- Location
- washington
Bit fucked up to undo the lives of the future but okay I guess. Unless their making a timeline split.
Project: Gamer Ver. 2 (Young Justice/Gamer/Multicross OC)
- Thread starter Mister Ficser
- Start date
Lycanthromancer
The Arcane Fuzz
- Location
- USA
Considering the Remake altquels...
And speaking of, is Al going to find himself encountering temporal whispers?
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Lopezelpesado
Space worm best worm.
- Pronouns
- Something
Oh lawd aerith is adorable.
He went there? I dont remember that....
He should steal the master crown.... For uh, science.
He went there? I dont remember that....
He should steal the master crown.... For uh, science.
Lycanthromancer
The Arcane Fuzz
- Location
- USA
Yep! He entered a cook-off in exchange for a spell scroll. Kirby won, of course, but he gave Alchemist the scroll anyway.
The option for UNLIMITED POWAH, MUAHAHAHAHAHA! should be available when going up against things like Darkseid.
And yes, the Master Crown absolutely bestows omnipotence levels of strength. It's just that that's nowhere near enough to beat Kirby. He eats omnipotent enemies for lunch. Literally.
Considering Al reads as a WEAPON? Even the Whispers aren't sure what to make of him. The planet, that iteration of Gaia, is incredibly confused and is going to be stuck trying to play catch-up as Alchemist orchestrates the mother of all patch jobs on the problems he can actually deal with.
And someone needs to have a word with Minerva about selecting champions that aren't... Genesis.
Just every one who met him and a lot that didn't
NexysDhyArchen
Throne Breaker
Shinra is going to think, correctly, that Hojo was killed by whoever stole the rare, unknown summoning materia. Then they'll have to decide who to blame for a perfect assassination and theft with no evidence beyond the corpse. Depending on how well known Wutai Ninja shenanigans are... could Al have set Shinra ON the path to Wutai?
And speaking of Wutai, Yuffie and Al are almost certainly going to get more of an education on Internal Wutaian politics. Learning just who Yuffie's Mom was, as a person rather than a vague figure memory. And why she was killed, not Godo or Yuffie. I'm worried this might lead to Godo being responsible.
And speaking of Wutai, Yuffie and Al are almost certainly going to get more of an education on Internal Wutaian politics. Learning just who Yuffie's Mom was, as a person rather than a vague figure memory. And why she was killed, not Godo or Yuffie. I'm worried this might lead to Godo being responsible.
Lycanthromancer
The Arcane Fuzz
- Location
- USA
I'm fairly certain he was, else why wouldn't the assassin target Godo, instead?
- Location
- Somewhere in this forsaken world
The only thing that comes to mind is some spiderman that was killing other spidermans? Something from that animated movie with Morales or whatever his name was.
Question about the Limit Break augment. When it says it increases the level cap by 100% is that by the base level cap or the current level cap. Basically I'm asking if the new level cap is going to be 300 or 400, considering it's currently 200.
Plus 100% of base.
The level cap for Al is 400, though, as of the current chapter.. Limit Break 1 (+100%), Limit Break 2 (+100%) and Omni-Potent (+100%) from the Worm shitfest.
- Location
- The State of Denial
Vincent is having a good dream in his coffin for a change, and he isn't quite sure why.
He went there to learn true polymorph or whatever. Had a cooking competition to win the spell and came fifth or something, but kirby felt bad and gave it to him anyway. It was halfway through the first time Al and Jinx went to FF7.
Hey quick question does Al's dragon form look something like Wow's astral cloud serpent in western dragon form, or more like Ben 10's Alien X in the form of a western dragon. I just ask cause the dnd void dragon art work I've seen looks like a black dragon with white spots rather than a dragon shaped hole in the world showing a night sky like you've described him as before. Or at least how other characters have described him.
Lycanthromancer
The Arcane Fuzz
- Location
- USA
..Hmm. You know, Al could probably find some Jenova cells, cast entangled teleport, and dump her ass off on a moon and call it 'done'. Hojo, Jenova, and Shinra are really the three biggest reasons why the world of final fantasy 7 sucks more than any other given planet.
Although, personally I would have used Disintegrate instead of a stab to the back of the head- FF7 tends to clone shit it really shouldn't.
Although, personally I would have used Disintegrate instead of a stab to the back of the head- FF7 tends to clone shit it really shouldn't.
- Location
- Texas
I really like it when Alchemist has real emotion and isn't a killing machine. This was great
QUESTION: How much time you need to spend on Infinity Island to acquire paradox protection?
Weeks? Months?
Example:
Kary: "I didn't know Raven enjoyed hot springs so much."
Alchemist: (rolls eyes)
"A certain pink-haired dragoness convinced Raven that bathing in Chronoton-laced water will accelerate the development of paradox protection."Jinx: "I REGRET NOTHING!!!"
QUESTION: How much time you need to spend on Infinity Island to acquire paradox protection?
Weeks? Months?
Example:
Kary: "I didn't know Raven enjoyed hot springs so much."
Alchemist: (rolls eyes)
Jinx: "I REGRET NOTHING!!!"
A week would probably be enough. Or it could be shortcut by Alchemist offering the girl a bottle of Chronoton-laced water leftover from the visit by those dirty time travelers.
Lycanthromancer
The Arcane Fuzz
- Location
- USA
He might want to just hit the entire world with it to prevent the next Crisis from affecting this world (and the YJ world, when he gets back). It's absolutely something he can do; he just needs to figure out how.
It'd also protect the timeline from Thawne, as well.
Chapter 333, FF7 Early Years
Project: Gamer Ver. 2 Alpha Build 3.3.3
Disclaimer Me Do: I own nothing you recognize. And most of wot you don't recognize, I still don't own.
_________________________________________________________________________
Ifalna woke up slowly, her eyes felt gummy and the bed was too soft. She crossed one arm over her face, her mind slowly forming a thought...
It was rare for her to wake up before the guards came-
The woman shot up in the bed, her head whipping back and forth as her eyes darted around the room.
"Aerith?!" Ifalna shouted, looking for her wayward daughter in the unfamiliar surroundings. The woman felt her neck pop as she locked on to the wooden door to her right, cracked open just a smidge. "Aerith?!"
Scrambling out from underneath of a patchwork quilt, the woman had to hike her sweatpants back up as she scrambled out the door. Frantically looking around the hallway, she saw that the bathroom was open, another bedroom door was open, the door in between was closed but it was too small to be anything but a closet so Ifalna hurried downstairs.
She didn't see her daughter anywhere downstairs, either, but she did find the strange... thing that had pulled her and her daughter out of ShinRa. The entity- it looked human but most certainly was not!- was... sipping something from a mug as it consulted a file and wrote in a notebook?
Those yellow eyes, monstrous but kind, looked up from whatever the creature was doing to gaze at her...
"There's some oatmeal on the stove," it said to her, motioning to the next room with its mug. "Cinnamon and brown sugar are in the upper cabinet between the stove and the fridge. Fresh fruit on the counter. Help yourself."
"...Where is Aerith?" Ifalna asked, steel finding its way into her voice.
"Out back," the creature told her before taking a small sip from its mug. "My kid, Yuffie, wanted to play hide and seek. Then the dragon and the hellhound got involved and I -think- they modified the rules? Not sure if they're still playing or they wore themselves out..." Alec Mist shrugged and took another sip from his mug. "You should be able to see them from the door in the kitchen."
Ifalna looked at the entity for a long moment before she nodded to herself and decided to check things in person.
The kitchen wasn't especially full. There were the common utilities, a stove and a refrigerator were recognizable, though the shapes were... sleeker and newer than she was familiar with. And, yes, there was a respectable amount of food just waiting to be eaten.
But the coil of tension in Ifalna's gut overrode any hunger she might have been feeling.
Opening the door at the side of the room, Ifalna leaned out and looked around. Directly in front was another building, to her right was a door that seemed to hang in the air, to her left...
Out, beyond a field of bushes and flowers, Ifalna saw Aerith. Her daughter was on her knees while another girl- Yuffie, perhaps?- was crouched next to her. Her daughter was on her knees, grass staining the loose pants she'd been given, as she laughed and giggled while she rubbed the belly of a great, big black dog.
Tears burned at Ifalna's eyes at the joyous sounds.
Her daughter was laughing. Her daughter was -happy-.
It was something Ifalna had never been able to give her, not while they cowered under the yoke of ShinRa. Aerith hadn't laughed like that since she'd been a toddler, playing small, simple games with Ifalna.
Swallowing thickly, Ifalna closed the door and looked back around the kitchen. Her stomach grumbled, twisting uncomfortably, and Ifalna pressed her hand to her side.
Then, with growing confusion at the fact that her side didn't hurt when she'd done that, she pressed again. Harder.
Nothing?
Lifting the hem of her shirt, Ifalna examined the side of her stomach and frowned in confusion.
Her biopsy scars were missing?
She ran her fingers over smooth, unblemished skin and pursed her lips in confusion.
Bone marrow, liver, spleen, uterus...
Dozens and dozens of small, silver dots were missing from her skin.
Ifalna looked to the wall between her and their host, confusion and concern alike warring for dominance. He'd done something to her, he had to have.
Why, though?
Shaking her long mane of brown, curly hair, Ifalna pushed those concerns down. She needed to eat, then she needed to get answers. She busied herself with filling a bowl with a significant amount of oatmeal, only just starting to feel ravenously hungry, and then began loading that with an assortment of fruit.
Especially apples. Real apples. Not those bland, cheap, grainy Banora Dumbapples.
Walking back out into the dining room with her bounty, Ifalna sat at the table across from their host. Who had only just looked up to her and nodded, still busy with whatever he was doing.
"...What do you want with us?" Ifalna asked as she read the label on one of the files he'd been working with.
Nibelheim
Prototype large-scale Mako Reactor
"Nothing," Alec told her.
"...Then why did you save us?"
"Any of a number of reasons, possibly," Alec said as he continued writing in his notebook. "It could muddy the trail when ShinRa goes looking for Hojo's murderer..."
Ifalna dropped her spoon in shock, the little metal object plopping into her oatmeal and covering her in a few specks of food.
"It might distract them from the files I stole from their records office," Alec continued, ignoring the effect his words already had on her. "It might also trick the various factions inside of ShinRa into going after each other's throats while using your disappearance as an excuse. Nobody outside of Science, the directors and Leopold were supposed to know you exist. Now a director is dead, you're missing and a number of incriminating files have vanished. Which will hopefully cause no shortage of infighting to go along with the whole 'Rhadoran War' they're currently engaged in."
The man paused, taking a long sip from his mug before he continued.
"Of course, I didn't help you for any of those reasons."
"Then... why?" Ifalna asked.
She felt... lightheaded.
Hojo was dead.
Hojo. Was dead.
The only way the news could be better would be if she'd somehow been the one to strangle the life out of that foul, disgusting leech of a human being.
"I was there," Alec said, as though it were somehow simple. "You and Aerith needed help. I will not abide the suffering of a child. And I will not abide a monster that preys on children, especially."
"...How did you know?" Ifalna asked. She'd picked her spoon back up but she was holding it tight in a white-knuckled grip. "About me? About Aerith?"
"Oh, that? We're from the future."
-----
Alchemist continued reading and jotting down notes as Ifalna stared at him blankly.
Honestly, did Ifalna think that one of her caretakers had grown enough of a spine to rebel against ShinRa? In the future that he'd aborted, she would have sacrificed her life escaping with her daughter, just for ShinRa to hound Aerith at every step of her life until the monster they kept in their basement, Jenova pretending at the shape of Sephiroth, finally killed the poor girl.
Frowning as he read through a paragraph that didn't make any sense, Alchemist flipped back a few pages to double-check...
Then reached up to press a pair of fingers against the sinuses in his forehead because, no, he'd read things correctly the first time.
He hated engineers. He really did. Every single one that got a degree and went straight to designing anything without spending time as a mechanic or construction worker could go and hang.
Because the 'Safe' shutdown procedure for the Nibelheim Mako Reactor required someone shut off a valve to the main Mako pump... which was situated at the bottom of the main Mako preparation pool. Which couldn't be drained until the main pump was deactivated.
Leaning back, Alchemist picked up his mug of hot chocolate and frowned harder at the lack of weight in his mug. With a groan, the man got up from his chair and made his way into the kitchen to make more.
Pouring milk into his mug, the mage skipped using the microwave and simply began heating the liquid with prestidigitation as he slowly stirred a packet of powder into it.
ShinRa, Alchemist had discovered, had the absolutely dumbest safety precautions set up for the reactors. He'd gone in knowing that they were functionally bespoke machines, each one uniquely crafted to work within the environment they occupied. But would it have killed people to put in half-way decent accessways? Or to have the various levers and valves placed somewhere that wasn't filled with the kind of toxic waste that called for both an armored diving suit and a Level-A Hazmat suit?
Continuing his grumbling, Alchemist went back to the dining room to get back to work on deciphering the notes, diagrams and blueprints to the various reactors.
"...Why did you come back?" Ifalna asked as she stirred her oatmeal. "Did you come back for us?"
"No," Alchemist immediately denied. "Intentionally traveling to the past to alter it like that is... insane. The people that have tried, Thawne or Hartdegen, the people that would alter the past to make an ideal future are never satisfied. You would have died running from ShinRa with your daughter, Ifalna. The last time I visited this reality, eight or so years in the future? I recovered your remains and buried them next to your husband."
Alchemist closed the notes in front of him, detailing the safe decommissioning process for the Corel reactor, and looked up as Ifalna exhaled in a shaky gasp.
"This visit," he continued quietly as he debated what he should do; Ifalna was shaking, tears in her eyes as she wrapped her arms around herself, "was supposed to be a short trip so I could help Yuffie collect her mother's ashes so we could build a shrine for her."
And source some local materials that would fit with whatever vision Yuffie had for the shrine. Which Alchemist had already done, in disguise, after he'd put the fear of Him into Daisuke. He hadn't killed the man, hadn't even hurt him much aside from the concussion that came with being slammed head-first through a decently constructed countertop.
Gaia was a deathworld. And there were people that, through sheer training and insane grit, could fight the WEAPONs without any Jenova cell modifications. Being an offensive xenophobe to total strangers when they could have some kind of doomsday Materia or other power up their sleeve was... well, it was a special kind of stupid.
"But," Alchemist said as he stood up and slowly walked around the table. "We are here. Now. And I will not leave you or your daughter to suffer because the trappings of fate demand it."
He hesitated for a second before placing a hand on Ifalna's shoulder. The woman shuddered for a moment before she latched her arms around him, crying against him.
"Aerith... never knew him," Ifalma muttered thickly. "They came into our home- They killed him! She wasn't- She wasn't- She wasn't even a month old..."
Alchemist felt tears prickling against his own eyes as he wrapped his arms around Ifalna's thin shoulders.
"We can visit his grave," Alchemist quietly offered. "The people of Icicle Inn gave him that much."
Ifalna didn't say anything, she just sobbed wordlessly against him but she did nod.
Alchemist quietly sighed, a hollow ache in his chest as, in his workshop a few buildings over, his Bilocation duplicate put down the adamantine sheetmetal disc it'd been reinforcing.
The Alchemist already in the house would keep Ifalna company while the second would get together the winter clothes necessary for everyone.
Idly, both parts of him wondered how well Contact Other Plane would function if cast through Wish to speak with a departed soul within Gaia's Lifestream before he pushed the thought down.
The dead deserved their rest. Summoning their echoes back to the realm of the living only served to add more trauma to both sides of the divide.
-----
Icicle Inn was a location that Yuffie had never been to. She'd been to a lot of places, sure, from Gongaga to Junon and then all the way around to Midgar then back up around to the Gold Saucer but she'd never, ever been to the northern continent.
She'd been told a number of times how cold it was and that was more than enough to keep the little ninja from setting foot on the landmass, let alone traversing the treacherous forests to see the frigid lands.
Yuffie liked keeping warm, thank you very much! Short sleeve shirts and short pants were -way- more comfortable than all the heavy stuff her dad liked to wear!
But he'd brought out a whole bunch of heavy clothes and decided they were all going to the land of ice and snow. And Yuffie had to come along.
Alright, he'd asked if she wanted to stay behind. But he was going, and so was Aerith and her mom. She didn't know what all they were heading out to do but Yuffie was -not- gonna be left behind!
Also? F.Y.I?
Talking to an Aerith that was younger than her was -wild-. The last time she'd met Aerith, the girl had been a teenager that was older than Yuffie and her dad had just killed off ShinRa.
The younger Aerith that was here, now? She didn't have that bossy, motherly attitude that Yuffie had briefly seen.
This one was... mousy and scared. She was so small.
The breakfast with oatmeal and fruit that her dad made? Aerith hadn't known what to do at all!
And... Yuffie didn't get it. Really. But her dad had pulled her aside and whispered to her to be patient and show Aerith how to do all kinds of basic things. He'd told her that, somehow, impossibly, Aerith had been even more sheltered and hidden away than even Godo had wanted to do to Yuffie!
So, she didn't understand everything. Not really.
But Big Sis Yuffie was on the case! She'd shown Aerith how to fill up a bowl with all the tastiest, juiciest apples and oranges and stuff to make the bland oatmeal actually taste good!
Then she took the younger girl outside, practically dragging her out the door by her hand, to teach her how to play hide and seek!
Which... Aerith sort of knew how to play? But her version had some sort of rule about making the seeker laugh and it'd reset the game instead of turning the found person into the seeker.
Two players hadn't made for much of a game, though. So Yuffie had put her fingers to her lips and whistled, calling the familiars out to play!
Aerith had frozen in fear at the sight of them, literally trembling as Ash nosed around the girl, sniffing her. Then the big pupper had said she 'smells good!' and that broke Aerith out of her trance.
Unfortunately, instead of playing hide and seek? Aerith just wanted to pet Ash. And Ash definitely wasn't going to stop her.
After that? After that was the winter trip.
Eugh.
Even bundled up in a heavy parka with thick, fluffy pants, Yuffie was still a shivering mess.
Aerith was, too.
Ifalna seemed like she got used to it pretty quick, though.
And, sending a toxic glare over to the side where her dad was, he was practically just ignoring the cold entirely.
"...So, what are we here for?" Yuffie eventually asked as they walked by a couple of kids that were rolling up some big balls of snow. "Some kind of awesome Materia? A legendary super-weapon? Some hidden master of some sort of forgotten art?!"
"I've already collected copies of all the good Materia," her dad told her as he held up a hand and began ticking at his fingers. "Alexander, Kjata, Neo-Bahamut, Added Cut and MP-Turbo. There's a Javelin and an Enhance Sword up on the glacier but we're not heading there. And there's nothing I need from the Chocobo Sage, not unless I want to figure out which one of his chocobos ate an Enemy Skill Materia."
Yuffie... had been kidding. But it was actually kinda neat how her dad just knew where all the good treasures were.
As they passed by one of the little houses that dotted the snow, though, Ifalna froze. Not, like, because she was cold. She froze in place and made a sort of choked half-sob noise.
"...There might be a few things left inside," her dad offered quietly. "We can-"
"No!" Ifalna said, her voice several octaves louder and shriller than she'd probably intended.
Yuffie looked to the side, towards Aerith, but the girl was shivering and didn't look like she knew what was going on, either.
Actually, she was shivering a lot and she kept glancing up and then looking back down.
Reaching over to the girl, Yuffie wrapped one of her hands, clad in blue mittens, around one of Aerith's. The girl didn't stop shivering but she looked at Yuffie and-
The girl was terrified.
There wasn't much of Aerith's face visible, between the heavy hood over her head and the thick scarf covering the bottom of her face but her eyes were positively petrified!
"...No," Ifalna repeated, quieter. "There's nothing there. Not... anymore. Just... bad memories."
"...Alright," her dad said, his voice somber. "Just let me know if you change your mind."
They started walking ahead and Yuffie had to give Aerith a little tug before the girl started to follow them. The people in the little village were pointing and whispering as the party passed but they didn't stop.
It was when her dad pushed open a rusted, iron gate and made fresh tracks in the snow, revealing gravestones, that Yuffie finally understood where they were.
She pulled Aerith tighter to her side and looked at the adults. Her dad was focused but Ifalna had crossed her arms over her midsection to hug herself.
They passed by a number of headstones until they came to a small plot that was set a bit aside from the others. It didn't look particularly special but her dad dropped down to his knees in front of it and ran his gloves over the stone, brushing off the snow and revealing carved marble and a name.
Gast Faremis
Loving Husband and Father
"Was that... my dad?" Aerith asked as Alchemist stood up and stepped away from the headstone.
"Yes," Ifalna said as she stepped up to take Alchemist's place. She dropped to her knees and placed her right hand on the headstone. "He is. He... He died trying to protect us."
Aerith pulled her hand free of Yuffie's and stepped up, crunching through the snow to stand next to her mom. Ifalna's shoulders shook for a moment before she reached out to pull Aerith against her and she sobbed, loud and heartbroken. Her keening wails ripped through the still, frigid air.
Yuffie... pressed herself into her dad's left side. When he put his left hand on her left shoulder, she reached up to hold on to it with her right hand.
That...
Godo had never missed Yuffie's mom that way.
Disclaimer Me Do: I own nothing you recognize. And most of wot you don't recognize, I still don't own.
_________________________________________________________________________
Ifalna woke up slowly, her eyes felt gummy and the bed was too soft. She crossed one arm over her face, her mind slowly forming a thought...
It was rare for her to wake up before the guards came-
The woman shot up in the bed, her head whipping back and forth as her eyes darted around the room.
"Aerith?!" Ifalna shouted, looking for her wayward daughter in the unfamiliar surroundings. The woman felt her neck pop as she locked on to the wooden door to her right, cracked open just a smidge. "Aerith?!"
Scrambling out from underneath of a patchwork quilt, the woman had to hike her sweatpants back up as she scrambled out the door. Frantically looking around the hallway, she saw that the bathroom was open, another bedroom door was open, the door in between was closed but it was too small to be anything but a closet so Ifalna hurried downstairs.
She didn't see her daughter anywhere downstairs, either, but she did find the strange... thing that had pulled her and her daughter out of ShinRa. The entity- it looked human but most certainly was not!- was... sipping something from a mug as it consulted a file and wrote in a notebook?
Those yellow eyes, monstrous but kind, looked up from whatever the creature was doing to gaze at her...
"There's some oatmeal on the stove," it said to her, motioning to the next room with its mug. "Cinnamon and brown sugar are in the upper cabinet between the stove and the fridge. Fresh fruit on the counter. Help yourself."
"...Where is Aerith?" Ifalna asked, steel finding its way into her voice.
"Out back," the creature told her before taking a small sip from its mug. "My kid, Yuffie, wanted to play hide and seek. Then the dragon and the hellhound got involved and I -think- they modified the rules? Not sure if they're still playing or they wore themselves out..." Alec Mist shrugged and took another sip from his mug. "You should be able to see them from the door in the kitchen."
Ifalna looked at the entity for a long moment before she nodded to herself and decided to check things in person.
The kitchen wasn't especially full. There were the common utilities, a stove and a refrigerator were recognizable, though the shapes were... sleeker and newer than she was familiar with. And, yes, there was a respectable amount of food just waiting to be eaten.
But the coil of tension in Ifalna's gut overrode any hunger she might have been feeling.
Opening the door at the side of the room, Ifalna leaned out and looked around. Directly in front was another building, to her right was a door that seemed to hang in the air, to her left...
Out, beyond a field of bushes and flowers, Ifalna saw Aerith. Her daughter was on her knees while another girl- Yuffie, perhaps?- was crouched next to her. Her daughter was on her knees, grass staining the loose pants she'd been given, as she laughed and giggled while she rubbed the belly of a great, big black dog.
Tears burned at Ifalna's eyes at the joyous sounds.
Her daughter was laughing. Her daughter was -happy-.
It was something Ifalna had never been able to give her, not while they cowered under the yoke of ShinRa. Aerith hadn't laughed like that since she'd been a toddler, playing small, simple games with Ifalna.
Swallowing thickly, Ifalna closed the door and looked back around the kitchen. Her stomach grumbled, twisting uncomfortably, and Ifalna pressed her hand to her side.
Then, with growing confusion at the fact that her side didn't hurt when she'd done that, she pressed again. Harder.
Nothing?
Lifting the hem of her shirt, Ifalna examined the side of her stomach and frowned in confusion.
Her biopsy scars were missing?
She ran her fingers over smooth, unblemished skin and pursed her lips in confusion.
Bone marrow, liver, spleen, uterus...
Dozens and dozens of small, silver dots were missing from her skin.
Ifalna looked to the wall between her and their host, confusion and concern alike warring for dominance. He'd done something to her, he had to have.
Why, though?
Shaking her long mane of brown, curly hair, Ifalna pushed those concerns down. She needed to eat, then she needed to get answers. She busied herself with filling a bowl with a significant amount of oatmeal, only just starting to feel ravenously hungry, and then began loading that with an assortment of fruit.
Especially apples. Real apples. Not those bland, cheap, grainy Banora Dumbapples.
Walking back out into the dining room with her bounty, Ifalna sat at the table across from their host. Who had only just looked up to her and nodded, still busy with whatever he was doing.
"...What do you want with us?" Ifalna asked as she read the label on one of the files he'd been working with.
Nibelheim
Prototype large-scale Mako Reactor
"Nothing," Alec told her.
"...Then why did you save us?"
"Any of a number of reasons, possibly," Alec said as he continued writing in his notebook. "It could muddy the trail when ShinRa goes looking for Hojo's murderer..."
Ifalna dropped her spoon in shock, the little metal object plopping into her oatmeal and covering her in a few specks of food.
"It might distract them from the files I stole from their records office," Alec continued, ignoring the effect his words already had on her. "It might also trick the various factions inside of ShinRa into going after each other's throats while using your disappearance as an excuse. Nobody outside of Science, the directors and Leopold were supposed to know you exist. Now a director is dead, you're missing and a number of incriminating files have vanished. Which will hopefully cause no shortage of infighting to go along with the whole 'Rhadoran War' they're currently engaged in."
The man paused, taking a long sip from his mug before he continued.
"Of course, I didn't help you for any of those reasons."
"Then... why?" Ifalna asked.
She felt... lightheaded.
Hojo was dead.
Hojo. Was dead.
The only way the news could be better would be if she'd somehow been the one to strangle the life out of that foul, disgusting leech of a human being.
"I was there," Alec said, as though it were somehow simple. "You and Aerith needed help. I will not abide the suffering of a child. And I will not abide a monster that preys on children, especially."
"...How did you know?" Ifalna asked. She'd picked her spoon back up but she was holding it tight in a white-knuckled grip. "About me? About Aerith?"
"Oh, that? We're from the future."
-----
Alchemist continued reading and jotting down notes as Ifalna stared at him blankly.
Honestly, did Ifalna think that one of her caretakers had grown enough of a spine to rebel against ShinRa? In the future that he'd aborted, she would have sacrificed her life escaping with her daughter, just for ShinRa to hound Aerith at every step of her life until the monster they kept in their basement, Jenova pretending at the shape of Sephiroth, finally killed the poor girl.
Frowning as he read through a paragraph that didn't make any sense, Alchemist flipped back a few pages to double-check...
Then reached up to press a pair of fingers against the sinuses in his forehead because, no, he'd read things correctly the first time.
He hated engineers. He really did. Every single one that got a degree and went straight to designing anything without spending time as a mechanic or construction worker could go and hang.
Because the 'Safe' shutdown procedure for the Nibelheim Mako Reactor required someone shut off a valve to the main Mako pump... which was situated at the bottom of the main Mako preparation pool. Which couldn't be drained until the main pump was deactivated.
Leaning back, Alchemist picked up his mug of hot chocolate and frowned harder at the lack of weight in his mug. With a groan, the man got up from his chair and made his way into the kitchen to make more.
Pouring milk into his mug, the mage skipped using the microwave and simply began heating the liquid with prestidigitation as he slowly stirred a packet of powder into it.
ShinRa, Alchemist had discovered, had the absolutely dumbest safety precautions set up for the reactors. He'd gone in knowing that they were functionally bespoke machines, each one uniquely crafted to work within the environment they occupied. But would it have killed people to put in half-way decent accessways? Or to have the various levers and valves placed somewhere that wasn't filled with the kind of toxic waste that called for both an armored diving suit and a Level-A Hazmat suit?
Continuing his grumbling, Alchemist went back to the dining room to get back to work on deciphering the notes, diagrams and blueprints to the various reactors.
"...Why did you come back?" Ifalna asked as she stirred her oatmeal. "Did you come back for us?"
"No," Alchemist immediately denied. "Intentionally traveling to the past to alter it like that is... insane. The people that have tried, Thawne or Hartdegen, the people that would alter the past to make an ideal future are never satisfied. You would have died running from ShinRa with your daughter, Ifalna. The last time I visited this reality, eight or so years in the future? I recovered your remains and buried them next to your husband."
Alchemist closed the notes in front of him, detailing the safe decommissioning process for the Corel reactor, and looked up as Ifalna exhaled in a shaky gasp.
"This visit," he continued quietly as he debated what he should do; Ifalna was shaking, tears in her eyes as she wrapped her arms around herself, "was supposed to be a short trip so I could help Yuffie collect her mother's ashes so we could build a shrine for her."
And source some local materials that would fit with whatever vision Yuffie had for the shrine. Which Alchemist had already done, in disguise, after he'd put the fear of Him into Daisuke. He hadn't killed the man, hadn't even hurt him much aside from the concussion that came with being slammed head-first through a decently constructed countertop.
Gaia was a deathworld. And there were people that, through sheer training and insane grit, could fight the WEAPONs without any Jenova cell modifications. Being an offensive xenophobe to total strangers when they could have some kind of doomsday Materia or other power up their sleeve was... well, it was a special kind of stupid.
"But," Alchemist said as he stood up and slowly walked around the table. "We are here. Now. And I will not leave you or your daughter to suffer because the trappings of fate demand it."
He hesitated for a second before placing a hand on Ifalna's shoulder. The woman shuddered for a moment before she latched her arms around him, crying against him.
"Aerith... never knew him," Ifalma muttered thickly. "They came into our home- They killed him! She wasn't- She wasn't- She wasn't even a month old..."
Alchemist felt tears prickling against his own eyes as he wrapped his arms around Ifalna's thin shoulders.
"We can visit his grave," Alchemist quietly offered. "The people of Icicle Inn gave him that much."
Ifalna didn't say anything, she just sobbed wordlessly against him but she did nod.
Alchemist quietly sighed, a hollow ache in his chest as, in his workshop a few buildings over, his Bilocation duplicate put down the adamantine sheetmetal disc it'd been reinforcing.
The Alchemist already in the house would keep Ifalna company while the second would get together the winter clothes necessary for everyone.
Idly, both parts of him wondered how well Contact Other Plane would function if cast through Wish to speak with a departed soul within Gaia's Lifestream before he pushed the thought down.
The dead deserved their rest. Summoning their echoes back to the realm of the living only served to add more trauma to both sides of the divide.
-----
Icicle Inn was a location that Yuffie had never been to. She'd been to a lot of places, sure, from Gongaga to Junon and then all the way around to Midgar then back up around to the Gold Saucer but she'd never, ever been to the northern continent.
She'd been told a number of times how cold it was and that was more than enough to keep the little ninja from setting foot on the landmass, let alone traversing the treacherous forests to see the frigid lands.
Yuffie liked keeping warm, thank you very much! Short sleeve shirts and short pants were -way- more comfortable than all the heavy stuff her dad liked to wear!
But he'd brought out a whole bunch of heavy clothes and decided they were all going to the land of ice and snow. And Yuffie had to come along.
Alright, he'd asked if she wanted to stay behind. But he was going, and so was Aerith and her mom. She didn't know what all they were heading out to do but Yuffie was -not- gonna be left behind!
Also? F.Y.I?
Talking to an Aerith that was younger than her was -wild-. The last time she'd met Aerith, the girl had been a teenager that was older than Yuffie and her dad had just killed off ShinRa.
The younger Aerith that was here, now? She didn't have that bossy, motherly attitude that Yuffie had briefly seen.
This one was... mousy and scared. She was so small.
The breakfast with oatmeal and fruit that her dad made? Aerith hadn't known what to do at all!
And... Yuffie didn't get it. Really. But her dad had pulled her aside and whispered to her to be patient and show Aerith how to do all kinds of basic things. He'd told her that, somehow, impossibly, Aerith had been even more sheltered and hidden away than even Godo had wanted to do to Yuffie!
So, she didn't understand everything. Not really.
But Big Sis Yuffie was on the case! She'd shown Aerith how to fill up a bowl with all the tastiest, juiciest apples and oranges and stuff to make the bland oatmeal actually taste good!
Then she took the younger girl outside, practically dragging her out the door by her hand, to teach her how to play hide and seek!
Which... Aerith sort of knew how to play? But her version had some sort of rule about making the seeker laugh and it'd reset the game instead of turning the found person into the seeker.
Two players hadn't made for much of a game, though. So Yuffie had put her fingers to her lips and whistled, calling the familiars out to play!
Aerith had frozen in fear at the sight of them, literally trembling as Ash nosed around the girl, sniffing her. Then the big pupper had said she 'smells good!' and that broke Aerith out of her trance.
Unfortunately, instead of playing hide and seek? Aerith just wanted to pet Ash. And Ash definitely wasn't going to stop her.
After that? After that was the winter trip.
Eugh.
Even bundled up in a heavy parka with thick, fluffy pants, Yuffie was still a shivering mess.
Aerith was, too.
Ifalna seemed like she got used to it pretty quick, though.
And, sending a toxic glare over to the side where her dad was, he was practically just ignoring the cold entirely.
"...So, what are we here for?" Yuffie eventually asked as they walked by a couple of kids that were rolling up some big balls of snow. "Some kind of awesome Materia? A legendary super-weapon? Some hidden master of some sort of forgotten art?!"
"I've already collected copies of all the good Materia," her dad told her as he held up a hand and began ticking at his fingers. "Alexander, Kjata, Neo-Bahamut, Added Cut and MP-Turbo. There's a Javelin and an Enhance Sword up on the glacier but we're not heading there. And there's nothing I need from the Chocobo Sage, not unless I want to figure out which one of his chocobos ate an Enemy Skill Materia."
Yuffie... had been kidding. But it was actually kinda neat how her dad just knew where all the good treasures were.
As they passed by one of the little houses that dotted the snow, though, Ifalna froze. Not, like, because she was cold. She froze in place and made a sort of choked half-sob noise.
"...There might be a few things left inside," her dad offered quietly. "We can-"
"No!" Ifalna said, her voice several octaves louder and shriller than she'd probably intended.
Yuffie looked to the side, towards Aerith, but the girl was shivering and didn't look like she knew what was going on, either.
Actually, she was shivering a lot and she kept glancing up and then looking back down.
Reaching over to the girl, Yuffie wrapped one of her hands, clad in blue mittens, around one of Aerith's. The girl didn't stop shivering but she looked at Yuffie and-
The girl was terrified.
There wasn't much of Aerith's face visible, between the heavy hood over her head and the thick scarf covering the bottom of her face but her eyes were positively petrified!
"...No," Ifalna repeated, quieter. "There's nothing there. Not... anymore. Just... bad memories."
"...Alright," her dad said, his voice somber. "Just let me know if you change your mind."
They started walking ahead and Yuffie had to give Aerith a little tug before the girl started to follow them. The people in the little village were pointing and whispering as the party passed but they didn't stop.
It was when her dad pushed open a rusted, iron gate and made fresh tracks in the snow, revealing gravestones, that Yuffie finally understood where they were.
She pulled Aerith tighter to her side and looked at the adults. Her dad was focused but Ifalna had crossed her arms over her midsection to hug herself.
They passed by a number of headstones until they came to a small plot that was set a bit aside from the others. It didn't look particularly special but her dad dropped down to his knees in front of it and ran his gloves over the stone, brushing off the snow and revealing carved marble and a name.
Gast Faremis
Loving Husband and Father
"Was that... my dad?" Aerith asked as Alchemist stood up and stepped away from the headstone.
"Yes," Ifalna said as she stepped up to take Alchemist's place. She dropped to her knees and placed her right hand on the headstone. "He is. He... He died trying to protect us."
Aerith pulled her hand free of Yuffie's and stepped up, crunching through the snow to stand next to her mom. Ifalna's shoulders shook for a moment before she reached out to pull Aerith against her and she sobbed, loud and heartbroken. Her keening wails ripped through the still, frigid air.
Yuffie... pressed herself into her dad's left side. When he put his left hand on her left shoulder, she reached up to hold on to it with her right hand.
That...
Godo had never missed Yuffie's mom that way.
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- Location
- Here
Thank goodness for all that snow because this was a sick burn.
- Location
- washington
there's worse fathers than godo like gendo or guts dad. Not high bars but they are bars.