[thread; closed] /latelatelate

[loveandstrife.livejournal.com]

Characters: Cloud, Garnet and Seifer
Progress: Ongoing
Summary: Memory time~!
Location: Memoria
Date: February 1st, 1804
Warnings: Probably a lot actually...


His eyes squinted as a bright light hit him, but once it cleared, Cloud felt those blue orbs widen considerably. Nibelheim. Nibelheim? How the heck did he get here? And, more specifically, he was sat where he and Tifa used to sit and talk when they were kids. They weren't exactly the best of friends back then, but she'd been the nearest thing to a friend he'd had.

Shaking his head, the blonde glanced out, frowning at the sight of Queen Garnet and... oh, great. Seifer. Sighing tensely, he shook his head. "Hey!" he called out, about to get up, but suddenly a young Tifa came running to him, grinning.

"You wanted to talk?" Her voice was soft and Cloud smiled at her, nodding a little. The two batted back and for for a moment, just talking lazily.

Sighing softly, Cloud looked at her. "I want to be in SOLDIER. I want to be cool, like Sephiroth!"

Tifa gasped softly. "Sephiroth? The Great Sephiroth?"

Comments

1/2

[bastard.livejournal.com]

[bastard.livejournal.com]

Right. As if waking up near Aerith's boyfriend and some girl he'd never seen before weren't bad enough, now the former was going to have a nice little conversation with himself. Have fun with that, Cloud.

Opting for the more sane of his two options, Seifer just turns toward the brunette--who may or may not have looked similar enough to Rinoa to get him to lower his guard for a second.

"You gonna start babbling to yourself, too?"

[crowned-jewel.livejournal.com]

One moment, walking the halls of Alexandria castle, the next, her eyes full of strange pink light. Her feet now were on rock and dirt paths, her blue velvet dress with it's silver trim now completely impractical. When the moment of disorientation had cleared, she'd only had a moment to recognize Cloud -- a man who'd once picked her up off a broken ballroom floor, and whom more recently she'd spoken to of Iifa and Garland, and all of this world's oddities -- before Seifer's voice broke into her thoughts.

With dark brow furrowed, she turned to the blond boy, placing her hands on her hips. "What sort of assumption is that to make?" she snapped in reply. Her dark eyes shifted in their sockets, stealing another glance at Cloud. For a moment, she thought she'd seen someone else standing there... but sure enough, he was alone now.

..Maybe he was a little crazy...

[loveandstrife.livejournal.com]

It took only a moment longer before Cloud snapped out of it. To be honest, he was actually used to memories suddenly pouncing on him. It'd been about a year, really, since his last bout with a memory (or a dead person) sneaking up on him, but it didn't throw him for a loop. He was actually pretty calm as he climbed down, making his way over to Garnet and Seifer.

He recognised them both and, with a slight glare for Seifer, he looked at the Queen with a plain expression. "This is... it's Nibelheim, my hometown. If I've been sent home, you two shouldn't be here, right?"

[bastard.livejournal.com]

Just great. He was stuck Hyne knows where with Aerith's uptight boyfriend and some haughty brunette. This was turning out to be the best day ever. Except, you know, it was a nice break from the glares of all his former 'friends' back at Garden--not that he'd ever admit to as much, of course.

At the very least, Cloud seemed to regain his senses quickly enough. Seifer wasn't sure how long he would have been willing to put up with that little production without resorting to violence.

"Way to point out the obvious," he deadpanned when Cloud finally addressed the situation.

[crowned-jewel.livejournal.com]

"It's your home?" asked Garnet.

Velvet skirt gathered in her hands, she looked around curiously. It was quaint, so different from the villages of Gaia. Garnet looked down the roads, at the rooftops, and finally to the sky. Not Gaia, that's much was certain. Anxiety sparked to life in her chest, her stomach twisting in knots.

"If this is your home... we don't belong here, but that doesn't mean much. whatever it is that brought you to Gaia in the first place, and keeps taking people away, could have taken us here."

The thought was terrifying, and for a moment, she knew what it must have felt like to be a Sky Person. Her mind was flooded with thoughts of home, of Alexandria, of Beatrix, Steiner...

Zidane.

She shook her head vigorously to clear the thoughts, trying desperately to calm her beating heart as she dropped her skirt to the dust. "But... what do we do now?"

[loveandstrife.livejournal.com]

"What point would Garland have to bring us to my Planet? This doesn't make sense..."

Cloud shook his head firmly, sighing as he looked towards the town. "C'mon... I'll take you guys to my house... if it's still there." If he'd just spoken with Tifa about being in SOLDIER, then this was before Sephiroth had burned the place down. Home...

"Mom!" With that word, Cloud set off towards his house, hoping he'd get to see his mother.

[bastard.livejournal.com]

"Not again." Seifer rolled his eyes when Cloud decided to run off ahead of them again, as if lost in his own little world. He didn't know who this Garland person was, and thus far Cloud had proven to be about as helpful as a pile of rocks. So he just turned to the female with the hope that she'd stop being so stuck up and decide to fill him in.

[crowned-jewel.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately for Seifer, Garnet was not much a source of information.

"I guess all we can do is follow him. We're all in this together right? If we all sit down, I can... try to explain. At least, the theory I have." And she offered him a weak smile.

But in the meantime, Cloud was getting ruther away from them, leaving them both in the proverbial dust of this strange land.

"Hey, wait for us!" cried Garnet, gathering her skirt in her hands and moving briskly down the road.

All the while her mind was racing. Nibelheim. Garland. Garnet had talked to Cloud at length about the old man and his old intentions, but he had a point. Why would Garland bring them to Cloud's world? For that matter, why would he move anyone or anything from one world to another. Wasn't his plan to have Terra absorb Gaia? So what purpose did this whole debacle serve?

It was as she debated this, that suddenly, The streets of Nibelheim melted. Quite literally. The forms of houses turned to stones, and dusty paths. The sound of water crashing against those rocks, towering formations that at one time may have been houses.

Garnet stopped abruptly.

"...Madain Sari?"

Gone was the odd sensation of displacement. Instead, a nagging familiarity. What compelled her to sit, she didn't know, but suddenly, the place she had been sitting, was a little boat, tied in the water. So calm... peaceful... away from the bright sunlight that only seemed to emphasize the desolation of the once proud summoner village... a feeling of uneasiness gripped her heart, a nagging feeling that there was something here she should know.

So, here she sat. Alone. And she began to sing. Singing that song, always made her feel better.

[loveandstrife.livejournal.com]

When Nibelheim melted around them, Cloud froze on the spot, looking around with confusion as he tried to understand just what was happening. Were they in a new world or was this some sort of trick. Seeing Garnet begin singing, the blonde looked at the scarred blonde, frowning.

"Any idea?" He meant about what was going on or where they were but, shaking his head, he reached out to the small Queen, grasping her shoulder.

"Uh... Your Majesty? Are you okay? We have to find a way back to Gaia..."

[crowned-jewel.livejournal.com]

When he hand set upon her shoulder, the singing stopped. For a moment, once might have assumed he had actually caught her attention. that is, until she turned, staring at a spot off to the side.

"Zidane." Addressing the young man who'd just walked in on her. Not the first time he'd found her singing that song.

"It's okay. Keep singing. 'Cause it's our song, right?" Zidane grinned, and stepped closer. She stayed there, at the edge of the make-shift harbor, leaving her to sit alone in her little boat. "I'm surprised you found this place. You got the talent to be a bandit! How 'bout you and me team up? We'll call ourselves 'The Betrothed.'"

Garnet -- Dagger -- refrained from rolling her eyes. Just barely. "My talent's up to snuff, but that name isn't."

"Hehehe. You're really something these days."

"If I am, I must've gotten it from you." The boat rocked ever so slightly. Was it even tied up anymore? she didn't know. Her focus was on Zidane, who apparently refused to sit down.

"Naw... It's all because you made the effort to learn."

Dagger shook her head. "No, it's because you stuck with me. Without you, I couldn't have made it to Lindblum, much less seen a whole new continent. Everything I tried to do on my own was a total failure. I couldn't stop my mother..." her gaze shifted downward. With each word, her voice grew just a little bit thicker -- with guilt, or something equally heavy. "At times I almost lost hope... You helped me so much. Not just you, either."

"Yeah... Vivi and Eiko helped out at the Iifa Tree. Quina was real helpful when we left the continent. Freya, Steiner... and even Beatrix, who I thought was our enemy." Zidane had a way of pointing out the positive, and the good side of things.

"I haven't forgotten... I want to believe everyone is alright, but sometimes I just can't."

Zidane bent his knees and with surprising strength, leapt off the ledge, and deftly into the little boat. But to her surprise, the boat didn't move nearly as much as she'd expected it to. But then, she was so lost in her own thoughts, she didn't bother to chastise Zidane for his wreckless move.

"I hope I can live up to the hopes of everyone who has helped me."

"You don't have to feel so responsible, Dagger."

"But I do!" She replied sharply, desperately. How could she ever make him understand, that being the princess, the heir to Alexandria, she had a responsibility that was rivaled by no others. She represented that Kingdom, it's future, and anything that happened involving her, was her fault.

"Nobody wants you to feel that way. They didn't do it all for you, either. Each was following his own path."

Dagger looked at him in confusion. "His own...path?" She sobered then. "Well, what about you?"

"Huh?"

"Why did you come with me?"