#i have that other au of genesis trying to save sephiroth so maybe these happen in the same universe

[wowa-bublord]

Bubby!!! You know me, I'm gonna ask about Sephiroth

Where is Seph in your au? Is he still crazy about Cloud? Is he crazy about Zack and Cloud? Or Zack living just negated everything and now he is not crazy at all and he like... opens a bakery or something

I need to know 🥺

NUBE!!!! HI!!!! THIS IS SOMETHING IVE BEEN THINKING ABOUT. but i haven't decided yet.... on one hand, i love sephiroth and i want him to be happyyyyehfghdsj 😭 on the other hand, Sephiroth is obviously an important part of the story and taking him out as a villain would cause a big affect on it

I'm gonna use this ask as a drawing board here to write down some ideas. My first thought is that Zack could be the one with the sephiroth pilled brain. and there are two main ways i see him reacting to it. With #1 being the ignorer. He doesn't tell anyone and keeps it to himself, knowing how badly cloud and tifa were affected and feeling like the way hearing about what he's experiencing would affect them much worse than him dealing with it himself

And Idea two: Sephiroth would work as an in-universe representation of Zacks guilt over Angeal, genesis, and Sephiroth. His presence in visions would be not just a real thing happening, but story-wise it'd be able to help show visually how much Zack is struggling under the weight of his trauma

Redeeming Sephiroth could be an interesting arc, but this is post nibelheim, and he's sort of under Jenovas grip right now, already having abandoned most of himself into the lifestream. Is there anything left to be redeemed? And also...

its probably not a task to be done with tifa and clouds involvement.

we could go with the og story and have him haunting Cloud. who is also a chronic ignorer

Really the route this au goes depends on how much I change from the og story from this point onward.. to be honest I've only figured out zack and clouds recovery, I'm still shuffling through the main story events, though I'm thinking I'm gonna rewatch a gameplay on rebirth part 1 and take notes on what I think would change if zack was there (in place of cloud at some parts)

maybe sephiroth brings all of himself back from the lifestream and opens a bakery far away from everyone else and works through his issues and his guilt away from the cast... but that'd be hard to show in my aus story.

[up-sideand-down]

Any headcanons for a retirement home AU with our favourite soldiers?

1. After Soldier...there really isn't a place for them to go. ShinRa gave them the mako, but their bodies deteriorated quickly as they got older. Eventually someone in the WRO found a good treatment for them and started opening the Soldier homes. They were not the happiest places to be however. The first of them looked very similar to the ShinRa labs, which none of them ever wanted to go back to. Over time, things got better.

Mentally, however, most Soldiers aren't doing great.

2. Angeal Hewley, for example, does not have a great memory. It comes and goes. Physically he's actually doing pretty well, just the usual frailty that comes with the old age. His mind comes and goes. It's not dementia, none of the treatments for dementia or alzheimer's work. When others start popping up with similar issues a psychologist put out the theory that they just don't want to remember.

Others degrade and need regular treatment, like Genesis Rhapsodos. His body started falling apart extremely rapidly. After mako treatments he feels pretty spry and healthy, but the feeling never lasts more than a week and that has made him bitter. He's not independent or a hero anymore. It also makes it hard to work on his creative aspects. Also no one wants to hear it.

Sephiroth is one of the worst cases. He developed arthritis in one hand and it's useless now. He just sits with it curled in on his lap. He never talks ever. No one is sure what he remembers. He does sometimes write or draw and his work is just filled with anger and hate. He sits at a window and stares out, day in and day out. Physically he's fine. Mentally...he doesn't want anything to do with anyone.

All three want nothing to do with each other either, they don't act like they were ever friends.

3. Zack Fair came in with a wheelchair. He was told he'd never walk again and he learned fast they were right. His first home had a lot of stairs so he had to move to this home. By then he'd made his peace. Kunsel was a similar case and they'd made the best of things wheelchair buds. He still gets around and is still a handful. He joined the 1st class house just because it's all one level.

It was a fairly gloomy house with Angeal, Genesis and Sephiroth, but Zack didn't let that bother him. Angeal didn't remember his name at all and Genesis called him a major distraction and pain in the ass. But they didn't push or shove him away. They let him talk and jabber.

They warned him not to do the same with Sephiroth, that Sephiroth was gone. Zack tried it anyway. Sephiroth didn't look at him, never looked at anyone. But finally he spoke for the first time in years.

"Go away," he said. Zack blinked and smiled.

"Sure thing," Zack said, "maybe tomorrow."

4. Cloud was pretty sure he was allowed here as a charity case. He had his arm amputated at the elbow after a bout of geostigma. He also lost all vision in one eye and the other eye wasn't doing so hot. 1st class house did have a the best eye doctor so he was moved in to try and save what was left of his vision. He immediately got along with Zack. Zack talked about everything and loved nothing more than to describe everything in vivid detail for Cloud. Genesis told Cloud he was more annoying than Zack.

"At least I can pull the stick out of my ass," Cloud shot at him, "I think you got yours wedged way up in there." Angeal laughed until he cried at that. Genesis stomped weakly away.

When not with Zack, Cloud often sits by Sephiroth. He sits on Sephiroth's bad hand side, which also happens to be where Cloud's arm is missing. They never talk, they just look out the window.

"Go away," Sephiroth tells him one day.

"Does it look like I'm talking to you?" Cloud said. Sephiroth blinked.

"Shut up and look out the window," Cloud tells him. Sephiroth does and they go back to just staring at the window.

5. Genesis never said it out loud, but Zack and Cloud did brighten the house a lot. They never talked about their time in Soldier, their time with ShinRa, they just talked about the here and now.

He felt more inspired, actually wrote part of a play that he'd never show anyone, but it was more than he'd done in a year.

What really changed him was when they sat with Angeal and Genesis heard Angeal talking. He talked for a long time about his childhood. He remembered with them.

And then Sephiroth spoke again. He was trying to write, but his arthritic hand couldn't hold the page on the table. Cloud held it steady for him. Sephiroth finished and then he spoke. He didn't realize he was crying until Cloud leaned in so no one could see. Then Cloud spoke quietly to him too. Sephiroth nodded, not really remembering what they talked about, but he knew he really did like everyone here. They were nice to him. This wasn't the labs after all.

No one blinked when Sephiroth stood up one day and joined them all at the puzzle table.

"It's a nice day," he said.

"Sure is," Zack agreed, moving his chair to make more room for him. And then Angeal started talking about a time he remembered that was like this. It got Genesis to laugh and Sephiroth to smile. They all helped Cloud figure out some colors on the puzzle pieces.

They all decided they were going to be alright.

[im-totally-not-an-alien]

Final Fantasy prompts no 52

1. Cloud getting swarmed by orphans who proceed to put make up on him, Tifa, and Yuffie.

When they are "revealed" to eachother, Cloud asks, "Am I pretty?" With a blank face and monotone voice.

2. Clouds reaction to different people saying, "I have a crush on you"

That exact phrase. No other wording or phrases.

3. #2 but its everyone in AVALANCHE saying this to Cloud one at a time, once a day.

Example: Yuffie on Tuesday, Tifa on Wednesday, Barret on Thursday, etc.

This is because they were trying a misguided attempt at making Vincent comfortable enough to actually confess.

When Vincent does confess, however, Cloud doesn't believe him. Oops.

4. Palmer was being a prick again. Ever since the "Incident" in the conference room when they discovered Sephiroths...relationship...with laser pointers, Palmer had been sneaking them in and teasing the poor man with them.

Scarlett had been the most recent victim, having the small red dot travel across her breasts without her knowledge. When she noticed the general staring at her cleavage, a whole host of questions flittered threw her mind, the most prominent being, "Am I about to get laid?"

By the time she noticed the dot it was too late. Catboy pounced.

Her last thought before she was squished by hard muscle and leather was "Oh, no."

Later, there was a mysterious surge in people writing fanfiction about Sephiroth pouncing on people...

5. Cloud chunking a ceramic vase full of catnip grass at Sephiroths head and yelling, "Happy birthday, asshole!"

6. Yuffie often observed how cat-like Cloud was, and just never questioned it.

Years later when Tifa says something about it, Yuffie was like, "You guys never noticed? He's always been like that."

Additionally, Vincent trailing his fingers through Clouds hair as the blond rests his head in the gunman lap. All was well and good until Cloud began purring in his sleep.

He wasn't sure what to do with this information.

7. Time traveler Cloud lands in the Shinra building and immediately gets spotted. He fights his way down with First Tsurugi until he's confronted by a familiar mop of spikey blond hair.

He has a blond moment of, "Oh, that's me. Oh- I'm shooting at myself. Lovely." He then proceeded to kidnap his younger self, much to Zacks dismay.

Now Cloud has Zack, Sephiroth, and two people he doesn't know hunting him like a wild animal.

It doesn't help that his past self is uncooperative

8. Zack as the hero instead of Cloud.

They made it to Midgar, but Cloud remained in a coma at 7th heaven. There was even a big rescue scene where he woke up and saved Marlene when the plate fell. Everyone thinks they're dead, but they find refuge with Elmira after AVALANCHE leaves Midgar.

Zack being referred to as "puppy" by Sephiroth in the same way Cloud is referred to as "puppet"

Also, Zack with green cat eyes

9. A group of scientists working under a mysterious organization managed to obtain samples of Clouds DNA, thus managing to revive the SOLDIER program.

But they made a mistake.

Cloud was made using large amounts of S and J-cells. Cells that mutated and changed him. He feels the new SOLDIERs as they change, as they are reborn. He feels them as they come alive with his cells, senses them like blinking lights on a sonar. The pull of REUNION has never been this strong before, but strangely, the blond didn't feel drawn anywhere.

When he first saw them he knew. He knew immediately what had happened and what the scientists had done, but it didn't matter. All that mattered was that he had babies and they needed him.

Needed their Mother

And so Gaia cries for another twisted hero

10. Someone from the Silver Elite writes romantic fanfiction of Sephiroth and Genesis and it starts a shipping war with people writing fanfiction about their favorite pairings.

A particularly...mature... piece of romantic high fantasy fanfiction involving himself and some blond named Cloud actually makes it to Sephiroth and he reads it.

He admittedly becomes curious of, "The pretty little fae" that has a solid hold on a significant amount of people in the Silver Elite.

Too bad the blond is avoiding him, like the plague and blushing as red as a beet the moment he sees him. He must have read something the fangirls made.

(Its funnier if you add time traveler AC Cloud but cuter if its CC Cloud. Idk which one I like better)

11. Angeal tries to teach CC Zack and Cloud how to build a bookshelf.

Cloud does pretty good, but Zack...actually, Angeal isn't sure what that is.

Zack called it art, so they were gonna go with that.

That's how they spent the rest of the evening, making wierd art that makes people stare in wonder and confusion.

12. Time travel shenanigans where Genesis's Jenova powers interfere with Clouds and now all the SOLDIERS that were in the Shinra tower with them when it happened have been turned into catboys.

It doesn't really change anything. It's still business as usual, just with a few extra appendages.

Angeal, who wasn't there at the time, has to muffle his laughter everytime he sees his friends.

It doesn't help that the company is pushing for Sephiroth to do a commercial showing off his new assets.

AC Cloud escaped and is on the run, but it's so much harder to blend in when you have cat ears on your head 24/7. Maybe he could wear a hat, but he wasn't sure what to do about the tail.

13. You remember that part in advent children where those monsters came out of the shadows that the remnants sent after Cloud?

Yeah, Cloud can do that. Not the, "summon eldrich monsters" thing, though he can probably do that too. I mean the "sinking into your own shadow to travel at high speeds/ through cracks in walls".

He finds this out by getting out of bed and falling into his shadow and slinking around like that until someone notices him.

He can't speak, so Barret and the others think the little shodow thing ate their blond friend or something.

Cloud is so frustrated and confused from being stuck in his shadow. Poor guy.

14. Gang leader Cloud x Mafia boss Sephiroth

15. Au where most things are the same, but Cloud and Sephiroth are both demons.

Sephiroth was raised in Shinra and frequently studies his dead race, believing he is the last of his kind and these books were all that were left of his people.

Then he found Cloud, who hated him on sight. As it turns out, Sephiroth is from the Cresent family. A clan of notoriously powerful and cruel demons with silver hair. What's worse is that the man was from the Strife clan, his family's enemy.

They had been at war for eons, with the Cresent family often becoming infatuated or obsessed with a Strife. They even had a phrase, which translated to, "Little song bird, you would look so pretty in a cage"

Needless to say the blond wanted nothing to do with him. So naturally, Sephiroth kidnapped him.

Demon Vincent is kind of there in the background, hiding himself like a smart person and watching over his blond friend and his deceased lover Lucricia's nephew. He allows most things, but ninjas his way in when he feels things are going too far.

[rabid-heart]

Good Bones

For @sefikuraweek Day 2 - Prompt: New Beginnings

Sephiroth asks Cloud to move in with him and Cloud says yes. But once the house hunting starts and Cloud rejects every possible suggestion, Sephiroth begins to doubt if Cloud’s heart is really in this relationship.

Rating: Teen and Up Audiences

Notes/Warnings: None really, other than one tiny brief mention of sex.

Inspired by the song "The Bones" by Maren Morris.

AU – Everybody Lives! Shina is no more, Sephiroth and Cloud have been dating for a few years, and now their biggest argument is about finding the right place to start this new chapter of their lives together.  

(There is angst, because Sephiroth is just an angsty guy, but really the whole thing is just purely indulgent fluff.)

Read on Ao3 | See Previous Day

---

“No.”

Sephiroth sighs, exasperation, exhaustion, and annoyance evident from the crease in his brow. He moves his hand away from his face and points at the laptop screen, while turning to his very stubborn boyfriend. “What’s wrong with this one now?” he asks.

Cloud simply huffs, as if that sound were enough to explain everything, and then walks away to the kitchen, leaving Sephiroth once again a little more than frustrated. It is not as if the former General himself was perfect at vocalizing his own thoughts and needs, particularly after a lifetime of being forced to suppress them, but Cloud’s pointed lack of clarity around this whole escapade had long begun stressing Sephiroth’s discipline and patience.

He pushes his chair back away from the desk and leans to watch Cloud dig into the refrigerator and pull out one of the soft-drinks that the blond had stocked in Sephiroth’s apartment. Those drinks are one sign, but there are many others – pieces of Cloud everywhere in the two bedroom condominium he had bought with his Shinra savings years ago: a blanket strewn on the black leather couch; junk food on the kitchen island (Sephiroth was never allowed junk food in his former life, but even after obtaining freedom from Shinra and Hojo’s strict meal plan, he had yet to develop a taste for that stuff); a toothbrush in the bathroom; some clothes and underwear in one of his dresser drawers. Even beyond those facts, Cloud himself arguably spent most of his nights with Sephiroth here, instead of in his actual living quarters in the house he shared with Zack, Kunsel, Aerith and Tifa (a place that Genesis not-so-affectionally dubbed the frat house).

They had been dating for over two years, though they had known each other for longer. In the end, Cloud Strife had now become invariably and inextricably woven into the fabric of Sephiroth’s life and space. He would either wake up to the blond in his arms or to a text message from Cloud. Most dinners they shared together, holding hands huddled in a restaurant booth or making a game of distracting each other while cooking. When Genesis and Angeal sent their wedding invitations, Cloud and Sephiroth’s names were on the cards together, as one. So, while Sephiroth had, admittedly, little relationship experience before this, asking Cloud if he would like to start living together seemed like a natural progression of the dance.  

He did, on the advice of Aerith and Tifa, try to make the actual asking a romantic affair. He bought Cloud’s favorite whiskey, lit candles in the apartment, asked Aerith for her best roses. Cloud had seemed thrilled at the prospect, the usually scowling face instead blushing brightly throughout the evening. When Cloud had said yes, it started such a swell in Sephiroth’s heart that he was sure there was nothing else he could ever be more grateful for in his life. He had carried Cloud to his bedroom and made sure that the blond knew just how much he loved him, well through the night and into the hazy hours of the morning.  

Then, something changed. They had agreed to find a new place, something that would let them have a true fresh start, something that they could turn into forever. But every open house Sephiroth suggested, every listing he found online had gotten summarily shut down. That would not have bothered Sephiroth as much had the blond provided more thorough explanations for his rejections, or at least explanations that were not so contradictory. Too far away from everything. Too close to the city. Too traditional. Too modern. Not enough space. Too much space. I don’t like the carpeting. I don’t like the kitchen. I don’t like the bathrooms.

Sephiroth had studiously jotted down the curt notes that Cloud had offered and then tried to adjust, come up with new possibilities. And yet, nothing seemed to please Cloud, not in the slightest. It became bizarre. Cloud did not act picky about anything other than his motorbike or his hair. And it did not make a difference that Sephiroth offered to finance renovations on an existing property to make it perfect. Cloud would shake his head, say it was too troublesome, and then move on to something else.

Sephiroth had considered himself an intelligent man, but this behavior tore at the boundaries of his understanding. He had begun to think that he had done something wrong, something to cause Cloud to suddenly grow cold on the idea of living together. He wracked his photographic memory for something – an offhand comment or gesture, a sign, even discussed the possibility with Genesis and Angeal over their weekly lunches together (Genesis called him a paranoid shithead, and while Angeal was much nicer about it, he essentially hinted at the same idea) – but could not find anything suspicious.

It had then dawned on Sephiroth that perhaps what Cloud was getting cold to was not the concept of moving in together – that maybe it was him. When that thought arose, he had quickly tried to push it down, bury it with all the other dark parts of his mind that he worked very hard to control. But try as he might to ignore it, it continued to nag away in the corners of his mind.

Even now, as he watches the blond kick close the refrigerator and wander into the living room to sit in front of the television, Sephiroth cannot help but wonder. Did Cloud really love him? Sephiroth had said it first, had felt it really from the moment Zack introduced them, and he was stunned into silence by the brilliance of those sky-blue eyes. Back then, Cloud was shyer and sweeter, but he had a stubborn streak a mile wide that often clashed with Sephiroth’s arrogance and tactlessness. They had fought often in the beginning, stumbling over misunderstandings and insecurities. But after a few honest and true conversations, things began to blossom. Sephiroth found himself being less afraid of being truly known and more willing to be honest and emotionally open. And Cloud in turn became more confident, less doubtful of his worth. They began fitting perfectly into each other’s lives, like pieces of an unusual, but beautiful puzzle.

Or at least, that had been what Sephiroth thought.

He turns to the computer screen, opened on a lovely four bedroom home just at the edge of Midgar proper – close enough to enjoy the central city, but far enough for peace. It has the large master bath, hardwood floors and open concept kitchen that Cloud had requested, and the laundry room, gas-range stove and garage that Sephiroth desired. Sephiroth had thought he struck the right compromise and had been excited at the idea of showing Cloud this new listing. But when they finished dinner and Sephiroth had pulled open his laptop, Cloud was simply as dismissive as he had been before.

Resignation begins to creep on Sephiroth now, like spiders crawling up his back. Dread, too, starts to mount in his chest. The weeks of this, the stress, the wondering, the doubt, the fear – it is too much, like an itch under his skin that he could not scratch for relief. He had pushed this conversation out for so long, under the guise of his own paranoia, but now, enough had become enough.

Sephiroth stands and walks into the living room. He reaches down for the television remote and shuts the program off, turns to face a perplexed Cloud and says, “I believe we need to talk.”

Cloud pauses, soda halfway to his lips, before putting the can down on the coffee table (no coaster, Sephiroth notes with a mild hint of irritation). “I was watching that, you know,” he responds casually.

“Cloud, I am serious.”

“You always are.”

Sephiroth closes his eyes, wills himself to breath, to calm, to still. “Do you still want to do this?” he asks, looking down at the blond sitting cross legged on his couch.

“Do what? Move in together?”

For a moment, Sephiroth considers taking the out – letting Cloud admit that he is not ready to live with him and allowing them to just resume their relationship as if nothing had happened at all. But Sephiroth knows that would not be enough for him now. He loves Cloud, wants to spend the rest of his mornings and nights with this man, but if Cloud does not feel the same, if he wants his freedom, then maybe it is best to let the blond go. Even if it means breaking open his own heart.

Sephiroth decides to push forward. “No. I mean our relationship.”

Cloud’s eyes suddenly widen in shock. “What?”

“Do you wish to continue this relationship?”

"I heard you,” Cloud says, standing up now. His face looks flushed, with anger, with embarrassment. “What I don’t understand is why you are asking this. What happened?”

Sephiroth looks down, for he knows if gazes in those blue eyes, he could never gather the necessary strength. “For the last few weeks, you have shown disinterest in every option for a new home together. I have tried my best to listen to your comments, but nothing seems to be right. I thought perhaps the true issue is that you no longer desire a life with me. I simply— I just…”

The words become trapped now, blocked by the swelling sorrow and fear in his chest. Is this it? Is he going to lose Cloud? Will he never hear that bell-like laughter, watch those blue eyes glaze with love and pleasure, dance in his living room to imaginary music with that lithe body, kiss that beautiful neck and those happy lips ever again?

He does not notice that Cloud has stepped close to him, until he feels a warm hand on his chest. Cloud glances upward, and the eyes Sephiroth loves are tinged with fear. “You don’t want to end this, right? You don’t want—”

“Of course not,” Sephiroth insists suddenly, grasping onto that hand tightly. “I love you. I love you more than anything, more than life itself and I--”

Then, Sephiroth stops, because Cloud, inexplicably, strangely, starts laughing. The blond presses his face against Sephiroth’s chest, and he can feel the vibrations of Cloud’s amusement and relief running through his body. It leaves Sephiroth feeling all the more mystified for it, and in his confusion, he finds himself locked in place and unable to move.

Finally, Cloud pulls back and looks at Sephiroth with slightly misty eyes. “You scared me, for a moment. I thought that you…oh, Gaia, Sephiroth. I’d never leave you, not for anything in this world or the next. I just needed another few weeks, that’s all.”

Sephiroth blinks at him, tilts his head. “I do not understand.”

The blond pauses for a moment, biting his lip in the way that he does whenever he is considering something. Then, he reaches down and tugs on Sephiroth’s hand. “Go get your jacket.”

“I don’t—”

“You won’t regret it, I promise.”

Sephiroth’s mouth opens to protest, to question, but Cloud is already moving, shoving his feet into his boots and slipping into his coat. The blond fishes into the ceramic bowl on the table next to the front entrance of the apartment and takes Sephiroth’s keys in his fingers. “I’m driving,” Cloud explains. “Now, c’mon!”

There appears to be no other option. Though his mind is still reeling from the whiplash of the last few moments, Sephiroth takes his jacket from the coat closet and follows Cloud down the hall, into the elevator and into the parking garage. Cloud is at his car quickly, with a springing nervousness to his step that Sephiroth only sees whenever the blond is excited about something. That recognition only serves amplify Sephiroth’s bafflement.

But he goes along anyway, watches as Cloud hops into the driver’s side of his car and complains again about having to adjust the seat for Sephiroth’s “impossibly long legs.” They drive in relative silence, Cloud with one hand on the steering wheel and the other entangled in Sephiroth’s own. It only takes a few minutes (with Cloud’s borderline reckless speed) for them to reach the edge of the city proper, and another ten or fifteen to reach the outskirts. Sephiroth recognizes their route. Since the deconstruction of the plate, the reactors and the wall, more and more residential districts have cropped up on the land surrounding Midgar, especially now that the Planet had begun to heal, and the ground had begun to repopulate the grass and flowers that used to be so scarce.

Finally, Cloud pulls up in front of a plot of land, with an unfinished two-story house sitting atop it. Some of the roofing had yet to be completed, windows installed, and outside walls painted, but the construction appeared strong and in good progress. Attached to the house is a large garage, and there is an unpaved path winding from the front door to the street. Though it is far from finished, looking at it now, Sephiroth can image the quiet, peaceful beauty of the place – the flowers they could plant along the walkway, the welcoming double-doors of the entrance, the little mailbox they could stand at the end of the path to the street. The house is slightly larger than most of the ones Sephiroth had been considering, but it still seemed comfortable all the same.

Sephiroth turns to Cloud now, bewilderment on his face. It is his turn to ask, “What?”

Cloud glances at him quickly, skittishly, then releases his hand and jumps out of the car. “Now, I know it’s a mess, but you should see the sketches Genesis gave to the contractor.”

“Genesis?” questions Sephiroth, as he steps out of the car. His mind flickers briefly to the lunch he shared with his two oldest friends earlier in the week, to Genesis’s teasing of his suspicion. He almost wants to sigh in mortification.

Cloud takes Sephiroth’s hand again, begins leading him up the path. “Angeal, Tifa and Aerith helped too, with picking out designs of stuff, making sure it would be things you’d like. Zack was useless, though, said we could just use him to help us move in.”

Us? Move in? His mind craters on the verge of shutdown. He stops abruptly, halfway to the front door, and Cloud turns to him with worry on his face.

“I’m sorry,” Sephiroth begins. “I’m sorry.”

Cloud is in front of him now, his hands around Sephiroth’s shoulders. He leans forward on his toes and closes the distance, kissing him gently but insistently, as if trying to push back the doubt and the fear that had been spilling from Sephiroth these past few weeks. He keeps going, tugging on the lapel of the man’s jacket to bring him even closer.

Then Cloud breaks the kiss, almost too soon. “I love you, Sephiroth Crescent. I love you and want to spend the rest of my life with you.” He then walks backward, and with a guilelessness that seems so at odds with the ferocity and skill of that kiss (but that was Cloud, that special contrast of sweetness and steel that made him so appealing, so seductive, so irresistible), he motions to the house behind him.

“So, I built you a house. Well, technically, it’s still in progress.”

Sephiroth tries to say something, but nothing comes out of his mouth. And yet, when the realization hits him, relief floods through his body like water over fire, and he can’t help but feel his cheeks tug into a wide smile. He pulls Cloud back into him, kisses him again and again, trailing his lips down that delicious jawline, the lobe of that ear, that wonderful neck. In between kisses, Cloud breathes out words in delight.

“It was an old building partially torn down and they said renovations would be done in six weeks, but they kept delaying things and finding issues and I was getting so nervous and I—”

“Mmhm,” Sephiroth hums, just kissing Cloud again. He can feel the blond laugh against his lips, but he merely takes the opening to explore the blond’s mouth, and almost rumbles in pure thrill at the way that Cloud’s laughter melts into a soft moan.

Then, the blond pushes him back, blushing red. “Stop, we’re in the middle of the street!”

The former General finally backs up, but can’t stop himself fully, can’t bring himself not to nip that adorable nose. “Alright.”

Cloud smiles but glances askew, apologetic. “I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to send you on a wild goose chase for a mystery home. I just wanted to surprise you, and I wanted to build something for us. For our new beginning.”

The two then turn to the building now, still empty and still incomplete. But with a bit of magic and imagination, Sephiroth could see it – the promises of comfort, of love, of peace, of a whole lifetime, held up by the good bones of this house. He could see the garden out front, Yule decorations hanging from the roof, the warm glow of fireplace light within. Most of all, Sephiroth could see himself happy here, for the rest of his life, with the man that he could hardly believe he had the good fortune to love.  

Cloud squeezes his hand, softly, gently. “I can show you the sketches, if you’d like?”

“No need,” Sephiroth whispers, as he dips down to kiss him once more. “If it’s from you, I know it will be perfect.”

[whetstonefires]

don't even know how likely it is that you'd write something like this anymore but. a fic where zack didn't actually think genesis died (DUDE HE CAN FLY HE'S NOT GONNA FALL TO DEATH!!) and at the very least postpone angeal's death by convincing him to help genesis who is presumably lying at the bottom of some abyss beneath an underground warehouse being very unconscious, probably out of exhaustion. then somehow the world's NOT ending by sephiroth maybe because there'd be actual FRIENDSHIP DEVELOPMENT?? (not cool that you robbed me of that in cc, squeenix) and they can go viva la revolution and dismantle shinra. or something. kunsel can help he has the brain cell

I had the hardest time answering this ask in a way that made sense to talk to you with but would be comprehensible to any followers who gave a damn as;dlfkjsdk.

Okay so I would probably write something like that, busted lmao, altho you’re right I got most of the SOLDIER trio feels out of my system already. But I feel like the obstacle would be...well it’s like two obstacles, wound together like indecent snakes.

So the obstacle is, Angeal’s motivations. In-universe, getting him to not die so he can come help the guy he wants to die because of and whom he imo expresses the sentiment that he should have personally killed is...tricky.

It’s not impossible because Zack is persuasive and Angeal is obviously still weak to Genesis in spite of everything or he would have killed him ages ago. But it’s tricky.

And on a metanarrative level it’s rendered much trickier by having so little to work with. How do you maneuver a couple of characters (specifically designed to fall apart no less) through a rapprochement when most of the estrangement happened offscreen?

We don’t know what Genesis said to Angeal to get him to defect, other than that it probably involved Project G. We don’t know how they got into the level of argument they were already in when Zack reaches Banora, whatever level exactly that was, other than that it presumably involved Angeal objecting to the Copies and the extermination of his hometown, but somehow left him feeling so conflicted and hopeless and helpless he didn’t do anything about those objections.

It’s really hard to do any concrete development of Angeal’s mental state at this point in the story, especially to put in the footholds for diverting his course from its predestined end point at the last minute, without those things to build on! And of course it’s even harder for my consistent PSP existence failure. 😔😔😔 i’m fake fan what can i do.

Anyway yeah I’d have to make up so much stuff, like their entire relationship arc, that’s the main/only reason I would probably not write this. I like to have slightly more footing in canon. Even when I’m doing things slightly less difficult than trying to sell a positive resolution to a tragic relationship arc.

Well, that and I’d have to put my heart behind the notion of saving Genesis as a good reason for doing anything, at this stage in the game. I’m not sure I could. Let him stay in the hole.

Stay in the hole Genesis! You stayed in your hole while Sephiroth was ending the world, didn’t you? Stay now! Be quiet! Cease to make trouble!

(Angeal’s temptation to take him out while he was down if they did find him unconscious would be a great drama scene because you know what, I bet he still couldn’t.

That might actually work...Zack brings up ‘actually having taken 15 minutes to think about it i don’t think he’s dead’ and Angeal postpones dying until the currently more dangerous monster is fully taken care of but then they get there and he. Can’t. Fucking do it. As much as he objectively knows it’s the Right Thing To Do. Cue more visible and hopefully more productive breakdown than the one he’s been continually having for most of the game, roll plot.

This still requires some way of detoxifying Genesis enough to live with but hey I’m not actually writing this thing.)

I keep doing these AUs and then folding out before they actually overthrow Shinra tho, because there are only so many ways to do that, and all the non-awful ones are super complicated. 😆 Maybe ending one with ‘and then SOLDIER Kunsel founded a shadow government’ would make a nice change.

[secret-engima]

Fic title thing - heart held close to the moon and Neptune

...

...............

Neptune ... Neptune was the Roman god of the sea right? ... Just looked it up and yes he was so-

>:D

FF7

Mer

AU

But rather than EVERYONE being mer or whatever, it’s ONLY the three Soldier Firsts of canon. Sephiroth, Genesis, and Angeal who have never met any other mer, because Shinra are immoral and terrible and use propaganda to promote the idea that Mer aren’t REALLY just like humans in intelligence and emotional range and soul, they just happen to look human-ish on the top half. And because Mer are seemingly extinct (read: in hiding), they have nobly “Resurrected” the lost line of the “most exotic creatures of the sea” in Sephiroth, Genesis, and Angeal and claim to be in the process of cloning female Mers to “reintroduce the species”.

Except mer are NOT animals.

Mer are the children of Gaia’s oceans, the pulse of her waves and tides, touched by her moon on high. Mer are MAGIC and they will not be contained.

They escape, by the skin of their teeth and with many bloody scars, helped by the last of descendant of the True Mer (Aerith) who can walk on two legs for a time because of her half-human blood. They flee, out into the wild waters, just the three of them as a pod, rapidly protective of their little Pod Queen Aerith, their little sister in their eyes for all it would doom mer to extinction again. So they swim, up river and through lake and through the sea, and sometimes Aerith stops to visit the human woman who cared for her as a child and to tend the garden on two legs while the other three lounge in the little pond and sing softly together, and it’s ... nice.

Then Aerith meets Zack. Zack who is a cheerful sellsword rather than a Shinra plaything, who still respect the Old Ways as best as an ignorant human can, and Aerith adores him and so despite what they want, Sephiroth, Genesis, and Angeal refrain from dragging him below the waves and eating him for trying to court their sister. But Zack is genuine and not cruel like the other humans they’ve met, he gets along with Elmyra and dotes on Aerith and Angeal ends up taking him under his fin after Zack nearly falls in and downs in the pond because surprise this idiot CAN’T SWIM, and really that is that. They have another human in the pod.

Zack tells them all sorts of stories, of the lands they’ve never seen. Jungles and deserts and icy mountains, and in those stories one name and description comes up a lot, the other, younger sellsword Cloud Strife. A fierce little mountain girl who still swears to the Old Spirits and avoids Fairy Circles and will not set foot on a boat until she’s made a sacrifice to the lost Children of the Sea. He describes his “little buddy” so often during his tales that really, it’s no wonder Sephiroth RECOGNIZES the woman while on a solo hunt, struggling in the water, bubbles escaping her mouth and nose, arms and legs bound from where she’s been THROWN OVERBOARD by pirates stealing the ship she had booked passage on.

Sephiroth screams and the storm screams back. The pirates stand no chance and Sephiroth pays them no more mind as he dives down for Cloud, ripping the ropes apart with his claws, swims her up to the surface and realizes that the storm he just summoned is a PROBLEM. The waves are too high for him to keep the human’s head above the water and she’s already NOT BREATHING and Sephiroth can’t just- UNSUMMON a storm, but this girl is Zack’s friend and Zack is pod which makes THIS ONE pod and Sephiroth-can’t-let-her-die-.

Sephiroth holds her close and sings-sings-sings, struggling against death, screaming to the moon to spare this human, to make her SURVIVE somehow, because Sephiroth has too few people in his life and he cannot afford to lose any of them, even one he has never met before.

And Sephiroth-

Sephiroth was Hojo’s finest creation. He was grown from the blood of the most Ancient mer. The Wild Kin even Aerith’s race of mer feared for their power, their savagery, their ability to wrap up the world in their voice and SHAPE it the way they wanted. Jenova is not an alien virus in this au, oh no, Jenova was The Sea Witch. The most feared and powerful and deadly o the Wild Kin, the last to fall in their war against the much more numerous humans and Cetra mer that had banded together against the Wild Kin and their Sea Witches. Jenova was the one who cursed the Cetra and decimated their numbers, she was the one to freeze the great northern sea mid-motion like a glacier around a great crater.

Jenova is, in a morbid, cloned sense, his mother.

Sephiroth sings.

The world obeys.

The body in his arms changes.

Cloud breathes in water and does not drown.

When Cloud groggily wakes up three days later, it’s to one very frantic Zack hovering over her face, the sky above her head, and the weird sensation of being submerged from the waist down. She remembers being knocked off the ship and sits up in confusion-

Looks down and doesn’t see legs.

The glittering tail of ink black and spiraling ice blue twitches spasmodically under her stare, responding to her desperate attempts to move legs that AREN’T THERE ANYMORE.

Cloud starts screaming and all the glass and quite a bit of nearby stone shatters.

While Zack and Aerith help deal with ... THAT whole mess, Sephiroth lurks guiltily in the nearby river, not daring to enter the pond while Genesis whimsically notes that aside from the ice blue swirls, her tail exact same shade of black as his, so does that mean she’s a full blooded Wild Kin now? Genesis and Angeal aren’t, because they have bright red and bright blue scales with black highlights respectively, sign of Wild Kin blood but not nearly as pure as Sephiroth’s jet black and trademark silver hair and slitted eyes. Angeal slaps Genesis over the head and says there are bigger things to worry about, because SINCE WHEN was any kind of magic strong enough to transform a human into an ACTUAL MER and what do they do now? Sephiroth already tried turning her back, but it didn’t work, because that kind of Song that remakes the world itself can only be used on a person on that large a scale ONCE, so now they’re stuck and how will they explain any of that to Zack’s formerly-human friend.

Sephiroth continues to lurk at the bottom of the river, feeling very guilty. He didn’t mean to do that. He meant to save her, not transform her, and the entire thing tastes too much of Hojo’s lab and his unwanted experiments and talk of using Sephiroth’s blood to create clones or hybrids.

Maybe once Zack and Aerith calm her down she won’t entirely hate him?

Who is he kidding, she’ll probably try to gut him with her bare claws.

(Anyway a sort of Modern-Fantasy AU where Mako is a thing but the SOLDIER program isn’t, Mer are a thing, and Fem!Cloud and Sephiroth end up doing an enemies to lovers slowburn but more in a you-transformed-me-against-my-will-so-I-HATE-YOU to friends to lovers way.)

(Also Hojo tries to do more evil shenanigans and Shinra hopes to conquer the world, but that all gets shut down by the Pod because fun fact you can’t run a wold spanning empire if all your ships keep mysteriously getting sunk. It’s not like you can helicopter EVERYTHING over the water, especially since all air traffic gets rapidly shut down by the mysterious super storms that blow in when they try. Reeve eventually gets accidentally kidnapped by the Pod and converted to their side so he starts looking into non-Lifestream power alternatives and Rufus is on board because honestly there’s nothing like a couple of mer arguing, IN YOUR LANGUAGE on whether they should eat you for your sins to make you rethink your life choices and by extension all your evil father’s life choices.)

(Also also Vincent and Felicia are both experiments by Hojo to see if he could create human-mer hybrids. Felicia is a sea serpent and Vincent sometimes forgets that Legs Are A Thing and so just sighs tiredly on Elmyra’s floor in all his red and black octopi glory. Veld is pulled on board the “lets kill Hojo and reform Shinra” boat after he nearly gets his throat torn out by his long lost daughter only for his long lost Turk partner to tackle her and talk her down from accidental patricide.)

(For reference, Sephiroth is a black beta fish with some silver edging on his fins, Genesis is a red with black stripes lionfish, and Angeal is a long-suffering blue and black lions fish. Aerith turns into a long-finned koi, and discovers quite by accident that if you kiss your human boyfriend enough times he gains the ability to breathe underwater and transform into a mer for a few hours before changing back into a human again.)

(And because I’m on a roll, Nanaki is still a cat-lion-thing, Cait Sith has underwater capabilities, Jesse, Wedge, and Biggs are all incredibly baffled humans who aren’t sure how this is their life now, Tifa would like to know when and how her best friend became a Mer (Cloud: It’s all catfish’s fault. Sephiroth: hey.) Barret is a monstrously overprotective dad and Marlene is the world’s cutest baby mer and Sephiroth would literally destroy the world for her if she asked him too. Genesis would help him. Angeal would just sigh and hold Marlene out of the danger zone.)

[leonawriter]

Those Under My Command

Read it on AO3

Fandom: Final Fantasy VII

Summary: Same AU as/semi-sequel to ‘To Write A Hero’. 

The plus side to being of a higher rank in Shinra's army than Sephiroth for the time being was that even when he couldn't avoid being in the now-teenager's company, at least Cloud was the one in charge.

Small mercies, when he realises that the cause of his nightmares really is just a kid on a battlefield.

Cloud had normally been in command of Genesis' forces, something that had sat uneasily upon him at first, but after the first weird meeting where he'd looked around for an ex-SOLDIER First in a tattered red coat and recently cut but still sort of wild-looking hair, he'd needed a minute to recognise that the scrawny redhead in Second's reds with an attitude problem was Genesis. It was easy to fall into habits, but just as easy to forget, and treat the kid more like Denzel or any of the other kids he'd started to get to know after Geostigma had been healed by Aerith's rain.

He'd only had one mission of sorts with Angeal under his command so far, and he'd reminded Cloud of Zack - enough that sometimes, only seeing the sword attached to his back, Cloud had almost called out Zack's name, before remembering that Zack wasn't there, and this kid was someone else. Other than that, Angeal was probably the easiest to deal with. Mostly because he was new, and Cloud didn't know a damn thing about him. The fact that he actually listened was helpful too, though.

He's sat on the edge of base camp, wondering yet again who the hell thought any of this was a good idea - the war, the SOLDIERs, finding this damned Promised Land that the President wouldn't admit didn't exist - at least, not the way he wanted it to - or the time travel business, all of it, really - when a trooper came up to him, nervously, with a piece of paper in their hands.

"New orders, sir," and he absently noted the female voice as he nodded. "You're to take SOLDIER First Class Sephiroth's squad down the river."

Cloud's eyes narrowed, and although for a moment he tenses, wanting to snap as he feels the tension in the entire world hung on a thin thread, he breathes it all out in a sigh.

He hates it. He hates himself, for going along with it. But if he didn't, then... that would be just as bad as letting it all happen, and at least by being involved, he can make sure that casualties stay at a minimum. Both for Shinra, where most of these people didn't have a damn clue what they were even fighting for, and for Wutai. 

He winces every time he remembers just who it is this war is against. 

Sorry, Yuffie, he thinks to her, almost wishing she could hear him and understand. But if there's any way I can help this come out better than before... that doesn't make it better, though. It doesn't make it right. You'd probably hate me, and I can't say I'd blame you.

...

There's a trap laid in wait not far from the other side of the river, because of course Wutai had known that they were coming, because some of their people had been left behind, and even if nothing else Cloud was known for not leaving anyone behind. It was the least he could do, but sometimes, it really did come back to bite him - and he was never the only one affected by his decisions, now. As if there'd ever been a time when he was.

He'd been able to manage everyone into surviving, at least. Mostly helped by the fact that with Sephiroth under his command - and wasn't that something that he'd never thought would come up - most of the people they went up against who tried to kill them, ended up dead.

It was hard to watch. Both because he knew that the people who were dying were just trying to protect their homeland, and because every time Sephiroth fought, Cloud could see glimpses of the nightmare that he would one day become.

The only consolations were that at fifteen years old, Sephiroth was, like Genesis, shorter, although it was was more long, gangling limbs that anyone else would barely know what to do with, slightly shorter hair, and the fact that not only was the trademark coat gone, but he was wearing the exact same First uniform that he'd remembered Zack wearing. 

The same one they'd tried to get him to wear, once they'd worn him down to the idea of working for Shinra, or thought they had. 

The other thing that separated past and future, was the fact that Masamune was nowhere in sight yet, and although up until now that had been a relief, because it was hard enough watching the boy who'd grow into someone he still had nightmares about-

He only just caught a trace of panic that wasn't his own echoing in his mind, filtering past all of the blocks and barriers he'd put up, a mental link that given his body was still the same one from the future he'd come from, still existed, or existed once more. The details didn't exactly matter when he noticed what the situation was at a glance, a ninja having gotten close enough, Sephiroth having misjudged his strike, and Cloud could see what would happen next almost like a vision.

Instead of letting the opening be taken advantage of however, he found himself having moved fast enough that there was still dust flying in the air between where he was and where he had been, his sword blocking the strike that would have found its way into Sephiroth's side.

The Wutai ninja took a little more to fall, unconscious more due to the mastered Sleep materia Cloud had taken to carrying with him than the blows to his body or head, and then Cloud had turned to Sephiroth.

Not the Nightmare. Not the Calamity. Not even a Remnant.

He was just... a kid.

"Next time you run into trouble, don't just deal with it on your own." Tifa, you'd probably smile at that. And then call me a hypocrite. He almost wished she were there right here and now, but she'd probably have found it harder to get over the fact that this was Sephiroth. Not that Cloud had found it easy himself. "Maybe when you're with other units you're a big deal, but when you're with me, you're under my command, and you're my responsibility."

The look Sephiroth gave him was cool, cold, and if he hadn't felt that swell of panic earlier, then it would have shown perfectly how disdainful the boy found being spoken to like this was.

"I didn't need to be saved," Sephiroth said, standing up without accepting the hand Cloud had held out. "And if I had been injured, then it hardly would have been a serious incident. I would have prevailed, and your concern is well-meaning, but misplaced."

Cloud sighed as the teenaged future silver general walked off, leaving him to wonder what to do with an unconscious Wutai ninja.

...

The next time he sees Sephiroth is actually later that day, because he'd done something he'd have assumed he'd gone crazy for if he'd told himself just a few days ago that he would - he'd actually called for Sephiroth to come to him.

"Sir."

And, of course, now that the silver-haired demon of Wutai was here, he didn't even know the words for what he wanted to say.

Cloud sighed, and shook his head.

"Do you... even know why I was worried back there?"

Sephiroth frowned.

"Honestly, no." Cloud closed his eyes. Perhaps this would be easier if he pretended it was any one of the other SOLDIERs that he'd had under him at any time. Any of them. "We've never truly met before this mission, and you seemed to be avoiding my presence for some reason, even though Genesis and Angeal both said that you were a decent military strategist and leader. I had assumed that you held some grudge against me."

Some grudge, he thought, if that isn't ironic, I don't know what is. Tifa would be right - I am a hypocrite. I can't just help someone half-heartedly, after all.

"I said back there," Cloud said slowly, picking his worlds carefully, "while you're under my command, you're my responsibility. I didn't just mean you, either. I meant everyone. All those troopers, all those Seconds and Thirds. I'm the leader, at least, I am here... so that means I look after everyone, and make sure we all get back to base. And if I see something going wrong, I step in. That's what the leader's supposed to do."

Sephiroth didn't say anything for a minute, the frown on his face not lessening one bit.

"We are of equal rank within the SOLDIER program, despite you, as far as I know, having only appeared some months ago. I'm going to be promoted soon, as well. At which point, you will no longer have any command over me."

Teenage Sephiroth-speak for 'I'm not a kid, don't treat me like one', huh? The thought almost made him laugh, and he shoved it down and out of the way to poke at later. He recognised it all too well from Denzel, and several of the other kids, too.

"If I hadn't stepped in, you'd have been stabbed in your side the moment your balance was off, because you'd misjudged your reach," he said bluntly. Sephiroth's eyes widened a fraction - just enough to know that the message had got through. "You're used to wielding weapons bigger than you are, aren't you?"

The question had come out softly, because this was, if he'd admit it, the first time he'd ever thought of this. All of the different parts of Sephiroth's childhood, and everything that had contributed to what made him who he was, and he hadn't thought of this one thing in particular before.

He hardly needed to see the slight, almost imperceptible nod, in order to know that it was there. The emotions burned through him in an instant of rage and shame born of frustration and who does this man think he is, seeing right through me like that? before the heady feelings died down.

"There was no reason to train me in smaller, weaker weapons when I would simply have to unlearn how they handled as soon as I moved on to the real thing."

Cloud nodded, seeing how that could have happened. And also in understanding, since moving from the Buster Sword to something smaller and shorter had always created issues; that was why he'd had the Fusion Sword made.

"You need something with longer reach, or you need to train yourself out of those habits," he said with a vague feeling of detached horror at the words. What was he even saying. As if he needed this younger Sephiroth becoming even more like the one he remembered. "And you need to stop underestimating people."

The slight change in expression told Cloud that what he was getting for that remark was nothing more than just sheer stubbornness.

"I do not."

He didn't even bother to stop himself from rolling his eyes. 

"You think you're the best they've ever made, and that makes you untouchable. It doesn't. No one's that powerful. All it takes is a moment when you're off your guard. That's all."

Sephiroth, with Jenova's head cradled under his arm, not even looking at the trooper or paying him any attention even though Cloud had picked up Zack's Buster Sword, adrenaline helping him carry it and then to stab the man he'd once thought of as a hero. Sephiroth, turning around in shock.

Sephiroth, so certain of victory that he couldn't even be bothered to go full out, only to end up dead once again, fading back into the lifestream.

Sephiroth, the kid-

"And that's when they strike."

Cloud shrugged, trying to dispel the uncomfortable memories. 

"That's... when you let someone else help. And not always in a fight, either."

"I'll try to keep that in mind, then."

Maybe this'll make a difference. Maybe it won't. But I can't just not do anything, even if he is... Sephiroth.

Who'd now decided that the discussion was over, and was walking back to the door of the tent. Stopped, and half turned around, his silver hair mostly hiding his face in an all too familiar way.

"Hojo - and the others - still want to know how you defeated me when we first... met."

"Hojo," Cloud said, not bothering to hide how much even the name of the man disgusted him, "can come out here and fight me himself, if he wants to know that badly."

And they can take him home in body bags when I've done, just to make sure he doesn't come back like the cockroach he is.

He almost missed Sephiroth's head nodding again, and an odd noise that might have been a laugh.

[pttucker]

Wings are a normal part of SOLDIER AU

Ooo! I’ve certainly thought of wingfic in general, and as mutations for certain SOLDIERs such as the canon three, but for all SOLDIERs...hmm...

Well, five headcanons I’d have for that AU are:

1) Obviously, the most well-known wingfic HC, which is that the wings are very sensitive if you find the right places. ;3 I’d like to say that it’s probably quite rude for someone to touch a SOLDIER’s wings once they get them since they can be...you know...and as a result it’s seen as something only lovers and close friends do.

2) A second HC that amuses me is that I think the SOLDIERs don’t automatically know how to fly once they get them. I feel like Angeal and Genesis and Sephiroth probably practiced “off camera” in the games and until they figured it out they fell on their face. A lot. Cue each SOLDIER going on a week-long vacation after they get their wings so that they don’t have to let anyone see them faceplant into the floor multiple times. (Except poor Zack, because Angeal insists on teaching him. Partially for Zack’s benefit. Partially because it’s funny to watch.)

3) Connected to the above, I guess I’m sort of picturing them getting them at different times? I’m having a terrible time remembering canon (cause my memory is always awful) but I’m pretty sure Genesis and Angeal didn’t get them at the same time. Certainly not at the same time as Sephiroth. So I’m picturing it as being very random and they’re honestly not certain when it will happen, but that maybe it’s precluded by a terrible itch on their back and shoulders, so they at least have some warning before they come bursting out the first time.

4) I feel like there would be a lot more response to the SOLDIERs due to the wings. Like, some people would see them as even more monster-like and just another example of ShinRa screwing things up that should have remained natural. While others are frothing at the mouth trying to get into SOLDIER so they can fly. I think it’d probably result in both more tension from others and also higher numbers of people under ShinRa’s thumb due to the record-high recruitment rates.

5) I also feel like ShinRa’s enemies would respond in kind once word got out. Like, instead of the beginning of CC where you have Wutai fighters up on a wall, enemies of ShinRa would instead start building bases underground, possibly with tight spaces so that the SOLDIERs can’t open their wings all the way. Which has the potential for some really creepy encounters, if you’d like to imagine one of them getting stuck down below with one of those giant monsters heading right for them or maybe the people deciding as a last ditch effort to just blow the tunnels, burying them alive. (I’d like to think that they could probably still get out of the latter, given time. At least the Firsts.)

6) On a lighter note, it’s become something of a joke amongst the SOLDIERs that the wing shape and color means something. And, because they’re a bunch of rowdy soldiers and their wings are notoriously sensitive in places, I’d like to say that it probably has to do with sex. XD Like, you have Mr. Bondage Beefcake with his one black wing and then Mr. Fiery Leather with his one black wing on the opposite side...I am so totally seeing a bunch of SOLDIERs snickering together in the cafeteria over whether left wing or right wing means you’re a top or a bottom. But, haha, the joke’s on them because then you have Mr. Probably Saving Himself For An Honorable Marriage with his two white wings who breaks out the gags and handcuffs and dominates the crap out of both of them. 

I’m guessing that only those three have strange wings due to how they were created differently, so Zack and Kunsel and all the rest have one on each side. Zack’s are white, because of course they are, he’s Mr. Honorable’s student. (Haha again, Angeal is screwing him too and it’s also very kinky.) Kunsel’s wings are gigantic. Because they’re full of secrets. What secrets, they don’t know. They’re too afraid to ask because for some reason even though his wings are black, some swear they have a reddish hue when seen in the right light...

07) Bonus random extra HC that doesn’t quite fit: This just sort of came to me, but what if the ShinRa bloodline also has the wings? Like, really beautiful golden wings that match their hair. Or maybe just Rufus has wings. idk why, but I really like the idea of old man ShinRa being like “wtf I want to be able to fly too” and passing that down to Rufus and Lazard or maybe Rufus deciding on his own that flying would be enough of a benefit to outweigh the potential costs. And considering Lazard lets Hollander turn him into a copy in canon, I can see him also being game.

I’m assuming in this that they find some way of isolating the specific gene that only causes the wing mutations and they don’t also get the other SOLDIER enhancements. And, of course, if we go the bloodline route, it would certainly be an interesting way of Cloud finding out who is father is. 

But if we go with this alternate route where the wing gene can be taken out from the rest of the SOLDIER stuff, then why wouldn’t the Turks also have wings? They can’t very well protect Mr. ShinRa if he’s up on the ceiling and they’re not. And then maybe there are those willing to buy the dose to get wings, or it gets given away as a means to get favors the company needs. (And thus this AU has turned into the beginning of a general wingfic AU...)

Send me an AU and I’ll give you 5+ headcanons for it.

[secret-engima]

Okay, now I'm imagining one of the 'verses that Zack-Noctis, Aerith-Luna, and Cloud-Prompto (+Ignis and Gladio) trip into, is an /FF7/ verse. When Cloud was just a cadet and Zack was /even more/ of a hyperactive puppy.

hgfdhgf TOTAL CHAOS.

Adorable Chaos.

Gonna just yet the ff7 timeline into the stratosphere because I Do What I Want for this. But basically this is a Happy Ending AU were Stuff Happened so that Gen never degraded/defected, Angeal never defected, Seph is mentally stable, and while Shinra is still a thing to be dealt with at least nobody is calling down meteors on anything else. Cloud is a little Cadet person who accidentally caught Genesis’s eye and so is not the Poet’s apprentice, and Zack is as hyper as ever.

...

-The five of them trip into the FF7 verse and we’ll make them teenagers and stuff for this, Noctis (15), Luna (19), and Prompto (15) all insta-recognize it and freak. Ignis (17) and Gladio (18) take their cue from the freaking and are very cautious. They don’t ask why the three know so much about this strange place or are so agitated but Ignis is Fussing and Gladio is ready to hit something. Luna softly says hey’ll just- have to avoid “everyone important” and the Astrals will undo this as soon as they can.

-Their luck being what it is, they are somewhere in the slums of Midgar and while killing monsters for gil to stay somewhere that isn’t an alley for the night (WHY DO THE MONSTER BODIES DISAPPEAR Ignis hisses the first time the monster he was inspecting for potential recipe material disappeared into thin air, leaving coins and junk behind), they hear someone else fighting monsters and having Trouble.

-Reacting on their Good Guy instincts, they race around the corner and find a Whopping Freaking Behemoth growling it’s way through a street way too small for it, chasing two someones that Noctis doesn’t really pay attention too in his haste to fling a fireball in the Behemoth’s face to slow it down. The beast slows and Cloud rockets by, his sword a flash of silver light as he hops up the dingy wall and somehow (Nif experimentation strength, adrenaline, and magic) beheads the thing in one massive strike (Gladiolus, watching from the entrance of the street where he’s guarding Ignis, Luna, and the people that Behemoth was chasing, quickly acknowledges his jealousy and lets it go, because Prompto is just Like That).

-Prompto lands on the dead body of the Behemoth and flicks the blood off his blade as he looks around (escaped experiment from the labs he’s betting, and the thought of it makes his blood feel very cold). Noctis nods grimly at him, coming to the same conclusion and reminder.

-Then, from the head of the alley, someone breathes, “That, was ... SO COOL.”

-Prompto, looking over Noctis’s head from his perch, goes dead white. Noctis knows what he’s going to see the moment he turns around but somehow can’t stop himself from looking anyway.

-Bright-faced and energetic, innocent in a way Noctis has never been able to fully pull off, is one SOLDIER Second Class Zack Fair, staring at the two of them with hero worship in his eyes as he dusts himself off and bounds past a startled Gladio to all but vibrate in front of Noctis and Prompto, “How’d you do that? You just- WHOOSH and SHING and it was DEAD. I didn’t think anyone but a SOLDIER First could do that!”

-While Noctis tries to wrap his head around himself (had he really been that hyper? No wonder Angeal called him Puppy), Prompto blinks past Zack (ghost ghost bloody-tired-ghost-rain-blood-steel-you-are-my-living-legacy-) he sees the second person standing there being fussed at by Ignis and almost loses his grip on his Fusion Sword.

-Cadet Cloud Strife is watching Ignis with a touch of hero worship in his own eyes as the older teen expertly applies a potion to the scratches and cuts, never letting on that he’s spotted the eerie similarities between Prompto, Noctis and these two strangers.

-Their attention is dragged back to Zack by his waving arms as he chatters a mile a minute, then rapidly snagged by the sound of approaching footsteps from the far end of the street, the direction the Behemoth had come from.

-Noctis already knows who is running around that corner. His nerve breaks and he BOLTS. Zack yips a protest as Noctis rushes by, Prompto on his heels, trying to escape before HE can come around the corner and see them. Gladio sees the look on his prince’s face and starts herding Iggy and Luna away-.

-Genesis rounds the bend in front of them the exact moment Angeal rounds the corner behind. Both of them having rushed to the scene to try to save their apprentices.

-Noctis can only hear static. It’s ... it’s different from seeing Angeal in his new body, his reborn self. This- this is a ghost of the man he adored and looked up to as a father, this is a perfect memory of the man he was forced to KILL. This is- this is ANGEAL. Noctis cannot deal.

-Ignis ends up doing all the talking on the group’s behalf while Zack makes things ... worse unintentionally by excitedly recounting the story of how Prompto one-shot the Behemoth.

-Genesis confirms it with Cloud.

-Both men, honorable in their own way, insist on paying for a Proper Hotel for the group as thanks, which means taking them above plate. Ignis makes up a story of how they are Hunters (which ... they are technically, just not in this world) and were just visiting the city when they heard the sounds of fighting.

-They get dropped off at the hotel and Noctis and Prompto spend a good hour sobbing in the bathroom over their respective ghosts while Luna hesitantly tries to explain why to Ignis and Gladio without ... SAYING why. After that, the group put their heads together to make a plan, because Noctis and Prompto are SURE that SHINRA will come sniffing around soon.

-By morning, Noctis and Prompto have composed themselves and gotten ... sorta enough sleep.

-Prompto is not surprised how, the moment the clock turns to “reasonable hour of the morning” there is a knock on the door. He is less surprised when he opens it to find a Turk on the other side.

-He promptly shuts the door again.

-He makes a rude gesture at Ignis’s back when the older teen sighs at his bad manners and opens the door to let the devil man in with a murmured apology and vague excuse that Prompto doesn’t handle mornings well. The Turk is Tseng, because of course it is, and he’s come to formally thank them for their assistance the other day in saving the lives of two of their employees (Read: here to investigate how a group of unknown teens showed up out of literal nowhere, how one of them used a fireball spell without seeming to have any materia on his person and how the twig-blond one-shot a Behemoth like a SOLDIER First).

-Ignis and Luna handle all the talking because Noctis is oddly quiet (afraid of being too like Zack), Prompto has gone straight non-verbal, and Gladiolus is a bit busy trying to keep his two friends on a sane keel.

-Tseng notices all of the interplay, but isn’t sure what to make of it. He notices the way the black haired one seems agitated in his presence and how the blond has flickering mako shine in his eyes as he folds in on himself and shuts down at the sight of Tseng’s suit. He notices he way Ignis and Gladio are neutral to him like true strangers would, but the gentle girl named Luna watches him with an old, eerie sort of knowing fondness.

-They are not what they seem, he thinks to himself.

-But what are they?

-Anyway long ficlet made slightly shorter, Tseng talks them into coming to the tower to receive a thank you gift from SHINRA and maybe give a demonstration to some of the cadets while they were at it, as a ... show and tell from an outsider perspective. They don’t have any choice but to agree, and Noctis shakes off his uneasiness to be a more muted version of energetic to help Prompto cope.

-The SOLDIER Firsts and their apprentices are there too, because of course they are, and Noctis slides into his element showing off for the cadets with Gladio’s help while Prompto spaces out at the nearest wall. Angeal comes over to talk to Noctis and thank him and stuff and Zack is already trying to acquire another blond buddy (Prompto slides back into non-verbal blank looks and is ... dimly surprised by Cloud coming to his defense with an innocent, “Take it easy, Zack, he’s shy.” before smiling. Prompto doesn’t remember smiling as Cloud. Not like that. Easy and friendly and innocent.)

-SOMEHOW. Genesis ends up picking a fight with Noctis. Because Genesis. Prompto, eager to burn off some tension, intercedes on Noctis’s behalf and ends up flattening Genesis in three moves.

-...Oops.

-Genesis gets up with a manic look in his eye and Sephiroth is staring like a cat that just spotted a bird. Angeal’s eyebrows are up to his hairline and Zack is “ooo”ing in awe.

-Genesis tries again, Prompto flattens him in five moves this time.

-Ignis steps in before a real fight can happen and politely excuses the group because they have places to be.

-Prompto has never been more grateful for Gentiana’s timing than the moment they step out of Shinra’s office and slide into the crowd. In between one heartbeat and the next, one shifting of the large, busy crowd and another, she arrives and whisks them home.

-The Turks have no idea how they lost the group of teens, but they never find them again.

[asreoninfusion]

Vampire AU headcanons

Relating to the Clack vampire AU I was actually writing, because I’m not really sure how I’m ever going to fit all the backstory into the fic. I don’t even know where I’m going with the fic at all. orz But the world-building actually got pretty extensive, it’s a shame to waste it.

Vampire origin

Blame everything on Jenova. Zack likened the way vampires feed to life energy gatherting to heal a would on the Planet - not coincidentally, the way that Jenova feeds in this ‘verse. Crash something into a planet, drain it’s energy, sail the empy corpse off to crash into the next victim.

She passes on a similar feeding technique to those who inherit her cells, just on a smaller scale (individual people instead whole fuckin’ planets).

The combination of contamination by Jenova’s cells + mako exposure can turn an ordinary human into a vampire.

Vampire types

Wild vampires - accidental contamination from mako/Jenova cells. Nibelheim is usually the source of these, because Jenova is kept in the reactor there and shit happens. Most likely to be indirect contamination (e.g. eating an animal that was itself exposed to Jenova cells. No matter how hard the winter, everyone knows you don’t eat the wolves with glowing eyes. (Coincidentlly, a wild vampire may actually be able to somewhat communicate with and control such wolves, to a degree)). Probably going to also be feral.

Feral vampires - where the amount of mako exposure involved has prompted Jenova mutations to the degree the vampire is more monster than human. Has usually lost most rational thought. (The worst cases would end up like the creatures in the pods in the Nibelheim reactor - maybe that’s exactly what they are in this ‘verse. The first failures.)

Humanoid vampires - what Zack is. Created by ShinRa, in a case where they got the balance ‘right’ between the enhancements being a vampires grants, but without causing excessive mutations or destroying the person’s psyche.

SOLDIER

ShinRa’s usual attempt at creating super soldiers using Jenova cells and mako. They started at very, very low doses, gradually building up over a long period of time. (I.e. with Sephiroth, Genesis & Angeal.) As this was done with such low doses over a longer period, the vampire mutation wasn’t evident at first. It appeared to just cause enhancements of strength, speed, sense, etc. - the SOLDIER project was approved before the trio reached the threshold amount of mako/Jenova to mutate.

The SOLDIER project was a huge recruitment drive. Thinking they’d got it down, ShinRa gave the new SOLDIERs higher doses more quickly. Bad idea. Even then it took several years, but they new SOLDIERs began to mutate too, and mutate worse. The first recruits got off lightly - ShinRa hadn’t toyed too much with the dosages at the point, so most of them ended up humanoid vampires like Seph, Gen & Ang. With each subsequent batch of recruits, ShinRa got cocky and toyed around with thei mix, increasing them and trying to improve it with a higher Jenova cell ratio etc. The newer recruits ended up mutating into entirely feral types.

Desertation

Needless to say, this was not fucking okay. And ShinRa did fuck all to fix the problem. They took the ferals away as they degraded, but only to fucking execute them. When this came to light, Genesis took Angeal and the vast majority of the SOLDIERs and deserted. With most of the SOLDIERs being or becoming feral, this ended up being a huge mess and sort of accidentally released a bunch of feral vampires into the world at large.

With ShinRa desperately flailing to not let the scandal go public, an agreement was eventually made. Genesis demanded he be given the resources to support all the ex-SOLDIERs who where still humanoid vampires, and for all of them to be left the fuck alone by ShinRa so they could live the rest of their lives. 

Vampire community

Thanks to that, there is a small but close-knit community of humanoid vampires. They’re sworn to silence, partially by ShinRa who did end up paying a huge amount of compensation, and partially by just not wanting to risk the public starting up a witch-hunt. Because the feral vampires are still out there, and sentiments towards vampires are thus very mixed.

Some of the humanoid vampires will put down the feral ones when required, if they’re entirely beyond reason and killing people - it’s considered merciful, because the men they once considered comrades wouldn’t want to ever end up as brutal, mindless murderers like that. But mostly it’s Sephiroth who gets sent out by ShinRa to do that kind of dirty work.

Sephiroth & Zack

Sephiroth stayed at ShinRa during the desertation because he had never know anything but ShinRa all his life - he was more hesitant than the others to face such a huge unknown. He was certainly considering deserting, but things got settled before he could. He reluctantly accepted the grizzly necessity of putting down those feral vampires who were too far gone. At least if he did it, he could make it quick and painless, and would treat the body with respect.

Zack stayed more out of support to Sephiroth than anything.

SOLDIER no longer exists, having fallen apart completely with the desertation. Sephiroth and Zack and a small handful of other humanoid vampire ex-SOLDIERs are now treated only as high ranking officers, but basically do the same job as ever.

Cloud’s job

Cloud joined the army with the hopes of joining SOLDIER. Unfortunately - or very fortunately, as it happened - SOLDIER collapsed before Cloud could pass the entrance exams. 

(ShinRa’s response was radio silence at first, and rumours abounded as to what had happened. Evenutally, the official line was given that SOLDIER had been disbanded due to a mass desertation - though of course no reason was given as to why such a thing had occurred - and Zack confirmed that that had been the case.)

Cloud didn’t want to stay in the army, gradually drifting towards the logistics and technical divisions before finally netting an internship with the engineering department when he showed a prowess for working with mechanical things. He works there permanently now.

Zack & Cloud

They met when Cloud was working as part of the army’s engineering corps. Zack was being sent out on a mission to Modeoheim (to deal with the deserted SOLDIERs, as it happened), but Cloud told him he had to fucking wait because the chopper they were meant to be taking had something off about it. The mission was delayed by three hours, while Cloud eventually pinned down a problem with the fuel line and fixed it. 

If he hadn’t, the chopper would have crashed for sure. But Cloud still got in shit for it - because of the delay, the targets Zack had been going after had already left. Zack stood up for Cloud for saving his fucking life, and they became friends after that.

(He also might have completely inadvertently saved Angeal’s life in the process too.)