#cetra!sephiroth

[salternateunreality2]

Sephiroth, but instead of eldrich-horror-from-outer-space, Gast, Hojo and Lucrecia didn't mess up and injected him with actual cetran cells, so he's way less dark, mysterious and depressed and way more of a hippy goofball. They send him to a battle and he wanders off to smell some flowers

Hojo: KILL THE BUNNY, SEPHIROTH.

Sephiroth: BUNNY!!! *picks up bun, snuggles, listens to bun* Hmm, ok, I'll tell him. The bunny says you're a monster. And that her name is Fluffaggedon, Empress of Darkness, and you're going to die. *whispers with the bun*

Hojo: ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!! JUST KILL IT!!!!

Lucrecia: He can talk to animals?! I only went to get cigarettes 3 years ago and he's already developed this much?!?!

Hojo: YES THAT IS HOW BABIES WORK.

Lucrecia: Neato mosquito. Any eldritch horrors we have yet to unearth? Maybe he can befriend them!

Hojo: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!

Fluffaggedon: *twitches her nose*

Sephiroth: Awesome! Let's go! *escapes the labs for the 47th time that day, finds a herd of chocobos, becomes weirdly obsessed with the baby chicks*

---------------------------

A few years later...

Sephiroth: I'm going to get cigarettes!

Hojo: STOP SAYING THAT EVERY TIME YOU TRY TO ESCAPE! I am at my wit's end with you, you worthless-

Sephiroth: Maybe I'll run into my egg donor while I'm out!

Hojo: *finds the nearest paper bag to hyperventilate into*

Sephiroth, when he gets to newborn!Cloud's crib: Look, Fluffaggedon, there he is!

Cloud: 🐣

Fluffaggedon: *waggles tail*

Claudia: Um, hello?

Sephiroth: We love your child. He is the one. We will adopt him and be his friend and follow him to the ends of the earth.

Cloud: BUH 🐣

Claudia: Uhhh...would you like a snack? While I call your parents?

Sephiroth: No thank you, my parents are pretty evil and neglectful, and I would prefer to spend my time staring at your baby in wonder.

Claudia: ...

Sephiroth: 😍

Fluffaggedon: *cleans ear*

Claudia: ...okey-dokey, artichokey.

--------------------------

A few months later....

Claudia: Sephiroth, kiddo, please don't bring animals that will poop on the floor inside the house anymore, Cloud is teething and will try to eat anything.

Sephiroth: 😍 You are a wise and kind mother. Will you be mine?

Claudia: Yeah, sure, works for me. Grilled cheese or pasta for l-

Sephiroth: PASTA! 😍😍😍

Fluffaggedon: *happy butt wiggles*

--------------------------

A few years later...

Sephiroth: Mother, I need to go get cigarettes in Midgar, there is a child who needs me.

Claudia: Well, we need to start packing then. You get yourself ready and when you're done, come help me with Cloud's stuff.

Cloud: 🐣NO I HELP SEPH. AND I DO IT MYSELF.

Claudia: Whatever gets the boat afloat.

Fluffaggedon: *wise whisker twitches*

Hojo: *knocks on the door*

Sephiroth: *opens the door* Hello, asshole. Mother, this is my sperm donor. Sperm donor, this is my mother. We're going out to get cigarettes together.

Hojo: WHAT THE FUCK, YOU WERE HERE THE WHOLE TIME!?!?!?

Sephiroth: Yep. Leave now. *slams the door*

Fluffaggedon: *pushes a plant out of the window above the front door, almost kills Hojo, who leaves*

---------------------

In Midgar...

Jailbreak for Ifalna, Aerith, and Nanaki, but Sephiroth's primary goal is in the slums.

--

Sephiroth: Hello, soulmate. You may share my mother now that yours is dead. Come along.

Lazard: What the actual fuck.

Sephiroth: This is my Cloud. Say hello, Cloud!

Cloud: If you huwt Sephy, I kiww you.

Lazard: What the actual fuck.

Claudia: I mean same, he's my kid, but if you need a place to stay, I'm collecting children. Apparently.

Lazard: Well ok then.

Sephiroth: *happiest kitten*

----------

Hojo dies of an aneurysm when he finds the note Sephiroth left behind.

"Ugly Sperm Donor,

Fluffaggedon says it is time. Goodbye, and good riddance.

Sincerely,

Sephiroth Strife 🌸🦋"

[haunted-xander]

Redraw of an old doodle comic!

[paradiseinvites]

The flower girl 🌸

[sir-adamus]

in the last scene, everyone gets something to say except Tifa - the only sound she makes at all are these tearful sobs. she's devastated over losing Aerith

when Nanaki senses Aerith's presence, Tifa looks up for a second, then just... drops her head back onto her arms in the most defeated way

someone give this poor woman a hug, fucking hell

[sephirthoughts]

serious lore question

so, sephiroth was told he was Cetra but they also say that jenova looks humanoid because the entity possessed the body of a Cetra woman. so if they used jenova’s cells on sephiroth wouldn’t that actually make him part Cetra anyway?

[altocat]

Every time I see a Nibelheim argument that boils down to "Sephiroth did the thing because his ego/pride was shattered" I want to rip my hair out.

[freelanceexorcist]

FFVII Rebirth spoilers under the cut.

I don't know how I managed to miss the scene in the Gi village the first time, but I was skipping around, so that's probably why. Well, I just watched it and...wow.

So it would seem that the Gi are actually humanoid extraterrestrials who appear to date back to at least the era of the Cetra and may have been there even longer for all we know.

They're very tall, very slender beings with blue skin and purplish pink eyes. Wait, doesn't Jenova look like--

They kind of beat us over the head with lore regarding this one. The first clue was Sephiroth rolling up then disappearing in the same manner that Gi Nattak did as well as the invocation of "all born are bound to her."

Anyway, if I'm thinking correctly, the only way for the Gi to be free of their current predicament is to seriously transform the planet. Maybe by, say, using the black materia to start a merger of the worlds into one perfect one, and one of those worlds may include a Lifestream that isn't so hostile to them. I'd say this gives the Gi a legit beef with the Cetra, seeing as the Lifestream is some kind of exclusive club and they designated themselves the guardians of the velvet rope.

So this would mean that Jenova isn't just some cosmic serial killer tearing apart worlds for shits and giggles, she just wants to be able to rest after thousands of years of being stuck as a homeless ghost (and don't even get her started on Shinra shoving bits of her body into fetuses). It seems that Jenova's attack on the Cetra-assuming they're going in that direction this time-wasn't just an act of her being a colossal, cosmic bitch. She wanted that black materia for, dare I say it, a legitimate reason.

Now whether the black materia-wielding smokeshow we see throughout the game is Jenova presenting herself as Sephiroth or Sephiroth embracing that he's half Gi on his mom's side and leaning into his heritage, that raises some interesting questions. It even makes them somewhat sympathetic.

"It's not death, it's homecoming." We're already dead, and we just want to go home.

It casts the bit in The Case of the Lifestream: Black in a new light, too. The memories and emotions that he abandoned to the Lifestream were the human parts of him being accepted. What was left was pure Gi, and destroying the planet in Advent Children was how that part of him could go home, sailing the cosmos looking for the Gi homeworld.

Damn, I hope they give us more Gi lore in part three.

[hisreunion]

HEAT

I LOVE YOU PROMPTS (N.S.F.W VERSION)

[  HEAT  ] →  while engaged in a passionate argument with one another, sender, in the heat of the moment, blurts out “i love you!” to the receiver. (think of like, that glorious trope where people have a huge argument and then suddenly sb drops the mic with “because i’m in love with you!” and silences the other person. u know the trope!)

Cloud wanted to stay but he couldn't. He went quiet when she said she loved him and his resolve waned in the passing seconds... but not enough for his mind to be changed. "I'm sick, Aerith. I don't want you or the baby getting this." Geostigma, the scientists were calling it. Fortunately, the effects weren't coming in full swing for him. No debilitating weakness yet. Only the terrible headaches and blackened skin.

Part of him dreaded the possibility of experiencing hallucinations and seizures like others were reported to have; Sephiroth had tormented him enough through those means. The last thing he wanted was to be around their daughter if more of these symptoms kicked in. Geostigma's severity varied from person to person but he did not want to risk his family becoming sick, too.

Cloud stepped closer to Aerith, being mindful to turn the left side of his body away from making contact, and gently brushed his right hand through the soft tufts of blonde hair on the baby's head.

She stared at him—small fingers clutching reflexively onto the front of her mother's dress—and put on a toothy smile that made his heart ache. At over a year old and looking more like Aerith as she grew, this child was the light of his life. His hope for the future. But the time of peace was over... until a cure was found. Cloud would look for it himself if he had to. "I'll stay at the church," he told Aerith. His eyes were still on the baby who had stuffed a fist into her mouth.

It made the ex-merc crack a smile despite the seriousness of their conversation.

"Just for a while. Because I don't know if this will get worse for me."

He leaned in to kiss their daughter on the forehead and then Aerith as well. "I'll keep my phone on, okay?" Cloud felt helpless... And it was difficult to cope with. His voice wavered slightly as he said, "I love you both—more than anything." And it would hurt to be away from them.

[bramblequeen]

Silly Kingdom Hearts AU where the Destiny Trio are actually part of the OG FF7 world/Midgar, with Sora and Riku ending up as part of the Shinra SOLDIER program because their propaganda is insane. I wouldn’t put it past Shinra employing literal child soldiers…

[remthebombshell]

i rly want a redemption arc for sephiroth but realistically i don’t think it’s possible bc he deadass ruined the life half the main characters

[moonilit]

So, the chapter 13 trials, the Cetra wanted to give everyone except Cloud a trial to remind them why they really should be angry but sephiroth popped up after like ‘no actually Cloud get one too im gonna make it’

[tally-ace]

RAHHH THE FFVII REBIRTH THEORIES... STAY BACK!!!!!! GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!!! GRAUUGHHAHHH <- painful beast transformation but nothing changes at all

(Rebirth spoilers for chapter 11 in tags nothing super specific and purposefully vague but still there)

[holly-fixation]

Damaged Doll: Chapter 7

Summary: Angeal and Zack discover a man in all black trapped under boulders in the mountains near Icicle Village: Cloud, a doll created by Jenova for reasons currently unknown. His PTSD prevented him from explaining why he was there, by a panic attack induced by the Crimson Soldier's questions.

Based on this prompt by @im-totally-not-an-alien

Please Enjoy!

Chapter 7: Distractions

“Genesis,” Angeal scolded the moment the blonde fell to chemically induced sleep. “What the hell were you thinking?”

The man in red threw his hands up in frustration, “I figured we should get the tough questions out of the way! How was I supposed to know it would break him?”

Mako-blue eyes narrowed. “Why do you think we were being so careful?”

“I don’t know because he clearly has bad blood against only me.” 

His shoulders dropped as he crossed his arms. “Really? Because he pissed you off?”

“He flat out called me inhuman.” He gestured to the body in the hospital bed, which now had the Silver Soldier and the First in training at its sides. “That man is clearly insane!”

“We know how it sounds, but he knew the name of Sephiroth’s mother. Did you?”

“You didn’t tell me that!”

“We absolutely told you that-”

It went on and on, their pointless discussion, Genesis trying to defend his decisions and Angeal cutting through each defense with logic and the start of a lesson. If this started only a few minutes before, they wouldn’t be in this situation. And maybe Cloud wouldn’t be in chemically induced rest as the only counter for his trauma, his ‘panic attack’. On and on they argued back and forth. On and on. Louder and louder. Minute after minute. Until finally-

“Genesis, Angeal,” The baritone voice of their friend caught their attention and silenced them long enough for a single crystal command, “get out.”

Genesis took the slightest step back at his friend’s blackened tone. A slightly surprised expression claimed Angeal’s features, and the black haired boy only stared in frozen fear. 

Only Zack acknowledged that the most powerful man on the planet gave the order in absolute anger. 

“Sephiroth…-”

“You added to my list of headaches in a single conversation and you knew the day I had. I don’t want to hear it, Genesis.” He blocked their gazes with his bangs, but Zack saw the angered flickers in his eyes. “You tried to help, you completely failed, and you deserve the lecture from Angeal.” He raised his head, yet kept them out of sight. “I will wait here until I guarantee Cloud is okay, and I will message you both when I leave for the evening. I believe that’s a fair trade after what you caused.”

Gilt gushed through Genesis like a broken dam. He didn’t want this. He didn’t mean for this to happen. He hated that tone. Why didn’t that stupid blonde just tell the truth? Sephiroth never spoke down to them like that. 

Angeal grabbed one of the black pauldrons before he could respond, though he was only trying to think of the best thing to say. “Let’s give them some space…” He would explain more the moment they were out of earshot, but that was a little far due to Sephiroth’s insane natural abilities. “Zack, stay here.”

The boy quickly nodded.

Genesis only mumbled a small apology before allowing himself to be pulled out of the room by his oldest friend.

Now only Sephiroth, Zack, and the sleeping body of the blonde remained. For a few moments, only silence passed among them, then the body already began to stir. 

“A low dosage…?” Sephiroth asked softly.

“Yeah…” Zack replied awkwardly as he rubbed his neck. “I told them to only knock him out for a few minutes. I don’t know what they put in him, but…”

Though the boy trailed off without the slightest intent to continue, the Silver Soldier hummed in acknowledgement. 

Zack tensed, glancing away and hesitating. “...do you want me to go too…?”

“No.”

His mako blue eyes met the other set of the same. 

But the snake-like slits turned away a second after they met. “Angeal won’t let me hear the end of it if I kick you out…”

Zack nodded, vaguely understanding what he really meant. Angeal didn’t want Sephiroth to be alone right now. Not today. Not after that body. Not with these emotions. 

A few more minutes passed in absolute silence as they both watched for any new signs of life from the blonde. Zack pulled over a chair and sat in it for an easier time, but Sephiroth only scanned the body, too many questions and too much dissonance crowding his mind. 

Finally, the blonde’s eyes pushed open agian. The inhuman mako-blues hazily scanned the ceiling of the new room before slowly inching downward along the corners, the walls, the gadgets, and then silver.

Sephiroth sighed as the eyes locked on him once again, a gaze that completely ignored the boy at his side. 

Cloud forced himself up, at least enough to straighten his posture, but the sadness, disappointment, uselessness in his eyes only grew as he stared. “My prince…” Gods, his voice cracked as if on the verge of tears.

Sephiroth didn’t point out the use of the false title instead of his name, if only to prevent the blonde from digging further into a pit of despair. “Cloud, are you-”

“No,” He denied, looking away to gain some semblance of control, “no, please. Let me apologize. I’m so sorry. I can’t control it. I can’t talk about it. I want to. I want to tell you. I'm so sorry for my disobedience. I’m trying. I’m trying.”

“Hey, hey, it’s okay,” Zack called in a soothing voice, reaching for his side. 

“Please, please, let me make it up to you,” He begged as he searched the room for something, anything, any other way, completely ignoring the boy that saved him. “I just need- maybe- just something to write with… Yes, I can write it. I can explain. Please let me explain. I can at least try to-”

“Cloud.”

That tone instantly silenced him, and he bowed his head in sorrowful respect, his final words barely a whisper above his breath, “...I’m sorry…”

Sephiroth sighed, exhaustion staining his voice. “...Just stop…”

Those two words sent a ping through his chest, and he scrunched the sheets in his hands from the horrible feeling through him. No… No…

“Cloud…” Zack called softly and carefully placed his hand on the shoulder of black leather. “Are you okay…?”

He nodded slowly, but his body tensed. “...I want to tell you…” He admitted pitifully. “But I can’t talk about it… I’m so afraid and this panic just-” He seized his own chest, curling into his own body to the closest ball his injured form allowed. “Just, please… Please don’t put me back...”

Suddenly Sephiroth grabbed his other shoulder, staring so deeply into his mirrored eyes with utter frustration and absolute determination. 

Zack’s grip automatically tightened as incredulousness claimed his entire being, his mouth partly opened and his eyebrows lifting as well.

“We will never, put you back there,” Sephiroth declared. 

Cloud wanted to cry. From happiness or sorrow, he did not know. 

The boy shook his head. “Not a chance, Cloud.”

“You are here. You are safe. You will write and speak when you are ready without judgment. If anyone dares threaten you with your past, I will have them thrown out of the building immediately.”

Cloud stared in silent shock with a soft gasp. Why would his prince do that for him?

“Understood?”

He nodded slowly, hesitantly. “Thank you, My prince…”

“Good.” With that final confirmation, the instant fire in his eyes wisped like a candle in the wind. He was so tired. Gods he was tired. He slowly reached for his materia, taking out one of the green orbs and placing it in Cloud’s hand. 

The black haired boy leaned back in defense and confusion, the Silver Soldier handing the mind broken man the equivalent of a live bomb. 

“Just… Show him what you showed me.”

Though Zack glared in concern, Cloud simply nodded and gripped the marble before opening his other palm and holding it towards the First in training. This time, sparks and embers swirled around the palm like leaves in the wind before a small flame appeared. Zack cautiously watched as the flame vacuumed sealed itself to curl and stretch to the new details with bright oranges and yellows. This time, it was a perfect replica of a Northern wolf, the fur so realistic Zack almost touched it with a single tip of his gloved hand.

“Whoa…” He blinked in awe as it silently howled before sitting, its tail moving slowly from side to side as it watched the dark haired boy. “You gotta teach me how to do that.”

He didn’t deny the tiny hint of joy in his chest at the childish reaction. 

The smallest smirk grazed Sephiroth’s face as well, as he watched the two before him, yet it faded in less than an instant. 

Cloud was determined to bring it back. “I can try. This is truly the best I can do with materia, so it may be difficult to learn.”

“What do you mean?” Zack asked with the slightest tilt of his head.

The wolf suddenly ran in circles along his palm, chasing its own tail, and Cloud’s eyes fell to it, a sliver of hesitation in his being before he responded, “...I cannot use materia as a weapon. Not well. But these came naturally to me.”

“How does it work?” 

Cloud gave the same explanation and requests as he gave to Sephiroth earlier. Zack kept tilting his head for different angles and a better view of the incredibly detailed craft. Sephiroth watched in silence, allowing himself to be entranced by the dancing flames in the blonde’s palm. 

After a few minutes of welcome distraction, Sephiroth determined Cloud was okay and no longer needed supervision. He suddenly left the room. Zack stared at the entrance in bewilderment. Until the silver haired man returned with a small notebook and pen. Zack gave the First Class a cautious glare. 

“Cloud,” He called, handing him the booklet and pen while taking back his materia. 

Cloud’s eyes were wide and entrapped, every part of him ready to obey, brushing his thumb along the side of the white pages.

“If you think you can write your past, do it in this book.” Sephiroth met his eyes now, a deep seriousness emitting that no one could ignore. “But if you feel even a fraction of what triggered your episode, you must stop until you recover. Understood?”

He nodded, clicking the new tool unconsciously. “Yes, Sephiroth.”

Gods he was happy to hear his own name again. He started turning to the door again when he heard a question. 

“Will I be seeing you again?”

Sephiroth sighed, moving away slowly. “Later…” the single word crawled out of his throat. 

Cloud nodded in understanding. “I'll be close. Whenever you need me.”

The Silver Soldier nodded as well and left the room for the evening. 

Zack gave Cloud a careful pat on the shoulder, the blonde calmly turning to him and away from the entrance. “You okay?”

“Yes. Thank you for your company, Zack.”

His brows knotted in confusion. “Why do you say that like I’m leaving?”

Cloud’s head tilted as he glanced at the entrance then back to the boy before it dawned on him. “My apologies. I assumed you would leave with Sephiroth.”

“Nope,” He smirked. “Now you get to hear a little more about me.” He was clearly trying to distract Cloud from the day’s events. But Cloud allowed the moments of thrilling stories of past missions before his first attempt to put his own past to paper, a small smile on his face as he listened to the excited tales of the boy who saved him. 

* * * 

Sephiroth took one last look at his phone as he sat on the side of his bed, scrolling through the final unread emails of the night. Most of them were spam; confirmations for receiving reports, a few small mission updates, some company team building garbage he ignored unless he absolutely had to, and…

He shot up, rigidly fixing his posture as he re-read the email again, and again, and again. 

No. No, don't do this. Not right now. Not today.

He denied everything he read. This couldn’t be happening. Not today. What good could this possibly do him?

From: Lazard Deusericus

To: Sephiroth

Subject: Mandatory Rest Days. Apologies in Advance. 

Sephiroth,

Upon notification of Dr. Hojo’s sudden passing, we are giving you the next three days off. You will receive no missions within this time, and I will be locking you out of your work account until then. As of tomorrow, you will receive no mission updates or reports. I will not bar you from the training areas, but I’ll be damned if the board demands you work in your current state. This is not a punishment. This is only to help you recover. I’ve informed both Genesis and Angeal, and they agreed to take up any extra missions while you rest. 

If there is anything else I can do to help, please let me know.

Kind regards,

Director Lazard

What he could do, was give him his access back. This was absolutely a punishment for Hojo’s death. How else was he supposed to take this?

He responded to the email as formally as he could, requesting his access be returned under the claim he would ‘take it easy’ those first three days, which he knew was a lie but he didn’t care. He needed SOLDIER right now, any mission he could get. Gods he just wanted to bury himself in his work until this frustrating, unbalanced feeling faded to the darkest corner of his mind. How was he supposed to gain a shred of control if they kept him trapped in his own mind?

Whenever you're ready. Whenever you're not. I'll be here, Sephiroth. 

Damn it. He didn't want to use Cloud for his own gain. That wasn’t fair. Cloud was a patient, and he needed rest. But maybe…maybe this was his chance to get answers to all of his questions. Or a way to find proof of what Cloud claimed. He refuses to waste these two days 'relaxing'. He needed a way out of here. 

He sighed, closing his phone and rubbing his eyes. Perhaps he would speak to Cloud tomorrow. Yeah, that’d be a good place to start. For now, he finished preparing for bed before finally ending the day, accepting even the worst possible sleep with open arms. 

* * * 

Cloud carefully wrote every detail he could remember in the small booklet. This was for his prince. He would not leave anything missing. But even then, he felt that clutching in his chest, and only when he neared the cliff of absolute panic did he stop and take moments to breathe. Soon, he hoped, he’d use this time to walk and perhaps even run again, praying his increased mobility could aid His prince. If these healers could do something for him, he hoped it was at least one of the two. 

A knock at the door pulled him from his writing, and he looked up to see the red haired Turk with the gloves for a large shuriken, this time with a rectangular leather bag dangling off her shoulder. “Hello, Cissnei,” He greeted kindly as he removed the pen and closed the book in his hand. 

“Good evening, Cloud,” She answered calmly, closing the curtain behind her and taking a few steps closer to him. “Is everything alright? How are you feeling?”

Cloud nodded. “I am well. I’m very lucky. I know many weren’t. I didn’t see any monsters during the breakout.”

She smirked softly in response. “I'm very glad to hear that.” She flicked her head in the direction of the pen and book. “What are you writing?”

“Just an old story,” He lied cleanly. “A children’s tale from the Cetra. I’m trying to learn your penmanship.”

“May I see?”

“Of course.” He placed the pen in his lap. “But I warn you, it is not a cheerful tale, so I apologize if it is a graphic page.”

She shook her head and waved him off. “No worries at all.”

He removed his hand and seemingly opened to a random page, holding the book as he showed her. 

'They treated me kindly. Their curiosity of my existence drove this. No other reason made sense. I was new. I was different. I was interesting to them-'

Sure enough, the penmanship increased in style, elegance, and legibility as the sentence continued. But he closed the book as she tried to scan for more. 

“This is not why you’ve come,” Cloud stated simply as he tilted his head slightly. “What do you need of me?”

“First, to give you this.” She removed the bag and placed it carefully at his side, and he reached for it cautiously. “But before you open it, I need you to answer a question.” She met his eyes, forcing the severity of the request into them. “This comes straight from the president himself, and you must keep it silent. Do you understand?”

His brows scrunched but he nodded softly. 

She accepted the silent confirmation. “Do you know anything about The Promised Land?”

His confusion only grew. “What do you wish to know?”

That answered her question. “Do you know where it is?”

A question from the president of the company His prince worked for had an interest in death? No. No, something was off. The way she asked her followup, she believed The Promised Land was a place. They had an interest in it as a location. They may also investigate said location. Thoughts rapidly zipped through his mind as he contorted his answer towards helping his queen. Maybe this was his only chance. The Cetra aimed to contain her. They needed to keep her close in the north. “Beneath the Northern Crater,” came his final answer. 

She shook her head. “You sound so confident, yet we already looked there, and found nothing.”

Cloud was made there. He knew every detail of his lie like the back of his hand. “Did you find the Weapon?”

Her eyes narrowed. “What kind of weapon?”

“The Planet’s Weapon. Enormous creatures created by The Planet to defend it in dire situations.”

Clearly, she did not, judging by the pause before her answer, “I’d have to look into it to be sure.”

“Did you find the cliffs of materia?” He asked. “Sky blue and dozens of feet tall? Almost reflective of the ocean itself?”

That caught her attention. So, the false Promise Land had something to do with materia, maybe the Lifestream as well. “We did not.”

Cloud spoke simply, not as if explaining a simple fact, a simple truth, all in an attempt to rescue his queen. “Then you did not search deep enough.”

.

.

.

.

Thanks for reading! 

Author's note: Singular class is still kicking my ass but here is my humble continuation of this fic.

[videogamequeens]

Alone, in the dark void of deep space, the two Queens stand toe to toe, each eager to stake their own claim to the latest resource-rich world.

“You seek this world to satiate only yourself, ‘Calamity from the Skies,’ we would turn this place into our new home and sustain an entire species,” muttered the Vortex Queen in a voice as scalding and indiscernible as the solar winds.

“I am unto myself a species…a people. Within my cells are countless differing organisms of ancient life. Who are you to judge my ways?”came the resonant psychic clang of Jenova’s voice as parts of her began to shift like liquid, rippling and reforming into tentacles not unlike those of the Vortex. Soon her alabaster face had even darkened to emerald green and her yellow eyes into pitiless black orbs.

“Do you see Queen of the Vortex? I can be anything and I am everything. You are outclassed here. So leave…before all that remains…is my mimicry of your bloated visage.”

The Vortex Queen’s eyes narrowed, infuriatingly aware of the other Alien’s superior power.

“You have won this world today…let us hope you’ll not live to regret it…Jenova.”

And with that, a swirling vortex appeared and the Queen was gone, earthbound and en route to her fateful encounter with a peculiarly plucky dolphin named Ecco.

While Jenova, was about to meet the people of this world. A people known only as the Cetra.

[ask-blackheartedangel]

💬

He couldn’t deny he had wanted it. The whole venture had been a whirlwind of madness and whispers, blood and death. He had known, down to the silent cells in his body, that he had been the Chosen One. He’d set upon that path with cool ambition and descended into a state that went far beyond his mortal recognition. By the end, he barely knew what he was doing. He had wanted it though. And he had fought with every fibre of his being.

Then it had ended. Not the way it should have done either. It had been perfect, everything was set and then someone insignificant had changed it all.

There had been pain, the briefest flicker of knowledge of what he had done, before darkness swept in to claim him.

It should have ended there, yet the indelible touch of his genetic marker endured. The lifestream supported his consciousness, allowing him to drift out of time, at least for the moment.

But he was not alone. And the awareness of those he had harmed soon found him. She was at the centre of them – the last of her kind. The one he had butchered.

“Well, this is awkward,” he mused, sensing her approach.

[andrewwtca]

on Sephiroth's manipulation of Cloud (an analysis)

— Rebirth + OG FF7 spoilers

how Rebirth tackled puppet Cloud is so unique and so so good, and I just needed to talk about it. first things first, let’s talk about what Sephiroth means by ‘puppet.’

throughout the OG FF7 and Rebirth, Sephiroth refers to Cloud as a ‘puppet.’ it may seem strange at first glance, because it seems to imply that Sephiroth is manually taking control of Cloud, puppeteering him or that Cloud is inherently empty.

it also doesn’t fit with his encouragement of Cloud’s rage. if Cloud is a puppet, why doesn’t Sephiroth just give him rage?

because that’s not what he means. when Sephiroth calls Cloud a puppet, he means that Cloud’s mind can easily be shaped, similar to how a puppet’s identity is dependent on its master. he says that what Cloud feels is fake because Cloud’s mind is a collage of identities, his own and Zack’s, all with Jenova’s and Sephiroth’s influence. Cloud’s feelings are just his master’s feelings.

Cloud’s mind is malleable. he is his own person, the real Cloud Strife is there, but due to the self-esteem issues he’s harbored since childhood and the trauma he’s endured for the past five years, the presenting Cloud Strife can greatly differ. Sephiroth is intensely aware of this, and takes advantage of it.

the persona we see of Cloud is his SOLDIER persona, the tough badass he always wanted to be, a mixture of his interpretation of Zack and his interpretation of being a hero. but the facade cracks quickly and frequently, in either direction. mostly, it cracks to let us see the real Cloud. there’s no one single moment where he shines through: Cloud taking on odd jobs with no real gain other than him helping someone, Cloud doing something stupid and silly, Cloud getting flustered. all the moments of him being kind and dorky is the real Cloud shining through. it’s impossible for Cloud to bury all of himself beneath his persona, so these cracks are only natural. however, the other cracks in his persona are due to Sephiroth’s manipulation.

in Rebirth, Cloud kills multiple people on multiple occasions—one can argue because they were Shinra, they deserved it, but that doesn’t change the fact that Cloud isn’t a killer. even his SOLDIER persona accommodates his desire to help people; so how does he kill people so easily? if you answered Sephiroth, you get a prize!

Sephiroth manipulates his SOLDIER persona in two ways: feeding into ideals and planting ideas. for the first, he (off-screen) encourages violent and/or anti-social behavior in Cloud. while we, the player, and everyone around him views this as strange, in Cloud’s mind, it all fits into what he’s supposed to be. he’s supposed to be a badass, and badasses kill people and dismiss their friends’ feelings, right?

when Cloud is in this mental state, it’s very hard to reason with him. in Chapter 13 (one of the greatest pieces of puppet Cloud literature), Cloud’s entire goal is to reach the center of the Temple in order to acquire the Black Materia. he doesn’t listen to any warnings that the Cetra give or his teammates, becoming wholly focused on retrieving it. but even then, even if Cloud’s behavior doesn’t seem strange to him, why does he want the Black Materia?

that’s due to Sephiroth’s other form of manipulation: planting ideas. it’s easy to force Cloud to become violent because it fits the narrative of badass SOLDIER, but lots of other ideas need time to nourish. case-in-point: Tifa isn’t the real one.

we are introduced to this idea at the very beginning of the game, Cloud walking through the inn at Kalm when he sees Sephiroth who tells him that this Tifa isn’t the real one. the conflict seems to become resolved when Cloud repeats the idea to Tifa who completely dismisses it, but they’re nowhere out of the woods.

next, Sephiroth in Chapter 5 instills the idea that Jenova is capable of impersonation. this doesn’t seem to go anywhere until Chapter 9.

first, Cloud enters that intensified SOLDIER state-of-mind, killing all the Shinra troopers around him. with his mind already fragile, Sephiroth repeating the idea to him now becomes fact: Tifa isn’t real. she is an imposter from Jenova. both the ideas Cloud’s been fed are twisted and he pushes Tifa off the edge.

Cloud snaps out of this state of mind right after, but it doesn’t change the fact that it happened. as long as Sephiroth plays his cards right, he can manipulate Cloud into doing nearly everything for him. hence, the ‘puppet’ label.

(that’s also why Cloud wants the Black Materia. Sephiroth tells Cloud to bring him the Black Materia—and even if Cloud doesn’t want to, the thought is engraved in his head that he should retrieve it for Sephiroth.)

but here’s what’s really special. as we’ve noted, the intensified SOLDIER persona is violent, anti-social, just an all around dick. he doesn’t care about his friends, doesn’t care about anything except getting what he wants (see: what Sephiroth wants.)

but we see something very different at the end of Chapter 13. Cloud isn’t rude and dismissive. he pushes Tifa, but he doesn't do it with the same malice as in Chapter 9. he does it in an attempt just to get her away, just to chase after the Black Materia.

in his pursuit of Aerith, the things he says are the farthest thing from rude. he’s not threatening or demanding her to stop. he’s asking her to talk, appealing to her desire to trust him and save the planet, even starts calling her name in a teasing way like he’s playing a game.

Aerith! Let's talk. I need it... Aerith... Give it to me. Please? You can trust me. Let's save the planet together. (playfully) Aerith.

when Aerith finally gives him the Black Materia, what does Cloud do? he could just walk away. he could just run straight to Sephiroth. but, no—he makes sure to say “thank you” first.

it’s pathetic (I type this in the most endearing way) the way Cloud acts. why is that? what is the difference between these types of manipulation? the answer is who Sephiroth manipulates. for the most part, Sephiroth manipulates SOLDIER Cloud. but here, Sephiroth breaks through Cloud’s SOLDIER persona to manipulate the real Cloud.

we know when we see the real Cloud: if you need a refresher, anytime Cloud is kind or acts like a dork is usually a tell-tale sign. here, Cloud is kind, saying please and thank you. and it’s almost cute, the way he playfully calls out to Aerith. this is the real Cloud, buried under piles of piles of trauma, self-hatred, and alternative personas.

and what is the real Cloud’s utmost desire? to love and be loved. he wants to be a hero, to be worthy of the ones he holds dear; no, to be worthy of anyone. this is a big factor into Cloud’s construction of his SOLDIER persona, he creates himself that hero mask that he thinks will lead to the love he craves.

Sephiroth knows this, and twists his desire to be a hero to a desire to please Sephiroth at all costs. Cloud is still himself, but he wants to make Sephiroth happy no matter what. Sephiroth wants the Black Materia? then Sephiroth will get the Black Materia.

that’s what’s so heartbreaking (and deliciously good) about Rebirth’s depiction of puppet Cloud. he’s not hollow and empty. he’s desperate. this is the most of the real Cloud we get to see. we see fragments of him, but here is the longest consecutive period. this is the realest he acts in the game, kind and silly and so fucking desperate for love, for Sephiroth’s approval.

in short, Sephiroth knows exactly how and when to break Cloud. he knows how and when to manipulate SOLDIER Cloud and he knows how and when to manipulate the real Cloud. this is why Sephiroth calls him a puppet: as long as he plays to Cloud’s desire for approval and love, he can puppeteer him in every direction.

thank you for reading! I hope you learned something new or just understand Cloud better. Cloud is such a fascinating character and Sephiroth really brings out the most pathetic parts of him ❤️ here's to hoping Cloud gets all the love he wants