onepassingnight

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Prelude

[The dream starts innocently enough, a simple stretch of land. It looks like a stretch of land one might find in the western part of the world, or even within Wutai. There's no city or town within sight of it, though there are some mountains off in the distance, their peaks cloaked in the white of snow and ice.

There's a lone figure moving through the area, the healthy grasses and wildflowers brushing lightly against the black leather boots and coat she's wearing. The wind lightly toying with her long silver-white hair. It seems a relaxed and innocent dream, until one notices small tale-tales within the woman's body language. She's seeking something important, but as of yet hasn't found it. Then a rather large black bird appears within the sky and she purposely moves to follow it carefully, watching and waiting until it lands before she moves closer to it, one gloved hand reaching out in such a way it suggests a familiarity with the bird.

What comes as an apparent unexpected shock to her is when the bird turns and attempts to peck at the hand she's extended. She manages to get it out of the way before the blow lands, but the fact that the bird has attempted to hurt her seems to have startled her somewhat. Before she can recover to try reaching for it once again, the black bird spreads its wings and takes off to the skies, leaving her sight within short order.]

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[Seeing Sephiroth in such a strange setting was in of itself unnerving. After chasing him for months Reno suddenly encounters him on a strange plain, trying to touch birds?

Wait.]

Something on your mind?

[His eyes narrowed. There was something off about Sephiroth this time.]

Edited 2012-04-26 02:26 (UTC)

[Any vulnerability that might have been visible after the unexpected attack and departure vanishes within a second of hearing the question directed toward her. She'd thought herself alone here, but it would seem not to be the case now.

She turned toward the redhead, arms settling across her chest as she considered just how to respond to the question.]

Nothing that I care to share. Why are you here?

[He was shocked to find out what was off- this Sephiroth was female. Another female clone? This was getting way too weird.]

I don't know. Thought maybe you could tell me?

I have no answers for you. You're the one who invaded my dream. I certainly didn't invite you here.

Hey, if I could control where I showed up, I definitely wouldn't have chosen yours.

Oh? Why not?

[Yes, she doesn't care for you invading her dreams, they're meant to be private, but she is admittedly curious why you wouldn't desire to visit hers if given the ability to pick and choose which to visit.]

[Reno tilted his head. If it was another clone, it was possible she would have no idea what he was talking about.]

Nibelheim ring a bell?

[She considers the name, but there's no real recognition there.]

It's the name of a small town on the western continent, correct? I've not been to it, but I've seen it on the maps I've looked at. Why?

[So Sephiroth wouldn't know anything if he told her about what had happened there. Reno decided it was best not to tell her.]

Nevermind. My mistake.

[That earned a slight raise of an eyebrow and she considered asking the Turk just why he had brought it up with her. Perhaps there was some secret the company held concerning the town that the redhead had thought she had known. Though why that would be a reason to refrain from visiting her dreams, she didn't know. It did make her a little curious about the place now however.]

I see. Do I have to wake up in order to get my mind back to myself, you think?

[She doesn't quite mind your company, it's keeping her from brooding on a certain recent confusing event, but there are some things she doesn't care to share with just anyone. Her relationship with a certain two men, the redhead in particular is one of those things...which is sort of what the dream started off about. Perhaps it's for the better that it has gotten derailed from that... ]

[Reno folded his arms and shrugged.]

I don't got a clue how to get outta here, sweets. Otherwise I probably would have left by now.

[Maybe there was a reason why he was here, though. These things rarely happened without reason, even if it was a screwed up type of reason.]

So, what's got you bothered?

[Oh Reno, you're likely the only one gutsy enough in the company, save Genesis or Angeal, to use such a word in reference to her. There's even faint amusement to be seen in her cat-like green eyes at it despite the fact she usually doesn't care for such flippancy directed toward her. She knows Reno doesn't mean it in a derogatory manner and thus she dismisses it as harmless.

The question however kills any hint of good humor and she looks away from the redhead, toward the direction the bird had taken off toward.]

It's nothing to concern yourself with.

[She has no desire to discuss her troubles with a certain redhead with this redhead. She'd end up having to explain why she was troubled which would end up letting ShinRa know exactly how much her friends actually meant to her. The company had enough of a leash on her as it was, she didn't need to be handing them any more chain to use on her.]

[Now, Reno could sniff out an interesting bit of gossip from anywhere, and this was interesting.]

You sure? Never a better confidant than a turk.

[Reno gets a sideways look at that statement, she watches him through the veil of her bangs quietly for a couple minutes before she finally speaks.]

Provided the Turk can keep what he learns out of the company's ears.

[By which she means mainly Scarlet and the President and especially Hojo's ears.]

[Oh, Reno understands just fine.]

Hojo isn't one of my most favorite of people. The chance to keep something from him? You got me excited.

[There's a faint hint of what might be a smile at that, though it doesn't last long.]

Do friends fight and bicker with each other?

[It's an innocent question, she's not had much of a chance to observe people outside the battlefield or the halls of the company. She's uncertain really how friendship works beyond having people treat you like you're a normal person like anyone else and trusting them to watch your back and keep you alive when you're fighting together on the field.]

[Ok, that one took him by surprise.]

All the damned time. Why?

[You better feel damned honored that she's actually talking to you about her personal life, Reno. Though one might say, she's hoping you'll end up forgetting most of this upon waking while having sounded out this problem on someone who likely has more experience with friendship outside of the military. She's still relatively new to this friendship thing.]

I got into an argument with a friend of mine... over something unexpected. He stalked off afterward refusing to talk further with me.

Oh, yeah. Yeah, that's pretty common.

[He relaxes a bit, rubbing his ear a bit.]

I wouldn't worry about it too much. Sounds like you just need to give him some space.

[There's another figure present, making its way across the landscape, like a twin of the first.

From a distance, he sees her with the bird, the animal alighting on her hand, then striking it. He frowns, and by the time the bird has left her sight, he's close enough to see her very clearly, not far away at all. It's not hard to miss the fact that they're so alike, almost identical.

It's interesting, to see himself like this.]

It wouldn't stay.

[The imagery itself isn't familiar, but the feeling is.]

[She wasn't expecting the voice, but manages to check any sign of surprise as she turns to face it and once again is surprised by the figure behind her. It's interesting to see in a sense, almost like looking in a mirror except for a few obvious differences.

Her gaze briefly returns to the direction that the bird flew in.]

No. [A pause.] But he'll return.

[She wishes she felt as certain about that as the words sounded. It was just one argument, but the fact they had argued at all had come as a surprise. Especially over such a stupid thing as how much attention she'd been getting lately. It wasn't like she had that much of a say in what ShinRa's PR people did after all.]

[Sephiroth nods, wondering what is meant by this: a version of himself, and the black bird flying away. He follows her gaze.]

Why did he leave?

[He senses that the event is more than it seems. There's a sense of something else here, not immediately obvious. What is it? ...unease?

He's not the most empathetic man, but he finds someone like himself easier to read than he might anyone else.]

[Her gaze returns to the man before her, she understood the symbolism of the bird, and while unexpected, now understood the attack. The man before her was an enigma though.]

He was angry with me, I tried to make him see there was nothing to be angry about, but he wouldn't listen.

He was being irrational. I think I understand.

[The pointless anger and the refusal to listen: he knows these things, too.]

I suppose there's no point in introductions, considering. Sephiroth.

[This wasn't the first time he'd found himself talking to himself.]

[She nods in response to the statements and introduction.]

Sephiroth. Are you someone else... or are you part of this dream?

[Because this is the first time she's actually found herself facing someone like herself, unless one counted that one oddball dream she'd had earlier.]

[In turn, he nods as well.]

I'm Sephiroth also. I am myself.

[So he is, and so he intends to remain.]

As for the dream, I am in it, but not of it.

You must be the one of which Tseng spoke of. Might I ask what year you're in?

[Tseng had also told her that her male counterpart had died sometime around two years from her own current time. Perhaps if he's still alive, she might be able to help him by warning him that there was something apparently out there capable of killing him...and then he hopefully avoid that fate. If he could, then perhaps then he would be able to aid Tseng later on when he was confronted with Deepground.

It was worth the attempt, why connect various times together if they couldn't learn from the future to alter the past?]

I have spoken to Tseng, yes.

[He remembers dreaming about the Turk before, things the man said to him. He's heard many interesting things in dreams lately.]

You may. From my perspective, it's currently the year 0001. Summer. And for you?

0000, Spring.

[There's a brief pause, considering the words to follow before they're actually spoken. She still doesn't know what the man could have met that would have actually ended in his defeat and death, so she can't say how he dies, but perhaps the forewarning will be enough.]

He told me you died in 0002.

[He nods.]

Is it that soon? I've heard that I'm supposed to die, but not the date. Thank you.

[He's heard who kills him, too, if not the details, but that's not important now. Unlike most men might upon hearing of their coming death, he doesn't appear particularly worried.]

And what of Angeal and Genesis? Where are they?

[He doesn't assume that her life is the same as his--as all the others in his dream seem to assume that his life will be as they expect. Things that haven't happened yet aren't set. Chance exists, and free will.]

[At least she was able to have been of some help, all that remains is her hope he can change things, after all. If anyone can, he should be capable of it.]

You're welcome. They're here in Midgar with me... Angeal is training someone.

[And Genesis had for some reason gotten angry with her, for some reason that she had yet to quite understand. Though possibly it could involve the fact she had turned down the invitation to spar in the simulators because the company had requested her presence elsewhere at the time. It's a guess, but perhaps that is what sparked things, she doubts she'll ever really know for certain.]

Edited 2012-04-27 08:27 (UTC)

I am planning to deal with the situation. I believe those events can be averted.

[Although, what if the alternative will be worse? It won't be easy. That's the one thing that's stayed his hand so far. There will be deaths either way; he's so well-snared in the trap ShinRa made for him that he will have to cut his way out.

At the mention of Angeal training, his expression softens, but he doesn't smile.]

These dreams are strange, and I don't know precisely what they mean or why we have them. Logically, it's best not to take anything in a dream too seriously in your waking life, but it's important that I tell you--

Angeal and Genesis are going to die. In my time, they are already gone, but it might be possible for you to stop this from happening.

[Everyone else is talking about Nibelheim, but he's more interested in Modeoheim.]

[Any relief that might have been gained by the previous statement is completely negated by the following statements. The two men are really the only thing which makes her life such as it is bearable. Though they're also the thing which keeps her from seriously entertaining the thought of leaving the company as well.

Still, she would rather remain where she is than lose them. And while she understands his warning against taking these dreams seriously... if the possibility exists that she might lose them, she wants to know how it happens so she can see if they can avoid it.]

How?

[He remains calm when speaking of it, and he shows little emotion, but there's a weariness in his bearing, and he feels nothing so much as resignation. The only friends he's known are dead now (as far as he knows), and he has very little left in his life, aside from his loyalty to SOLDIER. But he can't give into despair, now. He must remain strong, remain himself.

He's angry with them both, even now, and maybe he'll never forgive them, but there's no need for her to learn that anger.]

There are some things I do not know, as they are classified.

Genesis and Angeal are experimental subjects. [He does not need to add as we are. He had thought his friends had been ordinary children, but he'd been wrong.] Genesis is unstable, and he will begin to degrade. He'll lose his reason and desert. [A pause.] Angeal will follow him.

[She notes silently the weariness and to a degree even understands it. She has her own feelings of it that she manages to hide when asked to return to the field of battle. Taking lives instead of saving them as she once upon a time desired to do.

If not for her friends, she's not sure how she'd continue with her current life. She cares not for the company which employees her, and only marginally for the troops also part of SOLDIER. Her loyalty is to her friends and herself... if she lost them, would she remain or would she leave?

It's a question she in a sense desires never to honestly answer. But if the man before her is to be believed, she'll end up losing them and be forced to answer it.]

Is there anything I can do to prevent this loss of reason and desertion?

[Even if the answer is negative, she will likely still seek to prevent it. And if she can't prevent it, she will seek a way to reverse it... somehow.]

[Here, finally, is someone who can understand what he feels, without needing to be told. He hasn't spoken to anyone of the impact the deaths at Modeoheim had on him. He's simply continued to work. He dislikes spelling out his emotions, but he can tell from her reaction that she must feel the same, or similar, about their friends.

His friends were what mattered most to him, and now they are gone.] There might be.

[He will not prophecy doom, because he does not believe in any such thing.]

If I could tell you exactly what must be done, I would. [He hadn't done the right thing, so he didn't know what that might be. If he could save them in another world, he would not hesitate, would stop at nothing to do so.] Do not allow Genesis to push you away. The two of them are SOLDIER type G, from Project G, which was headed by Professor Hollander. He will be your enemy. I've been doing some research in the data room. There is some information to be found there.

It will be difficult, but not impossible.

[If anyone can do it, it's Sephiroth, he knows.]

[It's a place to begin, more than she knew or had before. Once she wakes, she'll likely go seek Genesis out to try and make amends for their argument... and then later when she has time to herself, she'll seek out the data he's referred to, and perhaps Hollander as well. She'll need to know all she can about her friends before this prophesied illness actually grips them.

If she can't find an actual cure, then she can at least allow her friends to keep their reason and live until she can find something which can halt it or hopefully... eventually reverse it.]

I won't let them leave and die. [It's a commitment to herself and a promise to the man before her. She might not be able to stop the illness from claiming them in the end, but she can certainly attempt to keep them from deserting the company and herself and thus endangering themselves in doing so.

Inasmuch as she doesn't care for the company, they do have the best medical and research facilities that she knows of. Of course, Hojo may not care for her using them, but then when has she ever cared what that man has thought of her actions?]

Edited 2012-04-29 19:00 (UTC)

I'm glad.

[And though he's not often what might be considered glad (not lately, that is), he does seem pleased, for the moment.

He exhales, deeply.]

I like to think that you might save them. Zack will help you.

[He knows nothing of a cure for the degradation, or even if such a thing is possible. It never came to that, as they both died.] Bear in mind that the two of them will have dissimilar conditions. [He wishes he could tell her more about that, but the relevant information wasn't available to him. In some ways, he quite simply didn't know what had happened to his best friends.]

It might be easy to discount a dream when you awaken, but you can take this to be the counsel of your subconscious.

[Kuja is interested in this scene. The woman, the bird. Like a bird himself, he can fly, and as the black bird takes flight he lands lightly behind her, not far from where she's standing.

She's very tall--taller than he is, and he's considered tall in his world. An interesting woman.]

An envious little bird, I see. [He nods toward where the black bird has gone.] Perhaps because you're far finer and fairer and fiercer. A silver falcon rather than a dark raven.

[She turns partly to look at the man behind her. Beyond herself and her counterpart, the man is the first she's met with hair of a similar color to her own. It's interesting to say the least. His words strike closer to home than she lets show however. Hitting on the essence of the argument which had happened between her and Genesis.]

Yes, he doesn't see that there's nothing really to be that envious over though.

Envy says far more about the one who fosters it than the one who is envied. There's something he lacks, something he desires. Perhaps he feels he suffers, for lack of it. You might not have it, but he wants it, and so he sees it, even in places where it is not to be found.

[He could find the envy in a living heart and foster it. Along with greed, hatred, and fear. Not that he would do such a thing now, but he understood how such feelings could be amplified, and his was not the only force that could warp minds and breed discord. Some people did it all on their own.

As for himself, he'd learned that lesson only too well, and too painfully. He'd envied his brother, and he'd envied the living, and he'd envied the free. It had blinded him, and his blindness had ended in destruction and his death.]

My name is Kuja.

[And he bows, politely and more than a touch dramatically.]

I see.

[And that did actually made sense in a way. She would have to think the issue over again later, perhaps in a different manner than which she'd been going than before. She might not be able to do anything still.. but understanding would at least be nice.]

Sephiroth. A pleasure to meet you, Kuja.

Emotions are messy and imprecise, but they have their own rules they follow, their own language.

[He couldn't always feel every emotion, but he understood the worse ones all too well.]

Sephiroth. Your name has a lovely sound. [She's so mannerly, what a pleasant change.] It is a pleasure to meet you as well.

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Prelude

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