[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

[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?"