survived the explosion. I was honestly 100% convinced he'd crash the plane at the end though lol, but I guess that ended up happening in Hong Kong Capriccio anyway?
BUT YEAH LIKE THE GUY JUST HAS A HYPERFIXATION AND I HAVE TO RESPECT THAT. Which, you know, in-universe, to have the whole butterfly motif and then dress your man up in florals… I repeat, Reiji was slaying in that dress… I love everyone's costuming in these movies. SPEAKING OF THE AUCTION, the PSP segment onward was insanely RGGcore wasn't it… good god……
It's kind of funny how little Reiji changes--I guess that's how you keep a manga going for like 900 or whatever chapters so far--because he'll pretty much Always have things he needs to figure out. Still very much fun to watch, though!
ALSO the drugs reminded me (I was expecting them to be In The Dogs too lol), shoutout to manga Tsukihara for having the exact same character arc as Mine and ending up an invaluable ally. Also getting to beat up Ryuji Leo (sorry my boy but Mine is overall the stronger combatant to me and I am tired of the Reddit-y discussions on the wiki saying otherwise </3). Living vicariously while Mine's status is still uncertain lol
P.S. I Too Treat Your Blog Like The Morning Paper and it means a lot to me to have the opportunity to write in and talk! I would also love to join a stream if you ever go for it!
P.P.S. NOOOOOOO PLEASE THE SLOW DANCING…….. UNWELL. I've imagined the same thing but at home… in the light of the refrigator… Jo is still tense as hell both because of the situation and it's such a waste of electricity and they really should close the door as soon as possible… but Arakawa insists if it's only for the duration of the song, it's fine……
YEAH THE MOLE SONG MOVIES WERE REALLY FUN thanks again for recommending it to me (I found out it had a manga series the moment I went to look it up, but I haven't read a lick of it. I'd say I'm surprised it's still running but I mean... manga like One Piece have over a thousand chapters at this point, so I shouldn't be too surprised. Maybe I'll give it a read sometime just to check out how the movies and manga compare-and-contrast with each other)!
1.) BIGGEST HONOR I'm glad my blog can entertain a lot of people (and a big part of that is due in part to people writing in and giving me a chance to chat a bit, so of course I always have to thank you and everyone else for sending me asks as frequently as you all do. They're absolutely the highlight of my day whenever I get the time to answer them ^^)!! I've always liked the idea of streaming (I've attempted to years back but I never tried again afterwards), though I always end up getting too anxious about it (plus I tend to get performance anxiety and I end up taking a lot longer to draw whenever people are watching me). I hope to get over that anxiety one day though- I bet it'd be fun to respond to people in real time or take quick doodle requests mid-stream :)
2.) AW THEM DANCING IN THE KITCHEN THOUGH I CAN SEE IT..... Jo being worried about the electric bill though that's so accurate..... I'll definitely think on the concept of Slow Dancing AraSawa with all the apparent enthusiasm around it.. I promise..
YAYA my friend (who made the post) told me a moment after I told her (also PLEASE I was so heinous reading the name- first thing I said to her aside from 'new movie night plan' was 'how many times does this man play a dude named 'Jo' ☠️☠️)! I wasn't able to find any recordings of the actual play (I know a trailer was posted last year so I don't know if they've actually performed live since then) but here's to hoping one day there's a recording of it posted somewhere...
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