#thinking about sephiroth hours

[venivenias]

lip lip mouth nose lip smile mouth lipsssss eyes mouth EYELASHES NOSE cheeks LIPS MOUTH GODDDD lip mole. mole EYES HAIR OH FUCK OH GOD NOSE MOUTH EYELASHES AHHHHGGGG

[epicwin64]

Here’s (roughly) what I think the storyline of FF7 Rebirth will be like

Kalm/Nibelheim flashback scene

*After the flashback Cloud will be taunted by Sephiroth. When he wakes up, realizing it was a nightmare, he doesn’t have a shirt on. I just threw this in here because of Cloud’s *ahem* female audience ;)

Midgarsormr/Catching a Chocobo

Mythril Mines/Elena boss fight

Yuffie joins

Junon/Cloud saves Priscilla’s life

Junon parade

Ship to Costa del Sol

First Jenova boss fight

Costa del Sol

Corel Foothills

First visit to Gold Saucer

Cait Sith joins

Corel Prison

Barret vs Dyne boss fight

Chocobo race

Gongaga

Red XIII leaves (but not really)

*From this point onward everyone refers to him as Nanaki

Bugenhagen/Lifestream projection

Gi Nattak boss fight

First encounter with Sephiroth clones

*Intermission 1*: Zack searches for Aerith

DISC 2

Nibelheim Manor

Vincent joins

Vincent flashback

*There should be a scene where he sees Hojo again. Just imagining him scream “HOJOOOOOOOOOO!” angrily paints a faint picture in my head.

*You know how Vincent’s right arm looks like it’s prosthetic? I think they should explain how he got that. My theory is that it was a “freak accident” on Hojo’s part.

Mt. Nibel

Rocket Town

Cid joins

*The party will call out Cid for the way he talks to Shera, because domestic abuse is not cool

Tiny Bronco

Search for Zack

Cloud and Zack reunite

Sephiroth attacks Midgar (again)

Cloud and Zack vs. Jenova

Second visit to Gold Saucer

Cloud dates….not Cait Sith (derogatory)

Cait Sith’s secret gets revealed

Flashback scene showing Sephiroth attacking Tseng

Temple of the Ancients

Cait Sith’s “sacrifice”

Sephiroth attempts to kill everyone (and fails)

Cloud gives “Sephiroth” the black materia

*Sephiroth also tricks Cloud into attacking Aerith, foreshadowing that he’s possessing him into giving Sephiroth what he wants

Aerith leaves and goes after Sephiroth herself

The party heads to Gongaga

Cloud wakes up

Forgotten City

Aerith’s death

*Everyone is affected by her death emotionally, even Vincent, who is usually portrayed as being stoic

Third Jenova boss fight (Cloud solo)

The party continues their journey in spite of Aerith being dead

Reeve calls Elmyra about Aerith’s death

*Intermission 2*: Zack heads home to Gongaga

*When Zack finally does get home, he begins suffering symptoms of mako poisoning

The party heads north to Icicle Inn

Credits

Epilogue (Shows Aerith waking up in the Lifestream, when she wakes up she says “Zack?”)

[dissidiacloudstrife]

tossing around ideas and practicing

(the "delusioned no longer" is typically how i write him)

[emmyc0z]

Sephiroth X Stressed!Reader

pairing : sephiroth x stressed!reader

cw : none!

a/n : i have ZERO motivation but i’ve gotten a few requests for more sephiroth fics. please accept this as a peace offering until i write something real!

divider by @cursed-carmine

you’ve been short with him. frustrated by tight deadlines and a constant lack of satisfaction in your work. and you’ve been taking it out on him.

probably not the best choice on your part considering, while appearing placid, calm and imperturbable to the untrained eye, he does not possess an easygoing personality.

despite this fact about him, he humours you and allows you to snap at him again and again.

“sephiroth, stop lurking behind me. god, i can’t work with you breathing down my neck!”

“can’t you read somewhere else? the flipping of your pages is driving me insane, i can’t focus like this!”

“no! for the fourth time, sephiroth, i am not hungry! stop asking me! leave me alone so i can get this done.”

and of course, he’s feeding off your energy. frustration growing the longer you brush him off. jaw tensing, teeth clenching tight to keep his tongue from slipping and saying something that will only make things worse.

he can’t help that, as much as it curdles his stomach to think, he cares about you. more than any living thing on this planet.

and to see you hunched over your little computer screen, eye getting so heavy that they droop, hair messy and unkempt, fingers tapping anxiously against the surface of the wooden living room coffee table when they aren’t viciously typing away against the laptops plastic keys, its pains him.

you won’t eat. so he can’t bring himself to enjoy a meal. forcing himself to cook for two every night, even though he knows you won’t eat, and inevitably packing both portions into plastic containers after sitting at the table for over an hour, picking at his food.

you won’t go to sleep. so he tosses and turns in your shared bed at night, a bed that once felt too small to fit the two of you without squishing together now feeling like a lonely, open valley of space, knowing that if he comes out to get you it’ll only start an argument. which is the last thing you need, he knows.

you won’t put down the computer. so he tries to invade you’re space in the living room, just to be close to you, he doesn’t even want to talk. but the slightest shift in his breathing makes you angry. which is why he doesn’t stay for long.

and then, one night when he returns from work, you finally let him in again.

he enters the living room to find you're computer in pieces beside the table, while you gasp for breath behind your hands, body racked with sobs.

sephiroth would drop everything, rushing to your side, on his knees beside your defeated body. gentle hands on your arms pulling your palms away from your face.

he has fought thousands of creatures, ugly and terrifying, and still nothing has made him feel the fear that he feels upon seeing you’re teary face. the disappointment in himself that he did not, could not, prevent this.

a pit forms in his stomach and a compulsion to care, a need to show he’s there, that he has been there the entire time, fills every fiber of his being.

his warm hands would cup your face, the rough pads of his thumbs wiping the wet streams of tears off your cheeks. softly saying you’re name.

he is unsure if he’s any good at comforting. he’s never had to do it before. he’s not used to this. but he’s trying and for that you appreciate him more than he knows.

“what’s wrong, my love? hm? i was only gone for a few hours, what happened?”

“this stupid deadline! my boss thinks i’m some sort of robot or something.. i- i couldn’t handle it. i just got so frustrated and.. and i threw the computer. which i see now.. only makes things worse. god, i’m so stupid” you can only bury your face back in your hands, more sobs leaving your tired body.

“don’t say that. you’re not stupid, don’t talk about yourself that way” he gently pries your hands from your face.

he’s not a big talker. he’s not good with his emotions. so he makes you feel better in his own, quieter way.

he’d clean up the computer. even though you insist he doesn’t, he still would. and he’d even offer to buy a new computer for you, what else would he do with he soldier salary.

he would sit on the couch with you, holding you in his strong arms until you’ve finally settled. offering quiet words of reassurance, reminders that’s he still there even if he’s not very talkative.

when you try to rectify the way you had spoken to him earlier in the week, explain your shortness, your irritability, he would shake his head and tell you he’s already forgotten. he knows “his girl was just stressed.”

and he won’t leave your side again. he’s known distance between you for less than a week and he never wants it again. so he stays planted by your side the next time you decide to work, planting gentle kisses to your hand which he keeps firmly held in his despite your protests about how you need both to type.

he’s not the touchiest, certainly not the feeliest, but he tries for you.

[rottenpumpkin13]

I find it so hilarious that due to the shenanigans that happens in the tower, since mayor Domino has a security cameras everywhere, I can't imagine the things he sees and they're all funny as hell.

Out Of Context Things Mayor Domino Has Witnessed Through Security Cameras:

• Sephiroth, poised and disciplined, strolling through the SOLDIER floor calmly. Until he abruptly pivots into a broom closet, where the security feed catches a single, deafening "FUCK!" He then emerges, perfectly composed, like nothing happened.

• Reeve Tuesti, at 3 AM, roaming the halls in a full-body cat onesie, shaking two pill bottles like maracas.

• Zack sprinting full-speed down the hallway, screaming bloody murder. Moments later, Angeal appears in hot pursuit, wielding a buzzing electric toothbrush like a weapon, dental floss clutched in his other hand like he's about to lasso a runaway horse.

• Reno, walking at his usual lazy pace, cigarette in mouth, completely unbothered—until he spots a Sephiroth cardboard cutout in the hallway. He immediately looks left, looks right, then leans in and kisses it way too passionately before walking off like nothing happened.

• Genesis dramatically recounting gossip on the phone, gesturing wildly. Mayor Domino didn't catch the full story, but the part he did hear went "And then she slathered the honey on her breasts, which INFURIATED him, which is why he quit veganism. But that's unrelated to why he beat up his cousin with a block of salami."

• Rude, entering an elevator alone. No words, no hesitation. He reaches into his blazer pocket, pulls out a perfectly styled wig, and wears it for the entire elevator ride, staring straight ahead. The second the doors open, he removes it and pockets it again.

• Hours upon hours of footage of Lazard flipping off President Shinra every time he thinks no one's watching. Mayor Domino has seen so much of this footage that he printed out screenshots and made a mosaic collage of Lazard's middle fingers. It's framed in his office.

• Tseng caught on camera standing completely still in the break room, drinking coffee, when Reno enters and opens the fridge. Without breaking eye contact, Tseng casually says "That pudding is mine." Reno, unfazed, takes the pudding out. Tseng calmly draws a gun.

• Zack jumping from the ceiling vents, dusting himself off. Then he looks back up, spreads his arms wide, and coos "Come on, buddy, I got you! It's okay!" Mayor Domino expected a human. Maybe Cloud Strife. Instead, a giant rat leaped from the vents, lovingly into Zack's arms.

• Genesis, striding down the hallway, suddenly stopping. His gaze lands on a fire alarm. He stares at it. Long. Hard. The security feed shows him sighing deeply, pulling a religious book from his coat, and reading a verse about temptation aloud. Then, with a satisfied nod, he smooths his coat, flips his hair, and walks away. Exactly one minute later, he comes sprinting back, yanks the fire alarm, and flees the scene.

• Angeal, in the break room, just trying to enjoy some peace and quiet. The door swings open. Cait Sith waddles in cheerfully. "A good day tae be alive ain't it, lad? Ye know, in th' grand scheme o' things, assassinating President Shinra would be a real power move!" Angeal bursts into laughter—unhinged, exhausted laughter—like a man finally breaking under the weight of his reality. Still chuckling, he reaches into his pocket, pulls out a bottle of sleep meds, pops two like they're breath mints, and leans back against the chair.

• Angeal, Sephiroth, and Genesis standing before the training room doors. This was after Lazard banned them after their last "incident." The security feed shows them hijacking the access panel, bypassing the lock, and triumphantly striding inside. Exactly ten seconds later, the doors reopen. All three exit with their hands in the air. Escorting them out is Lazard, shotgun in hand.

• Zack and Cloud enter an elevator together, alone. The doors close. The security feed catches Zack saying: "Now that we're alone… you know what we can do, right?" Domino thinks he might need to avert his eyes. But then, without hesitation, Zack clambers into Cloud's arms like a toddler.

• Sephiroth and Hojo, approaching each other from opposite hallways. They're destined to meet at the corner. Until they don't. The footage clearly shows Sephiroth stopping mid-stride, eyes narrowing. He has sensed something. A disturbance. Evil. The next second, he yeets himself out a nearby window.

[yandere-romanticaa]

ANNAAAA what do you think about chalcaro and yapper darling⁉️⁉️⁉️ i feel like he'd look annoyed everytime darling yaps about something stupid but secretly enjoy it and try to understand what darling is saying‼️‼️

(totally not because im a yapper and in love with sephiroth look a like)

As a professional yapper myself, I resonate hard with this.

At the beginning, I like to imagine that this type of white noise would be mind boggling to him, so much so that he might end up accidentally snapping at you to just shut up already.

The camp his men make are usually quiet like the dead, but your constant chatter adds a certain level of brightness that Calcharo isn't quite sure how to process.

He always ends up staring at your lips on accident when he watches you talk, even if he does want to rip them off sometimes.

Heaven forbid you actually shut up though.

That's when he really starts to act strange.

Gone are the days when he would grab your face, squish your cheeks and threaten to cut your tongue off. He has been successfully pavloved to endure hours upon hours of chatter and he hates you for that.

If he's extra desperate, he might even bribe you to speak up again. His bribes are out of this world good too...

[silverflqmes]

I was curious about a HC for Sephiroth with a quiet S/O that loves to sing when they’re alone?

໒⦂ 𝐌𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐈𝐅𝐋𝐔𝐎𝐔𝐒.

notes. hello anon! i’m not sure if you just wanted one hc so i added a good amount to suffice enough for a post, hope you enjoy and that they are to your likings<3

genre. fluff + comfort

sephiroth x gn!reader.

⌗ sephiroth has known you to be a rather soft spoken individually, often reserved amongst others — though he didn’t particularly mind it. he had similar habits, anyway — if anything it made him feel less alone..

⌗ with him, however, you were thankfully a bit more talkative — as was he, with you. it just felt more comfortable for you both to fully express yourselves, especially your lover.

⌗ but something told your beloved that you were keeping some quirks secret.. certain little things — habits of yours.

⌗ particularly the melodic voice that greeted his ears one chilly evening when he’d arrived home from a dragged out meeting.

⌗ you had been so engrossed in whatever you were busy with, that you hadn’t even heard your boyfriend come in. normally you greeted him at the door if you were home- a cute little routine of yours and sephiroth’s — which made it all the more strange that you hadn’t done so.

⌗ given the late hours, part of him would have assumed you to have fallen asleep as a reason for not expressing your usual ‘welcome home, sephiroth!’ but would you have left the record player on..?

⌗ sephiroth tried not to question it and just assumed you wanted noise with whatever you had been occupying yourself.

⌗ only.. the record player was not in use. interesting.

⌗ with his enhanced hearing, the silver haired first decided to give into his curiosity, leaning against the cool wall as he listened in on that mellifluous tune.. and that was where he reached his conclusion.

⌗ the person singing was you!

⌗ for a moment sephiroth flushed and recoiled, thinking that perhaps he had intruded on your privacy somehow — which brought a slight feeling of guilt.

⌗ he hadn’t heard you sing before. maybe a soft humming while you were busy with your paperwork.. but not full on singing. were you not comfortable doing so in front of him? a mild case of stage fright, perhaps..

⌗ even still, he couldn’t help but feel lulled by your voice — at ease.

⌗ so much, that shinra’s famed hero hadn’t even noticed his body sliding down the solid surface, feline-like eyes fluttering shut.. until his rear made contact with the hardwood floor.

⌗ naturally, sephiroth.. given his height and muscle mass — would make a bit of a thud. guys look at that cushy tushy, come on which might have been ignored by him, since his focus was on your voice, but the sound had very much found your ears.

⌗ the song you’d chosen to sing came to an abrupt pause, concern overcoming you as you beelined out of your shared bedroom with a loud gasp.

⌗ “s-sephiroth..?!”

⌗ but your beloved was.. pretty much fast asleep, a serene smile on his lips with strands of silver framing his relaxed countenance.

⌗ now how could you possibly wake him up? he was likely exhausted from his work, the war in wutai — everything that came to mind regarding shinra.

⌗ a sigh left your lips as you tucked a lock of hair behind his ear before crouching to wrap his arm around your neck. no way would you allow him to sleep through the night like that. especially with his restless sleep schedule.

⌗ and so, you poured every ounce of your strength into your legs, lifting the two of you up with a slight wheeze. sephiroth wasn’t light by any means, but you wanted him to sleep comfortably — which in turn, kept you going with your ambitious, and quite possibly foolish, endeavors..

⌗ a few steps was all it took before you were easing him onto his side of the bed, prying off his boots and pauldrons so that he could relax better. there wasn’t any danger in your shared flat, so he could do without them for the rest of the evening. you’d protect him, anyway.

⌗ crawling into the space beside him, you then curled into his side, fluttering your eyes shut as you allowed sleep to envelope you, just as it had your lover.

⌗ when dawn broke and bled through the curtains, sephiroth stirred a little before opening his eyes slowly, allowing them to adjust to his surroundings — specifically you, cuddling into his chest.

⌗ had he fallen asleep so suddenly that you had to carry him into bed all on your own?

⌗ you murmured something incoherent, likely from a dream, as he smiled tenderly, pushing aside the thought to slide a gloved hand into your hair, petting you gently.

⌗ perhaps he wouldn’t move just yet to prepare breakfast.. and instead, enjoy your warmth for a little while longer.

⌗ however, he would have comments upon your wake, wanting to know why you’d hidden such a lovely voice from him all this time.

⌗ but, for now, it would just be him, his fluffy bedding, the morning rays, and yourself.

⌗ gingerly, the first class SOLDIER leaned in to press a tiny kiss to your temple, whispering a soft, “sleep well, my love.”

notes. i may have indulged a little here, but it’s sephiroth aiakwhdjsjs sleeping with him sounds so nice rn😵‍💫 ahem- hope it was good tho, anon!

↳ return to main masterlist . request rules . send an ask

[noctunis]

I’m the sephiroth hc anon, yea I was referring to the sfw and nsfw, sorry for not specifying :0

sephiroth (n)sfw hc’s 𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪

sephiroth (ffvii) x reader

┊ ˚➶ notes ｡˚ 🎼

guys the motivation is coming back to me TRUST ME i’m slowly but surely working on it.. 🙏🙏

┊ ˚➶ warnings ｡˚ 🎼

post nibelheim sephiroth being jealous, possessive, a little toxic and manipulative, mentions of sephiroths touch repulsion and touch starvation, nsfw will have a warning before it, intended lowercase, lmk if i missed anything!! 💕

. ˚◞♡ ⃗ *ೃ༄ . ˚◞♡ ⃗ *ೃ༄ . ˚◞♡ ⃗ *ೃ༄ . ˚◞♡ ⃗ *ೃ༄

❥ soooo!!!1!1!1

❥ let me start off with pre-nibelheim headcanons because i miss a more domestic and ‘normal’ sephiroth rather than.. crazy seph lol

❥ so now let’s get into the actual thing!!

❥ i do not think that sephiroth is familiar with love whether it’s pre or post nibelheim, and if you read up on my angsty / comfort sephiroth fics you’ll see how i love the portrayal of where he’s so beloved by his fanclub and the public due to being a, “war hero” despite not feeling any close love like how you’d love him. the closest he’d get to developing emotional attachments would be his relationship with genesis and angeal (and maybe zack).

❥ it’ll take a while for sephiroth to fully trust and put his faith in you, but he’s actually very mature about romance. he doesn’t get very jealous and he’s very confident in your relationship and bond, if you read up on my jealousy hc’s i explain more there!!

❥ and when he really trusts you.. he’ll even let you perform his hair care routine on him when he’s too tired to do it himself. as you’ve seen, his hair is absolutely gorgeous and while he spends like an hour in the shower on just his hair— he spends more time when he’s out the shower as well with all the after product 😭.

❥ he enjoys having you brush his hair in the mornings and if you have long hair, he’ll return the favor. nothing’s better than sephiroth’s gentle hand cradling your head as he softly brushed through your strands, trying his hardest not to snag too hard on any tangles. if you’re comfortable with it, he’ll even hop in the shower with you and wash your hair for you. he’s not ashamed of nudity, he finds it a very normal and humanizing experience— knowing you can still be so vulnerable and not have it be sexual. he loves when you wash his hair for him too tho, it’s just super long so it’ll take a while lol.

❥ i cant see him as a morning person. i saw a post that he said, “sephiroths not a morning person, he’s a ‘im up because I have to be but if anyone talks to me, there will be murder’ person.” and i totally agree with that. you’ll wake him up, mentioning how he reminded you to wake up him bright and early tomorrow yet there you’d be, shaking his shoulder gently and he mutters a plea of five minutes more before pulling you closer.

❥ i definitely think that you guys would have to keep your love life private considering his job unless you’re like.. around angeal or maybe genesis. possibly zack, but you guys would have to make him promise that he wouldn’t tell anyone because he’d literally be so shocked. otherwise he’d go run to kunsel and brag about his knowledge or be so jaw dropped that he runs to angeal and is even more shocked when he already knows??? like, was he the only one who didn’t know about this whole thing??

❥ it’ll take a while for sephiroth to get comfortable with physical touch. although he secretly yearns for it, he’s also touch repulsed sometimes. it’s not that he’s appalled by you or your touch, it’s just that he’s gone so long without it that it’s foreign to him. once he gets used to it, he’ll eventually search for it and come looking for you in need of just some head massages or even just to rest his chin on your shoulder and view whatever you’re doing. he kinda does what cats do when they nuzzle the sides of their heads into your chest and like rub their noses into you.

❥ i’d like to think sephiroth’s very meticulous, so if you ever invite him in doing an activity such as baking or art or something, he WILL have to do it right or else he’ll get frustrated.

❥ as aforementioned, seph isn’t well versed in healthy love or adoration so if you even do a small task for him such as doing a chore he planned to do or cooking him pasta when he comes home— it will make him feel all gooey inside even if he won’t show it. he’s always calm and collected but, “even the coolest of people try their damndest to be alright,” as i mentioned in one of my headcanons for cloud lolol. he’s appreciative of even the small gestures, always making sure to thank you for your efforts as he knows they’re filled with love.

❥ for post nibelheim, though.. he’s lowkey manipulative. if you knew him before he found out about the jenova project, i’m assuming you’re only with him in hopes that he has some humanity within him that you can restore— well, that or you just like crazy men lol. he will definitely use that against you as a way of making you stay, always promising he’ll change after completing his plans with you by his side.

❥ if you met him post nibelheim though, he’ll be utterly fascinated with you as you’re basically his new toy. and he’ll follow you, regardless of when you met him. he’ll never let you leave his side after he’s gone crazy as he’s constantly reassuring you that his mothers legacy will be fulfilled, and that he can only do that when you’re beside him with support. it almost feels like it’s a shell of sephiroth. he never does any of the things he used to do before he was aware of who he really was, he’ll barely even let you touch him. he’s constantly on guard whenever you two are out, always keeping a hand around your waist or shoulder so that you don’t run off.

｡ﾟ•┈୨♡୧┈ ｡ﾟ

NSFW BELOW ꨄ︎

❥ id like to think of pre-nibelheim sephiroth as a soft dom. always being gentle, even when you’re sucking him off so nicely that he can’t help but grip your hair— he always makes sure not to pull it too hard and instead bites on his hand until there’s marks. he’ll always cater to you too, treating you like a pillow prince(ss) and is literally at your beck and call. he will not tolerate brattiness though and will definitely punish you if needed!! he’s just so kind, it’s only fair that he reciprocates the same words you give him :(((

❥ i don’t think sephiroths that experienced, but i don’t think he’s a virgin either. he doesn’t have the time to pursue intimate relationships, but he’s definitely experimented with one or two of his fangirls or something. he sort of regrets it now, considering it wasn’t all that intimate.

❥ like i said, it’ll take a while for sephiroth to even get used to physical contact let alone initiate it, but once you guys do finally have sex, he is literally the sweetest. he’s probably a little rusty lol but he’s a very quick learner!! guide him and teach him how to make you feel good, it makes his chest swell with pride once he gets you making those cute little sounds :(((

❥ let me tell you this man is huge though. he’s around nine to ten inches in length and he’s a big girthier than average. he has like two prominent veins, one on the underside of his shaft and one on the left side. when he cums, it’s a pretty pearly translucent color and right before he blows it beads at the tip as he tries to hold it in.

❥ sephiroth would like to think that there’s a possibility that you two could have kids, although his duties and reputation (and future events..) kind of prevent that. so i think there’s a breeding kink in there somewhere, but if you’re not okay with it then he’s totally fine!! it might sting a little if you don’t want kids, but in the end its your body, your choice— and he will respect that!!

❥ if you’re a virgin, he’d like to make your experience worth while and makes it very clear to you that he’s beyond honored to have been your first. he’ll even place you on the softest satin pillows while he gently thrusts into you, interlacing fingers and slowly pinning them against your head while he watches for your expressions. if you get shy or look away, he’ll always let go of one of your hands to redirect your chin back to him with a soft, “look at me, darling.”

❥ he relishes in the soft sounds of your giggles, watching as you look over the display he set up for you with roses and a meticulously made bed for you, a trick he had learned from genesis once when sephiroth had been too worried of not being able to satiate your need for intimacy. seph would lift you gently, giving you a small kiss and carefully maneuvering his way to the sheets before ceremoniously laying you down beneath him. he savors these lax moments during sex, not just the serious ones.

❥ post nibelheim is a little iffy, he’s definitely more possessive and aggressive when he’s having sex. he’s also very condescending with his words, i can sense a dumbification kink somewhere..

❥ as i’ve said before, post nibelheim seph won’t let you out of his sight most of the time. so he’s so possessive that if he sees you talking to someone else in public, once you find your way back to him, you’ll have wished you never greeted them. he’ll mercilessly press your face against the mattress or table or whatever you guys are on, and talks about how silly it was for you to talk to someone so casually when you clearly knew he was watching.

❥ i don’t think he’d let you top him that much, maybe once in a blue moon would he let you act like you have control over him— but the moment you get too cocky, he’ll remind you of who really has the most control once he grips your hip dips and flips you over, catlike, vindictive mako eyes glinting in the shadows of his body.

❥ again, i’m sorry but it’s the truth, also a little manipulative. post nibelheim sephiroth would accuse you of talking to other men or wanting them to satisfy you instead. he’d grit his teeth and roll his hips even harder— claiming he’d just have to show you how much he’s ruined you for other people. they are but boys but he, he is a man. and he’ll make sure you know that by the time the day ends and the sun seeps through curtains.

❥ pre sephiroth makes love, post sephiroth fucks. there’s a huge difference.

[aurorasgate]

the corel incident

sephiroth x reader | 7.1k+ words

warnings: my little twist on what happens in corel, angst with a happy ending, gn!reader, graphic depictions of violence (towards the reader and others), drowning, protective seph my beloved - would and does kill for you, as usual with me sane!seph. please let me know if i missed anything!

dust kicks up under your feet with each step you take, the blaring sun beating down on your skin, the heat of it seeping into your hair and scalp, lingering on your clothes. the air is nearly as warm, almost hard to breathe in at the peak of the day's heat, and the smell of coal was just as prominent. it’s different from mako but the same kind of suffocating that could make one sick if you weren’t used to it and were more accustomed to cleaner air.

corel is different than you had expected. you knew of the economic decline for the need of coal with shinra building more mako reactors but there’s a quaint peacefulness to the town and a happy hopefulness to the people, though it doesn’t hide the signs of how badly off they have been. with the construction of the mako reactor however, a ‘promise of prosperity’, there was a reason to think things were truly going to turn around.

and of course shinra had pulled out the full stops to show them as much by bringing in water and supplies, public security, urban planners, and soldiers to clear out the monsters along with the construction crew. the project is nearly finished now, the reactor building shiny and silver, standing out against the brown dusty hues that paint the town, now in your line of sight and is your current destination. 

you had joined sephiroth on this mission to corel hoping to help the townspeople however you might be able to but shinra seemed intent on putting on a show, the whole reason you assumed they had sent sephiroth to deal with monsters that could have been handled by a few 2nd class, and when you arrived you were quickly ordered to ‘enjoy the town’ and plan to attend the tour of the reactor. nothing more.

in no place to disobey, here you are, walking up the metal steps, the first few already blanketed in a thin layer of loose dirt, and joining the citizens already at the threshold of the reactor waiting for the tour to begin. you take a quiet place at the back of the group, thankful for the cooler air coming from inside that soothes your heated skin as you wait.

after a few minutes someone walks towards the front of the group dressed in a more casual dark blue suit, wearing a shinra hard hat and a smile that looks almost too excited. you don’t recognize the shinra employee who introduces themselves to the group as jaden, your tour guide for the day. not that you could say you know many employees outside of soldier.

based on his looks from the front to the back of the group, someone else has taken a place behind you and you feel a shiver run up your spine when you register their presence at your back. you hadn’t heard them approach or their steps as the group shuffled forward to meet the person conducting the tour and even as the tour starts with some bullshit introduction about the ‘wonders of shinra technology’, they don’t make any noise.

rolling your shoulders, you let the odd feeling slide down your spine and fall to the floor, finding your thoughts wandering to something, someone, else so easily. 

what kind of monster might sephiroth be facing right now? or was shinra perhaps trying to force him in front of the camera? was he okay? realistically, you know that he’s unscathed but it wouldn’t stop you from worrying about your beloved until he was at your side again. it had only been a few hours since you had to part ways, so little time compared to how often you had to be apart at times, but it was enough to make you miss him already.

jaden continues to lead everyone down wide hallways and a series of doors that are all open for construction workers to get in and out of easily. a few of them pass by you carrying different tools and materials in their arms and over their shoulders without sparing anyone in the tour group a glance.

“these men have been working tirelessly to finish the reactor quickly and efficiently so it can be up and running as soon as possible for your town. soon, the prosperity of shinra and the miracle of mako energy will be shared with all of you,” your tour guide explains excitedly.

a few of the townspeople in front whisper among themselves, some of them not looking particularly sold on the words that they would likely hear a dozen more times in one form or another by the end of this tour. would they be sold on them by the end of it? was it really going to help as much as shinra promised?

“what do you think about the reactors?” the person behind you asks. her voice is so close, hushed yet gentle, and you nearly knock back into her as you startle. she doesn’t seem to pay any mind to it, doesn’t flinch or step back, she only waits expectantly for your answer.

“oh- i’m sorry!” you’re quick to apologize and had almost forgotten what she asked you in the slow moments it takes your heart to settle as you take in her kind looking features; light brown hair and dark hazel eyes with black lashes that could perhaps rival sephiroths in length and fullness. “i, um - i don’t know,” you finally answer, quiet and guilty like you shouldn’t be caught saying such things. jadens voice comes over the group, hopefully hiding the rest of your truthful answer, and you shuffle forward with the rest of them, tearing your eyes away from her. “i can’t say i agree with how wonderful they try to make them out to be.”

“hm,” she doesn’t seem totally pleased with your answer by the gruffness of her tone but doesn’t comment more on it and your tour continues with your mind floating between sephiroth and the familiar yet new things in front of you.

a place you had never been but a reactor nonetheless, hardly any different from the ones surrounding midgar or nestled in other cities and towns like this one. but really where you would rather be is with sephiroth, in midgar or far away from it. it hardly mattered as long as he was there with you.

you wish he was here with you right now, walking by your side, your hands brushing as you walk and observe the new reactor together. though you’re certain the people would be ogling him rather than the reactor if that were the case. most of them had likely never seen a reactor but just as so, they’d never seen him either and, like everyone in midgar, they’d fawn over the untouchable war hero without a care in the world.

what would it be like, you wonder, if both of you got to be here as normal people with a normal life. would you be holding hands like the couple in front of you, pointing things out to one another and whispering in each other's ears with a smile as you step just a bit closer into an embrace for lovers? would either of you have even supported the building of a reactor?

in your dreams of a life you and sephiroth would have together in another, kinder, life there was no mako or shinra and you had never been happier. is it possible these people would feel the same at some point?

perhaps. but there was nothing anyone could do about it now. 

is it too late for you and seph to have a normal life without any of this too?

your thoughts are quickly cut off the moment you step into a spacious access room and feel the cold press of the metal to your side and an arm snake around your middle, capturing you against an unfamiliar chest. the room is lined with shinra boxes and big plastic blue tubs on one wall, a large window and open door leading into a small control room on the other side, devoid of anyone besides your tour group.

you’re quick to register just what is pressed to your side, to swallow the lump in your throat that’s keeping you from breathing and try to slow your heart that’s beating so rapidly inside your rib cage as you take in the situation. the huge metal doors leading to the next area are closed off, the people in front of you none the wiser to what’s about to happen and as soon as you look down to confirm that yes that is a handgun nestled to your side, the doors you entered through begin to close.

you’re all trapped.

“play nice, okay?” the woman who was behind you speaks in your ear lowly before addressing the entire room, pressing the muzzle of her gun deeper into your side until it’s digging into your skin uncomfortably through your shirt. “now listen here everyone,” she kicks your feet forward and you see everyone's gaze fall to you, quickly dropping into horror. “i’ll be taking over the rest of this tour.” 

------------✧♡✧-------------

you stare at your phone as if continuing to watch it will make the gray and white blurs of the screen disappear and give you the chance to call or text sephiroth. it doesn’t and it’s hardly a distraction from the terrified aura that’s suffocating the room. it’s so palpable you swear you can grasp it with your hands and feel it stain your skin.

based on the fact everyone else with a phone was in a similar state and the very real lack of alarms going off, you can only assume whoever your captors are have done everything they could to prepare for this and compared to what was going on somewhere else in the reactor, the people watching over you were on the equivalent of babysitting duty.

the shinra employee jaden and the couple you had seen being affectionate towards each other earlier take the duty of trying to calm everyone down. they had from the moment your group was locked in the much too small control room, you being shoved in last, and though there was something uncomfortable, scared, sitting at the bottom of your belly too, you were more restless than anything. you needed to do something, anything.

you’ve sat here for too long but couldn’t afford to be careless. you needed to know more before taking action. you didn’t want anyone to die or to put these innocent people in any more danger than they were already in. did anyone outside know of what was happening? 

what the fuck even is happening? where’s sephiroth?

you’d heard of the terrorist group avalanche before, had known they’d been a bit of a thorn in shinra sides. would they resort to trying to stop the completion of the reactor by.. what? holding random people hostage till shinra compiled seemed as stupid idea as any. shinra would never give into that. 

moving along the back of the group with unhurried steps, you come to stand next to the bolted door and as though you might need to feel the coolness of it to ease your nausea, you wrap your arms around your stomach and lean against it with your head down, your ear pressed to the small crack between the door itself and the doorframe. what you wouldn’t give from some of that soldier hearing now, you think to yourself, letting the thought of sephiroth keep you calm. the voice in your head telling you he would be here soon is his own, deep and soothing, a most sacred promise.

the world outside is muffled and hushed compared to the worried words and cries inside the control room but you do your best to listen and gather what you can coming from the walkie talkies being used to communicate between the woman and the two others that had since joined her and those working with them elsewhere. 

“but sir-,” the woman from before speaks.

the radio comes louder than her voice had. “a few casualties are sometimes necessary for change. do as you are told. team b is nearly finished and team a has successfully captured the target. we’ll continue as planned.”

silence follows.

“they said the explosion shouldn’t destroy more than core,” a man voices, one of the ones who had joined her armed with much bigger guns, chimes in almost soothingly. “if the building comes down that’s shinras own damn fault but we’ll get out of here.”

you hear the woman mumble something you can’t make out and then in a choked out cry, “they weren’t supposed to be here!” her voice rises at the end but you can tell she tries to swallow it.

another pause.

“we can’t save everyone eve,” the man speaks softer than before and had it not been for the words he was saying, you might have felt like you were intruding on an intimate conversation. “some people are just at the wrong place at the wrong time.”

you don’t listen to the rest of their conversation and slowly make your way to the back of the group once more but this time you take your time observing the room in its entirety. the double doors closed tight leading into another sealed off room at the very back, the control panels shiny new buttons, the large vent on the left wall above one of the control panels and how it sits compared to the window, showing you the three people guarding this room.

with everyone complying without incident, albeit scared out of their minds, you wonder how often they had looked back to check on the group. as of now, the woman - eve, was tucked in close to a much taller man's embrace, their backs facing the window and the other man you could hardly see from where you stood but you can make out his shoulder near the door leading deeper into the reactor.

“you’re shinra too, right?” jaden breaks your concentration, his voice with a hopelessness to it. though you don’t love the identity of only shinra when addressing you. “you came with soldier?”

“i did.” you reply and try to quickly decide how much would be right to share with him from what you had eavesdropped. you aren’t even sure you’ve processed it fully. you couldn’t begin to wrap your head around who they might have been after and successfully captured. you didn’t want to think about a reactor being blown up, let alone with people inside of it. you wouldn’t imagine if you were to die here and leave sephiroth.. no. it wasn’t going to happen. you and everyone were going to get out of here if you had something to do with it. for now you decide the less he knows the better, probably. “would you help me get into that vent?” you point towards it. “and maybe try to talk to some of the more rational others so you can come up with a plan if.. if anything happens?”

he takes a breath before he answers. “are we going to die here?”

“not if i can help it. just do your best to keep everyone in here safe.”

jaden proves to be incredibly useful, keeping everyone as they had been, acting as though you weren’t standing on your tiptoes to reach the screw of the vent with the small tool one of the locals had given you that was barely enough to undo the screws holding it in place. jaden stood watch and took everything you handed him, delicately placing the items behind the control panel so they wouldn’t make a sound or be seen.

when you’re ready, with your heart still set to an unsteady rhythm, you lean down to give him the tool and whisper in his ear, quickly and quietly telling him what you heard your captors talking about so he could tell whoever arrived first to save them. “please keep that to yourself until the right time.” and then, as quietly as you could, you hop into the vent without daring to look back.

you thought you might lose your nerves if you saw any of their faces praying that you were going to get help. it was certainly an option but you were much closer to the core than anywhere else in the reactor and if anyone outside already knew that the reactor had been taken over, help was surely on the way and would reach them before the reactor core. you just hoped you could get to the core in time and be enough to hold whoever these people were off until help, sephiroth, arrived.

------------✧♡✧-------------

sephiroth was thankful for the quiet of fighting alone, even if it was stiflingly hot and the monsters prove to be no real fight at all. scarlet had insisted on a photo op that lasted much too long for his liking and then reporters swarmed him with questions and cameras to capture this historical moment for corel but he had been able to get out most of the questions in order to start his mission and begin to clear out a few monster nests lingering on the outskirts of town.

he was nearly finished, standing among the dust blowing in the wind, ready to come back to town to find you and whisk you back home or somewhere away from shinras gaze if but for a night, when his phone rings, a number he doesn’t recognize, and he begins to feel a heavy sensation in his chest before answering it, his feet already instinctively making their way to the last place you were supposed to be.

“soldier first class sephiroth,” comes the voice on the other end of the phone.

“what is it?”

“come quickly. the reactor has been taken over by avalanche terrorists and they’ve captured vice president rufus shinra.”

it’s mere minutes of running as fast as he possibly came before he’s back in town, trying your phone over and over the entire way but none of his calls go through. he immediately starts to make his way towards the reactor when an uneasy security officer stops him in his tracks, nearly petrified at the look sephiroth gives him when all he can think about is getting to you. 

i’m coming. please be okay.

the officer stutters and all but pleads with sephiroth to follow him to scarlet. “w-we’re trying to get the - the c-cameras back up sir. they’ve shut down all e-electronic signals,” the words tumble out of his mouth almost too quickly to catch. “please sir.”

sephiroth follows for his own reasons, a chance to find where you are quickly instead of rushing in and slaughtering anyone who keeps him from finding you, but instead of leading him to the reactor he’s taken to another shinra building, shiny and new and full of people running around in a panic. the air is so much cooler inside than the mid days heat outside but it does nothing to ease the tightness in his chest and the impatience to get to you that’s already boiling over.

“this way, sir.” the officer says, leading them down a bustling hall and into a room that was in a different kind of panic.

the fuzzy screens of the monitors lining nearly floor to ceiling drowns the room in grays and flashing whites but unlike the rest of the building, the room was quiet, as if it was on bated breath, until scarlet's loud voice cut through the air, her voice sounding as if she had lost her calm long ago.

“i don’t care what you have to do! get the camera back on now so we can locate the vice president and plan an immediate extraction. and we need to find what the hell they’re doing inside the reactor! now!”

“y-yes ma’am,” it’s only thanks to sephiroths soldier hearing that the words of the small hunched over man in front of the screens working away furiously even meet his ears. 

not an uncommon reaction to the woman scarlet is.

sephiroth steps are nearly silent across the room but his presence takes over the whole space in an instant. everyone, aside from scarlet and the man in front of the computer, turning to look at him and acting as though the world paused as he makes his way past them but none dare to meet his eyes.  

not that he was focused on any of them anyways. every passing second he wasn’t any closer to being with you once more he was preparing for plan b; to leave here and start slashing through the entire reactor until you were in his arms. until then, his only focus was the screens in front of him and where you might be among them once they’re back on.

“good, you’re here,” scarlet says by way of greeting him as if he were a petulant child who hadn’t adhered to their curfew too many times to scold anymore. “once these fools get the cameras back up,” she speaks louder to ensure whoever ‘they’ were would hear very clearly, “and we locate rufus shinra we will be sending you to retrieve him. do stay put until then.”

“what’s going on inside the reactor?” sephiroth asks pointedly, coldly.

“another team is being sent to deal with that. your orders are to retrieve the vice-”

“i’m in!” the man in front of the computer exclaims in the same moment the screens start to clear from blurred lines to a live feed all around the reactor in a green hue.

sephiroth steps closer, his eyes trying to take in so much all at once, any sign of you anywhere, his pupils going so thin at the mix of bright and dark lights between the different screens reflecting back at him. he isn’t breathing as he searches, feeling like he’s losing a bit more of his sanity everywhere he looks and you’re nowhere to be seen. 

this is where you were supposed to be. and while it would be an unbelievable relief if you found your way elsewhere, somewhere safe, something in his chest, his unanswered calls, told him that was not the case.

the screens change and the first security camera his eyes focus on is an access room, the control room behind it stuffed with people.

“this one,” sephiroth demands, pointing at the screen and without needing to be told twice the man enlarges the view.

mako eyes dart back and forth, studying everyone, every corner of the room and the leather gloved hands at his side clench tightly when he yet again does not see you. he can’t let himself think about if they might have taken you elsewhere, hurt you-

“the public tour group,” scarlet notes, studying the security view without any kind of hurry and hardly any interest but then, as if finding something amusing, her voice peaks up. “ah, that’s right. hojo said you’d grown fond of that little beast. they were supposed to be a part of the tour, no?”

ignoring her and the name hojo usually referred to you in, sephiroth takes in his first breath in what felt like so long. he looks down at the man sitting in the chair, noting how small and afraid he looks from sephiroths angle well above him. he tries to hold back his slipping rage that he usually keeps such a well and tight leash on.

“please show me more.”

“your orders do not change soldier,” scarlet says through clenched teeth, not even trying to control her own anger. “you are to locate and retrieve the vice president.”

sephiroth says nothing as the security view of the access room minimizes and he’s back to searching among the dozens of screen tiles with his heart in his throat and his body screaming to run and fight until he finds you. the screens change again a few moments later and before he can look at more than a couple, all of them without you, the man controlling the computer speaks quietly again.

“oh my god.”

sephiroth immediately finds what the man is looking at and in the next second the view takes over every inch of the floor to ceiling screens; an overhead view of the reactor's core room. it might look unassuming, nearly ready to be turned on, if not for the lone masked man standing in the middle of it and the cylindrical packages of explosives he strategically places all around. the red cylinders stand out, bright among the water below that’s already sparkling with mako and sephiroth recognizes the avalanche attire as the man moves.

he would have demanded going back to the other cameras had something, someone, not caught his eye in the corner of the screen. almost a blur compared to the main focus that everyone else watched and with scarlets demanding voice somewhere in the room behind him, there you were, holding tightly onto the long ladder leading to the platform, sliding down rather than taking them step by step.

when your feet hit the platform, followed by your quick steps forward, the avalanche man turns towards you and reaching for the gun at his side -

“get back here soldier!” scarlet's voice barely follows after sephiroth at how quickly he’s out of the room, out the building, holding masamune tightly in his left hand and running faster than he ever had before towards the reactor in the near distance.

------------✧♡✧-------------

you don’t know what you were thinking running straight for the enemy with no solid plan and no weapon. as if the heart on your sleeve that would plead for the lives of everyone here, including the terrorists own, would be enough or as sharp, convincing, as a blade. 

but you meant what you said before. you didn’t want anyone to die if you could help it. you didn’t want to kill anyone. you didn’t want to be killed. you didn’t want to do nothing when maybe, just maybe, you could be enough.

your momentum hasn't stopped from the moment you kicked your way out of the vents and were able to sneak past one of avalanches look outs to a maintenance door leading right into the core. your feet carry you through the door and down the ladder so quickly, you hardly stop to confirm what is happening below before you’re sliding down the ladder and turning towards the danger with your blood pumping and pieces of hair sticking to your face and neck.

“wait! please!” you scream out, grabbing the attention of the only man who seems to be inside the room. the metal grated floor sounds loudly under your hurried steps, thundering alongside your heart beat.

the masked man turns on you so quickly, grabbing his gun with one hand, holding a stick of explosives in the other. your steps halt as he points the barrel of his gun right at you and though you can’t see most of his face, you can make out the surprise in his eyes.

“have you come to beg for your precious reactor?” he spits at you with venom, his voice rough and full of hatred.

“no,” you answer honestly, shaking your head and holding up your hands to show him you have nothing on you. “no. but i do want to stop you.”

“tch.”

he cocks his gun, the click of it joining the sounds of sloshing water below you. it’d be an almost calming sound if you weren’t in such a situation. 

keep trying.

you take a tentative step forward that he doesn’t react to, your eyes locked on one another. “what about everyone that lives here? the innocent people that are in the building right now?” your voice cracks with emotion but you can’t let it stop you. you have to keep going. have to hold on. another step and this time he tenses and you will your heart not to drop to your stomach, to not let any of your fear show. “even if everyone survives the reactor being destroyed, what do you think shinra will do to this town when it’s nothing but a loss? what do you think they’ll do to you if you get caught? it's not too late to stop this and run!”

“will you be helping deal their punishment? shinra dog?” 

“i don’t want anyone to get hurt. you included.”

“how can you say such things when you’re fine with hurting the planet?!” his emotions slip and you can hear how much this means to him in his voice.

“don’t send this town or your friends to their deaths - there has to be another way!” you can’t control the few tears that roll down your cheeks, the way your heart threatens to waiver with the loss.

“that’s enough from you,” his voice is eerie, unsettling, but it’s drowned out by another voice in your head, that of your beloved.

stay strong. i will always find you.

with all the strength you could muster, some you swore was lended by sephiroth, you launch yourself at the avalanche man, feeling more than hearing the ringing in your ears from the gun going off too close to your head. the bullet cuts through the grated flooring and into the water below behind you and the crashing of your bodies follows against the cold and hard platform, making it groan under your joined weight.

it was by sheer surprise you were able to take him down, you realize now with your much smaller body trying to keep him to the ground as you fight to get the gun out of his hands. he fights back with all his might, doing everything he can to keep hold of it and finish his job. ungentle fingers of his free hand find their way into your hair and pull with a tight fist, forcing you off of him enough for him to maneuver his body a bit and point the gun towards the bundle of explosives sitting on the core's control panel.

you swallow down the aching pain in your skull along with your fear and worry and use the adrenaline it gives you hold onto his arm, your nails digging through his shirt and into his skin so you can swing your legs up as you’re pulled off of him, the bottom of the guns handle hitting against the bridge of your foot just as the trigger clicks.

the reverberation of the shot kicks back on your foot but the following explosion is what sends the gun skidding all the way across the platform, out of reach near the main entrance door and both of you along with it. the bullet having hit another explosive that causes the whole reactor to tremble as it blows a hole in the side of it.

the air is so hot, full of smoke and dust and shards of metal that cut into your skin as you continue to tumble along the floor with the avalanche mans grip on you and yours on him. it’s hard to breathe, even harder to move with his crushing weight now on top of you.

sunlight coming through thick black clouds shines in your eyes from behind you, blinding the man when it comes through the bundles of smoke making its way out into the open air and you take the chance to gain the upper hand. using all the strength you can muster, you shove him off of you, almost tumbling right into the waters below, and you don’t hesitate to try to get on your feet as quickly as you can.

but he proves to be faster, long arms reaching out for you even as he struggles to get up himself and grabbing at your ankle unforgivingly, bringing you back down to the floor with enough force to knock the wind out of you. it’s not without a hell of a struggle that he hauls you over the edge of the platform but he doesn’t relent no matter how hard you kick or fight against and scratch at the hands plunge you into the sparkling mako waters, holding you below the surface. 

it feels like chaos incarnate at first, the water sloshing and obscuring your vision, burning your eyes and ready to flood your lungs when you can’t fight it off any longer but moment by passing moment you feel the serenity of the water begin to wash over you. 

it’s warmer than you had expected it to be, quiet and peaceful in your ears. the gentle sway helps to coax your muscles from fighting as your strength starts to leave you quickly. your head feels so very light, drifting from fear to searching for comfort while your lungs fill with water and your hands can no longer hold on.

it hurts at first, painful as your chest constricts and your lungs squeeze only to bring in more water than before. all you want is sephiroth. to cry in his arms like a child and apologize for leaving him. it adds to the pain in your chest but like most of your body, it numbs the longer you stay under the water and as you feel the hands holding you let go, so does your consciousness.

------------✧♡✧-------------

at the sound of the explosion, sephiroth runs faster than he ever has before. nothing more than a blur of silver and black kicking up dust and the embers of his powerful aura sparking in the air in his wake, ready to alight the whole planet in his fury if he were to lose you here and now.

smoke bellows into the sky on the opposite side of the reactor that he’s facing, the scent of it quickly invading his senses and like a beacon, he follows in directly to you. sephiroth doesn’t bother to enter the building by any normal means, choosing the fastest way to get to you, made possible by strength only few possess.

his heart is pounding, every breath he takes in only fueling the inferno kinding inside of him and the hand holding onto masamune is strong enough to have snapped the leather cords wrapped around her hilt had they been made of normal materials. still, they groan under his grip as he slashes through the outer siding of the reactor that he climbs to in the blink of an eye.

sephiroth can feel the steel ripping in two like aluminum underneath the edge of his blade that slash a clean x through the metal. the screeching sound of metal cutting metal doesn’t breach his ears, not when all he can hear is his own heart beating, searching for your own, and how it’s tearing through his chest and rib cage to get to you. 

under the pressure of his boot, the bottom most part of the siding folds in and he forces the other panels away with his hands, tearing them away with adrenaline fueled otherwordly strength, allowing him to make a massive hole to step inside. the bright sun shines from behind him, a golden halo backdrop against the black of his coat and the shining in the silver of his hair.

it’s as if the world has stopped as he takes in the scene before him, a split moment that lasts minutes in sephiroths gaze that immediately finds you in the chaos of the room. your hands losing their strength to fight back as you’re being held under the mako waters by the same figure he had seen on the security camera. the blood dripping down arms that hold you there, bleeding and bruised from the fight you had put up in your attempt to stop this.

a choice that fills sephiroth with so many emotions he can’t and won’t begin to process them now. not until you’re safe in his arms.

like an angel, or perhaps more accurately to the dangerous expression on his face - a monster, sephiroth launches from his spot, the readying stance he moves masamune into cutting through the air as his broad figure consumes the light around the avalanche man. in the next millisecond the space around him is splattered in deep crimson red, droplets of blood trickling into and diluting among the water before the man's head has a chance to hit the grate under sephiroths feet.

without care and with more strength than was likely needed, sephiroth grabs ahold of the back of the man's jacket and throws him to the side, hard enough that as he pulls you from the waters with an unrelenting and yet gentle grip around your arms, the sound of the man's body hitting the metal door leading into the rest of the reactor echos in the space.

sephiroth handles you like porcelain, feeling himself breaking at the sight of your features losing color and your body completely limp, lifeless, in his arms. he can’t hear your heart beating. can’t feel any warmth from your body that’s only growing colder in his grasp. there’s no response to the urgent way he calls your name despite how his voice doesn’t reach his own ears either. his body works on muscle memory alone to give you first aid and it’s as if his eyes are watching someone else's hands give you cpr, trying to force you to breathe. water spills from your mouth and with each passing moment that you remain cold and unmoving, he feels his world crumbling around him. 

“please..” with more force than he intended, he pulls your body into his. cradling the back of your skull with one hand while the other holds you completely and securely against him, he pleads into your wet hair. “don’t leave me..”

like in his nightmares where he’s coated in your blood and you lay against him like you are now, he feels frozen. in fear. in anger. in power that electrifies the particulars of the air that surrounds you both, ready to devour the world, and yet was not enough to save you. so unlike his bad dreams though, your warm palm was not there to smooth against his cheek, ready to hold the weight of his suffering like it was your own. your voice wasn’t there to tell him it’s all right and pull him back to reality. to help lull him to better dreams he hadn’t dared to entertain or give hope to until he met you. dreams that were now slipping through his grasp no matter how tightly he held onto them.

no matter how tightly he holds onto you or the remaining bits that would be left of him after losing you. jagged and bloodied shards that genesis nor angeal could -

*ba-dum* 

a sound so tiny and small. enough to stop every movement of his body and light the darkness that was over taking him.

the first breath you’re able to take in is so painful. your lungs burn as you choke and fight for  air and you can feel each aching beat of your heart, like it was sapping every last bit of strength from your muscles to pump and the echo of it riverates back tenfold throughout your entire body but trying to get your bearings through it all only proves to make it worse.

it’s so cold.. so hard to breathe. i’m still in danger, corel is still in danger - c’mon body you need to move.. everything hurts.. i can’t -

“it’s okay angel. you’re safe now.” sephiroth's voice. undeniably rough and wrought with overwhelming relief, it’s a soothing balm to the anxiety and pain coursing through you faster than your heart can keep up, that was keeping you from feeling his arms holding so tightly onto you and the warmth that always seemed to accompany him. “i’ve got you.”

you can feel all of him now, the shake of his hands that hold onto you like you might slip through his fingers, nothing more than a mirage. the wicked rate at which his heart beats. the deep irregular breaths he takes. the heat of him mingling with the chilling wetness of your clothes.

looking up at him, tears prick your eyes stinging and hot, you can’t help but smile. he made it. everyone was going to be okay. through your blurry vision, it’s hard to make out anything other than the curtain of silver hair that drapes over you both and the emerald of his eyes that stare back at you but you swear the air is alive with a mixture of his relief and pain.

the hands holding onto you tighten, his gloved fingers at your back flexing and the ones holding your head tangling further into your hair as he leans in to rest his forehead gently against yours and whispers your name softly, reverently, as though it was a prayer to the goddess; a secret spell that was meant to make everything right.

your muscles scream in protest when you bring your arms around his neck, pulling him in closer, his head a comforting weight against your own, smelling of sweet flora and warmth; home. 

“seph..” you murmur, an answering call to his prayer; proof that he hadn’t been too late, that he wasn’t without you. through the soreness of your lungs and throat, through your tears and the way your body trembles you cling to him with what little strength you have but knowing you were alive and with him made it worth every bit of tiring effort.

footsteps begin to sound in the distance, echoing yells from the shinra army having finally made their way into the reactor. sephiroths hold on you doesn’t waver in the slightest as he begins to stand, his footing sure and steady, his strength immeasurable and unyielding in the way it swore to protect you from any further harm and the regret he feels for not having been in time to stop any harm from coming to you. 

you always feel small in sephiroth arms, something precious - treasured - and looking down at you curdled into him now, soaking wet and calming a bit more each passing second, breathing easier, he doesn’t know if he’ll ever be able to let you out of his hold again. 

the reactor core door swings open, the room quickly swarming with familiar uniforms sephiroth walks past without sparing another glance. if they try to talk to him, he doesn’t know or care. with you safely in his arms, he passes by them all, steps over the headless body near the door and makes his way into the chaos outside the reactor where it might as well have been only the two of you in the streets of corel as everyone parts for sephiroth while you remain in the safety of his arms and chest, where he intends to keep you for as long as possible.

[skittlespizza]

limbus comapny eveyrthing has bexome limbus company i see a moth thats like ishmael. i see a whale. thats like ishmael. i see two people breaking up on thenside of the road thats heathcliff. my life has become limbus company when i get bored i start making don quixote noises and scream the odyseey had a purpose. i jave a pictuew of meursault i say goodnight to before smoking a cigarette because ryoshu smokes and shes cool. sometimes i think about sinclair and i start wondering if my toxic ex kins kromer.

everythings become limbus its limbus all the way down actually its just project moon. i see a white man with black hair its roland. blue hair? angela. i miss the sephiroth the coin noises play in my head i hear SORROW i jave nothing but my sorrow and i want nothing more. it has been it still faithful to me. why should I begrudge it since during the hours when my soul crushed the depths of my heart it was seated there beside me OHHHHHHH ROUNR AND ROUND WE GOOOOOOOOOOO HOLDING ONTO PAINNN DRIVEN BY OUR EGOOOO i am my biggest faaan i am my biggest fan i am my enemy and my frienddddddddddddddd my compass was swalloed by the seaaaaaaaaaaaaaa lament if you wanted to me.to speak if you wanted me to think open the curtainsssss one by one the pages remind me youve always been MANAGER ESQUIREEEEEEEE BEACH VOLLEYBURRRHHHHHHHHH this truly was the limvus compant.

[inzsanewrites]

Read to Me

Ever Crisis!Sephiroth X SOLDIER! Reader

⚠️: Professor Hojo mention, Reader is illiterate and the same age as Ever Crisis Sephiroth

♥︎♡──────────────────♡♥︎

“Mr. Genesis, can you read this to me?”

“…”

“Just one chapter?”

“…”

Despite all your pleading begging and bargaining, Genesis remained fixated on the Loveless book in his hand, not even uttering a word to you despite your hours of persistence. Frustrated, you stared at him for a while before sighing and inevitably leaving.

Walking to the training simulation you couldn’t help yourself from lamenting of the book in your hand. The cover was pretty with all the thorns, roses, and trees on it but if someone asked you the title you couldn’t even answer. However it truly wasn’t your fault.

From the moment your eyes opened in this world your very existence was tied to battle. Despite being well over a decade old, your bed remained hard due to the few times you had rested on it, often being on the battlefield or in the training room further honing your fatality. There were even days were you sat undetected in the training room watching others run through their simulations, studying their movements. There wasn’t a single peace of writing or reading material in your life.

When you had discovered this pretty book when Angeal had approached you saying it was a gift to keep you doing something other than fighting. It didn’t take him long after to notice you couldn’t you couldn’t read a single word. Further experiments revealed you couldn’t even recognize your own name.

Ever the righteous man and comrade, he took it upon himself to read the book to you when he had the time. Unfortunately, Angeal had been stationed elsewhere and you had just returned only to find the door to the training simulation locked. With nothing else to do you picked up the book. Knowing, you couldn’t read it yourself you went around asking your fellow SOLDIERS but from the way they flinched and stammered when you approached them you knew it wouldn’t be a good situation. Conceding, you went to Genesis knowing he loved the book Loveless and could probably share a chapter with you, that however went up in shambles.

Sitting by the door to the training room, you stared at the book hoping it would magically make sense.

“Y/N?”

The door opened to reveal Sephiroth, your friend, you think. There weren’t a lot of high rank SOLDIERS your age when you saw him and found he was like you, you walked up to him and declared that you two were friends without a second thought. It was something Hojo seemed… happy about that allowing you two to meet at times on certain missions.

“Hello, Sephiroth.”

He nodded, taking in your position on the floor. “Were you hoping to use the simulation?”

“No,” you pulled up the book. “I am looking for someone to read this to me.”

From the way he seemed to understand it seemed your illiteracy had spread across other SOLDIERS. You had thought that he would continue on his way, but you didn’t expect him to gesture to the training room.

“If you do not mind, then I can be of assistance.”

“Really!” You followed after him, book in hand. “Thank you!”

There was a meaningful look in his eyes, something both of you were too inexperienced and isolated to discern and detect. Maybe when you were older you both would understand what it meant.

“No problem. We are friends after all.”

[drabblesandimagines]

Happy birthday! Can I request some Vincent Valentine, perhaps a list or short of him slowly becoming more open to affection, little touches, more talkative etc. Thank you and have a good one!

Anon, I think I've gone waaay off ask with this, but I tried and this is where we've ended up. I dunno how best to describe this - head canons/weird short story bullet list? Anyway, please lemme know if you like it/hate it and thank you so much for your birthday wishes! xx

Fat Chocobo Vincent Valentine x female reader, fluffy nonsense as per

It would be a lie if you didn’t admit you were a little nervous at first in the company of the newest member of your party.

No-one could blame you either - the way the first meeting had ended with one Vincent Valentine in the basement of the Shinra Mansion…

He was silent, stoic and you could never quite tell what he was thinking, features obscured behind his red cowl, tight-lipped as the leathers he was clothed in.

He was, however, a gentleman with impeccable manners. If he was sat whenever you or Aerith, Tifa or Yuffie stood, he’d stand immediately, waiting for them to sit again or leave the room before he’d resumed a cross-legged position once more.

And always the first to offer a steadying hand when you’d hesitated at a jump or large step.

Not to mention all the times he’d darted in front of you, shielding you when a fiend attacked… even the times you weren’t on the front line and really in any danger.

Aerith and Tifa would share knowing looks – ones that caused you to roll your eyes and Yuffie stomp her foot at being “left out”.  

You’d had a nightmare, woken up heart pounding, in a cold sweat – being pursued by fiends, Shinra troops, Turks, Sephiroth - but managed to catch yourself before you screamed, clamping a hand over your mouth in fear of waking your companions in your shared room in the Haunted Hotel.

No wonder you were having bad dreams. You’d take numerous nights in the drafty rooms at Johnny’s Seaside Inn over this.

You’d got to your feet after an hour of trying to settle. Dawn wasn’t so far off now, you reasoned, sneaking past a snoring Yuffie and made it out to the hall.

At least the Golden Saucer was the place that never slept…

You decided to go watch the chocobo races, but soon found yourself at the souvenir stall, eyeing up a stuffed fat chocobo.

It would be nice to cuddle.

Entirely impractical in the lifestyle you now find yourselves in, though.

A cold weight on your shoulder causes you to jerk back in fright, nearly losing your footing when it moves to your waist instead, keeping you steady.

“Apologies.” Vincent has to raise his voice over the blaring music in the background. “I did not intend to startle you so – I called your name but I don’t think you heard.”

“Oh.” The pounding in your chest begins to settle. “No… I was miles away.”

“You cannot sleep?” His gauntlet leaves your waist.

“Something like that.” You clench your fists, unconsciously, in memory of the unpleasant dream. “How about you?”

“I do not sleep much.”

“Do you like the chocobo races?” Your eyes flit to the screens behind, another race about to begin.

He gives a half-hearted shrug. “I do not mind them. Perhaps one of the more tolerable activities to observe around here.”

“I was gonna sit and watch some… if you wanted to join?”

A curt nod follows as he steps aside, waiting for you to lead the way to one of the benches and the two of you sit in companionable silence. It’s nice – not having to make forced conversation, his presence feeling reassuring by your side.

“Happy birthday!” Aerith throws her arms around you in a hug as the two of you return to the hotel lobby an hour or so later. You swear you feel Vincent’s eyes burn on you at her comment.

“Where did you go?” The flower girl pulls back with a smile as she looks between you and Vincent. “I wanted to give you your present as soon as you woke up!”

“Wait, present?” You shake your head in disbelief. “You didn’t need to get me anything, it’s-”

“Uh-uh. Come on.” She grabs your hand and tugs you in the direction of the stairs. “The rest of the boys aren’t awake yet. Could you check on them, Vincent?”

“Hmph.”

Vincent watches as Aerith drags you up the stairs towards the elevator, the girl mercifully waiting for the doors to slide close before she assaulted you with questions.

“Were you two on a date? Did he take you out for your birthday?”

“What? No, Aerith! I couldn’t sleep so I went for a walk and bumped into him.”

“Suuuure,” she nods, bouncing on her heels.

Everyone is too sweet – receiving a number of thoughtful and practical gifts, given your current situation.

Cloud gifts you a new booster pack of Queen’s Blood, mumbling something about how it’s a duplicate he had, but Yuffie loudly declares she saw him deliberately buy two at the Card Carnival in Costa del Sol, causing Barret to laugh heartedly and slap the ex-SOLDIER on the back.

You don’t see Vincent again until the evening, everyone bidding one another goodnight when he emerges from the shadows.

“Could you…?” He pauses to clear his throat, his eyes cast down. “I’d be grateful if you would wait a moment.”

“Erm… sure. Aerith, I’ll see you up there.

Aerith giggles as she heads off, waving at you over her shoulder.

Vincent pulls out a chair from one of nearby tables, gesturing for you to take a seat. You sit down and watch as the raven-haired man strides over to the reception desk in, soon talking to the concierge who pops down from the ceiling in his usual manner.

You drum your fingers on the table – a nervous habit.

Why would Vincent want you to wait?

He appears in your peripheral vision soon after – an odd shape tucked under his cloak.

“If you’d close your eyes.”

You do.

Something is placed in your lap.

Something… soft?

You open your eyes, finding one of the fat chocobo plushies.

“Happy birthday.”

 “You… you bought me this?”

“I was under the impression you wanted one – given how long you stared at it last night.”

“Vincent, I…” You stare up at him, a little in disbelief, clutching the soft toy to your chest. “Thank you. But how did you…? Wait, what game did you play?”

Vincent taps his nose, keeping his secrets. He offers you his hand, pulling you up to your feet. “Come – you need to sleep.”

You’re escorted up the stairs in the blink of an eye, the elevator door soon sliding open again.

“Thank you. Really.” You step in, expecting him to follow but he stays in place. “I don’t know what else to say.”

“It was my pleasure.” The corners of his eyes crinkle – you hope it means he’s smiling – one to match the dumb one on your own lips. “Sweet dreams.”

The elevator doors slide shut.

And, with the fat chocobo squished in your arms, smelling a little like Vincent from its brief time in his cloak, your dreams are certainly sweet.

--

Masterlist . Requests welcome . Ko-fi

[sunnywrites2]

Hi! I saw you asked for some requests and I hope this is ok :)

Could we maybe get some sephiroth x reader reverse comfort headcanons?

Of course!!!

You can immediately tell when something is terribly wrong. Sephiroth isn’t in any of his normal spots, nor with his friends. His schedule is supposed to be clear of any missions so obviously you’re confused and worried.

Then you find out he had a visit to the labs scheduled for today. Although he hasn’t told you much you’ve seen the way he acts in those cold sterile halls, he’s always different after too.

You find him eventually, leaving the labs just as you go to enter them, he isn’t wearing his coat, instead just having it sit on his shoulders. He doesn’t even look down to acknowledge your presence, his eyes looking straight ahead past you. He looks robotic, stiff and dissociating.

He only looks down at you when you call out to him, slit pupils dull. Sephiroth turns his head, looking away from you with his hair now covering his face. At first you’re stunned, what are you supposed to do? He looked almost sick, paler than usual and visibly sagging now that he’s seen you. Sephiroth turns back to you, pupils rounding out a bit.

“Can I…go to your quarters?”

He had been to your place before, but in this moment you could tell it wasn’t for any other reason than comfort. He just needs somewhere to hide away from the world, the world that sees him as a hero, a weapon, a monster.

It doesn’t take long for him to draw attention as you two make your way to your apartment. He’s still though, not looking at anyone and just walking ahead. You bring him up to your place, not caring much in the moment that rumors would surely spread about Sephiroth going home with you. As soon as he is out of the public eye he sags like a deflated balloon, so visibly tired and barely able to move beyond the entryway of your place. You don’t want to rush him though, or try to help him along with touch, the way he was clutching his coat over his shoulders gave the obvious impression that he didn’t want physical contact right now.

“Thank you.”

He walked over to your small worn down couch, slumping down into it. It was almost ironic to see such a big man on such a small couch, but in this moment it was more so sad. Sephiroth’s hair was damp with sweat and some mix of strong smelling chemicals, his entire body smelt like the same sterile environment he’d just left.

You stand by the couch, watching over him and studying his more exhausted appearance in your home. His leg keeps twitching, boot tapping softly against the floor and filling the space with the rhythmic sound of thumping. Sephiroth was clearly still disoriented so you knelt down in front of him, a comfortable distance away. You speak to him quietly asking him what he needs, how he was feeling.

“I just need time…I’m sorry you have to see me in such a pathetic state.”

He sounded defeated, eyes finally focusing on you. It was hard to imagine, the demon of Wutai, the legendary war hero, sat here in your little apartment thinking he was pathetic for having needs and feelings.

You spoke to him, for the rest of the day and well into the night. After a few hours he loosened up, pupils round and eyes gaining some of their light back. He didn’t want touch, or pity, he just wanted a safe place to feel, to be emotionally vulnerable for once. He was always so strong, so stoic, yet so childish once you got to know him.

He fell asleep on your couch that night, curled up like a cat, buried underneath his long hair. You sat there with him all night, he needed you in that moment, so you would be there.

The next day he had apologized once again and left your apartment, seeming back to his usual emotionless demeanor. He never brought it up nor did he ever say what happened to make him need comfort. You didn’t pry, besides you had a feeling the answer would be too much for you. From what you did know about Hojo and the labs you were sure he must have been…scared. Now that you think about it that was the best word to describe how he acted that day: scared. Of the professor, of himself, his emotions, and the world around him.

End notes: Ughhhgua writing this on three hours of sleep was tough but rewarding, I love Sephiroth and I love writing him. I may be a gooner but I am a gooner with literacy comprehension skills.

[secondarysefikura]

Cloud and Sephiroth end up in the past and in their younger bodies, however the consciousness of their younger selves are still there, so they’re having to ‘share’ their bodies with the younger selves who don’t really know what’s going on and only thing they know is that they’re both suddenly having black outs.

So with Sephiroth one minute he’s with Angeal and Genesis acting like his normal self, the next he’s running off to go kidnap a certain spikey blonde haired cadet, who either is very confused by the general’s actions or just kicks Sephiroth in the groin before running off. With Cloud one minute he’s talking to Zack about how he idolizes Sephiroth, the next he’s trying to murder Sephiroth who is either very confused has he’s trying to dodge the surprisingly very nimble cadet’s attacks, or is egging him on. Both are horrified when people tell them about what they did, especially Sephiroth like what do you mean he tried to kidnap an underage cadet; and even grabbed his ass?!

At one point Cloud steals the Buster sword from Angeal, and him and Sephiroth get into a sword fight in the Shinra building for all to see. Angeal while impressed by Cloud being able to wield his sword and hold his own against Sephiroth, he really wants his sword back before it gets scratched up! Zack is rooting for Cloud, and is wanting to know how he learned to fight like that. Genesis is super jealous as he watches Sephiroth fight some random cadet in away nether Angeal or him have seen when Sephiroth fights either of them! What makes that blonde so special?!

Lazard: So let me get this straight, you saw Sephiroth walk up to a random cadet-

Zack: Actually he's not random, he's my friend.

Lazard: Does Sephiroth know him?

Zack: I didn't think he did. But then he slapped his ass so maybe he did?

Lazard: Okay, so Sephiroth walked up to a cadet he likely didn't know, slapped his ass, then picked him up and walked off with him.

Angeal: Correct. But then an hour later he had no idea why that same cadet was angry with him.

Lazard: I do not get paid enough to deal with this.

Angeal: It's not the end of it. Said cadet then stole my sword and used it with shocking agility and tried to kill Sephiroth.

Lazard: I can't say I blame him.

Genesis: Well I can. Half way through the fight Sephiroth got way too into it and he began to make homoerotic comments. Sephiroth kept talking about how they were connected by fate. He's never said those things to me!

Angeal: What makes this all stranger is that half way though the fight, the cadet seemed to forget what was going on and was horrified to discover that he had stolen my sword and was fighting Sephiroth. If I hadn't stepped in, the cadet would likely have been killed or seriously injured.

Zack: But then when I confronted Sephiroth about it, he seemed confused. Cloud was confused too! The two just talked to each other like normal people for an hour before Sephiroth got weird again and started groping Cloud. Cloud looked terrified!

Lazard: Well, at least it can't get any worse.

*Sephiroth walks in the room*

Sephiroth: Director, I've decided that I will be resigning to focus on other career paths.

Lazard: Excuse me? You can't just-what career are you even planning to take?

Sephiroth: I'm going to become god.

Lazard: You know what? Fine. I quit. Do whatever you want.

Sephiroth: Excellent. *walking out* CLOUD! COME HERE! I'M GOING TO ASCEND TO GODHOOD AND YOU WILL WATCH ME!

Cloud: *terrified screaming in the background* PLEASE LEAVE ME ALONE SIR!

[rottenpumpkin13]

zack is dared he cant run a circle around midgar in one day how does it go

*Sephiroth strolls past Angeal's office and sees him in there, kicked back, magazine in hand, lemonade sweating on the desk, not a single damn being given*

Sephiroth: You're disturbingly relaxed. I kind of envy it.

Angeal: Mm. That's 'cause I dared Zack to run the perimeter of Midgar. Kid took the bait, and that bought me eight hours of peace. I've already filed reports, waxed poetic in my journal, and exfoliated.

*Enter Zack, bursting into the office. He's soaked with sweat, wearing an "I <3 Midgar" tourist tee, neon water bottle clipped to his belt, running shoes still squeaking*

Zack: WHOOO! Man, what a run! That was killer cardio!

Angeal: HUH?! You can't possibly be back already! I sent you out twenty minutes ago!

Zack: Oh, so you don't think I'm fast and strong enough to circle the entire city in under half an hour? Sephiroth! Back me up with science!

Sephiroth: Based on Midgar's outer perimeter—approximately 110 kilometers, you would've needed to run at roughly 340 km/h. That’s faster than a standard bullet train and incredibly impressive for your species.

Zack: Ha!

Angeal: You're a fraud! Sephiroth, back me up with science!

Sephiroth: Statistically speaking, Zack's calorie burn would exceed 12,000 in twenty minutes. his body would have cannibalized his organs by Sector 5. He'd be finishing the run with his spleen in his pocket. He'd liquefy his own kneecaps and turn his organs into a smoothie by Sector 4. So no. Scientifically, you did not run the entire perimeter of Midgar in twenty minutes.

Angeal: HA!

Zack: No no no, I did it, okay?! I even high-fived a guy selling grilled squid in Sector 8, petted the stray chocobo that lives near Wall Market, and got harassed by a sentient vending machine outside the scrapyard! You can't fake those! Sephiroth, back me up with science!

Sephiroth: Hm. Considering the variable layout of Midgar's sectors, average elevation shifts, and crowd congestion—plus your stride length and resting heart rate—I'd estimate a lap around the perimeter would take a seasoned SOLDIER, at peak conditioning, no less than three and a half hours with zero breaks.

Zack: I had an energy drink before the run.

Sephiroth: Yeah it'd take Zack 20 minutes.

Zack: :)

Angeal: No, this is impossible! You're not backing him up with science, you're just throwing equations around like glitter and hoping we're too dumb to question it. What, did Hojo build you without a sarcasm detector? No wonder you think Zack's superhuman. What does science say about that, huh??

Sephiroth: Science says you're a cunt.

Angeal:

[finallyfantasy7]

It is implied in Crisis Core that the reason why SOLDIER are paid so little is because Lazard was funneling money away from Shinra in an attempt to get his revenge for President Shinra betraying and abandoning his mother. Lazard being relatively young means that he hasn't had this job for long, so SOLDIERs must have used to get paid more.

Which is hilarious because imagine Lazard steeling himself to tell the three legendary 1st Class SOLDIERs that they're getting a pay cut.

But their reactions are not what he expected...

He calls Angeal into his office first, because he supposes Angeal will be the easiest to deal with. As expected, Angeal declares: "I am doing this for honor, not money." Angeal used to live in poverty, his family barely making ends meet, he knows he will still be much better off now. He is skilled at cooking with leftovers, he's still wearing his unmodified Shinra-issued uniform (why wouldn't he, it came free and is surprisingly sturdy), he has a place to sleep, which means he will have enough to buy and care for his plants and still have some money left over to send home to his mother. That's all he needs.

What Lazard didn't expect is a lecture. A two hour lecture about paying 2nd and 3rd class kids fairly and honoring their relentless training and hard work. And above all else, giving them enough to make it possible for them to realize their dreams. Lazard makes a mental note to ask a 2nd or 3rd sometime about this whole dream business.

Next, he calls in Genesis. Genesis might be a problem. First time Lazard laid eyes on Genesis it was immediately clear to him this was a man used to luxury. Lazard wonders whether he could survive a firaga to his face, and considers how best to approach the subject to minimize the chances of an inferno but decides to just get straight to the point. It will be less suspicious. But Genesis just looks confused. Halfway through Lazard's explanation he asks: "We are getting paid for this?" (His parents financed everything he needed, and his paychecks have been accumulating in his account which he didn't even know existed, let alone how to access it.)

Lazard leaves Sephiroth for last. He's nervous and sweating a bit now. If the legendary hero gets offended... Lazard has heard stories.

Sephiroth stands unnaturally still, silent, and Lazard can't help but think of a snake ready to strike.

For a few moments he could swear he sees Sephiroth's pupils getting narrower and narrower. Then Sephiroth speaks: "Will the company still provide my shampoo and conditioner in satisfying quantities?" When Lazard says the pay cut is unrelated to any of the perks he is receiving, without a word Sephiroth turns and leaves.