#(there's no escaping the eventual sefikura)

[salternateunreality2]

Highlights of: Cloud was actually raised by wolves + Zakkura AU

TW: scary wolf pictures

from a conversation with the lovely @strayheartless

Angeal giving Zack the most bombastic side eye when Zack talks about Cloud's wolf traits.

He loves Zack so much because Zack GETS things.

Cloud lovingly chewing on Zack's shirt.

Zack accurately discerning what different grunts mean.

Cloud ducking his head to Zack and only Zack; in human, this is shy/flirty/awkward/cute/ashamed, in wolf it's respect.

Cloud's hair bristling. How he does this is anyone's guess.

Headbutts. So many headbutts.

Play fighting that looks completely vicious and feral to outsiders.

Cloud panting when he's nervous, so everyone thinks he's just hot all the time because he's from Nibelheim.

Cloud vibrating or sneezing when Zack walks up as a friendly move.

Cloud bopping people with his paws, er, gloved hands. He had to really concentrate and learn how to punch instead of bopping, but he's great at both now.

Cloud leaning on Zack instead of hugging him.

Sefikura's first meeting being extremely quiet and tense, but eventually they come to an understanding.

Zakkura's first kiss... They both lean in close, stars in their eyes....and Cloud licks Zack's teeth.

Angeal finding Zakkura sleeping in the cutest puppy pile ever.

Cloud sleeping with his limbs all twisted together or curled up into a tiny ball.

Cloud watching Zack eat fries out of the corner of his eye. Zack watching Cloud eat chicken the same way. Both of them instantly caving and sharing.

Cloud being a good Nibel boy and not wanting to come inside if there's even a hint of snow outside, and Zack being the "shorts, no shirt, all weather" frat boy.

Cloud being an escape artist and dragging Zack with him.

Lots of bite marks on people who try to steal Cloud's food.

Very shiny and sharp teeth.

These interactions:

Heidegger: look at me when I'm talking to you, cadet!!!

Cloud: 👁️👁️

Zack: shit shit shit shit shit *running across the room to de-escalate*

---------

Genesis: it seems your friend is friendly with me, he hasn't made a single growl at me! I can see his eye so clearly! And his posture is great!

Zack: SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT

Cloud: 0.3 seconds away from biting

---------

Siren: wooooooo

Cloud: *looks uncomfortable*

Siren: wooooooo

Angeal: don't do it, I believe in you!

Cloud: *sweating*

Siren: wooooooo

Cloud: WOOOOOOOOO

Zack: WOOOOOOOO

Angeal: *sigh* maybe next time

-----------

Roche: your boyfriend has a cute smile

Zack: excuse me what

Roche: look, there he goes again!

Cloud: *baring teeth*

Zack: shit shit shit...

----------------

Angeal, Zack, and Cloud standing around a campfire, and...

Zack: ...

Angeal: ...

Cloud: ....

Zack: we should go pee in a perimeter to scare off wild animals and monsters

Cloud: *nodding*

Angeal: ...

Zack: *unzzzzziiippp*

Cloud: *starts wandering towards the perimeter*

Angeal: *finally stops buffering* WAIT NO

#tw: scary wolf pic #ff7 #zack fair #cloud strife #genesis rhapsodos #angeal hewley #zakkura #sephiroth

[goddessofroyalty]

This au idea is less Sefikura and more ff7 au in general but it can easily have sefikura added in.

Au where Cloud was a RAVEN, like... he still was a Shinra trooper and stuff but something bad happened to his squad and he was left as the og AVALANCHES experiment. He eventually escapes, of course, and even manages to piece together most of his memories but Dr ides hardtop he wants nothing to do with either Shinra, who didn't even care about his capture and hsi so called idol and vest friend didn't even know he was missing (a lie Zack was looking for Cloud at every opportunity), or AVALANCHE for... obvious reasons. So instead he does the simple thing, he goes home to Nibelheim and takes up merc work in the area.

Then Sephiroth gets a mission to Nibelheim

I actually feel like in that set up Cloud would be avoiding Sephiroth when he arrives in Nibelheim. To the point where I could see him completely leaving town to go like camp/monster hunt while until the General leaves. He's probably pretty done with Shinra and feels burned by them, and, like you said, wants nothing to do with them. He just wants them to do whatever it is they've come to do and then go back to Midgar.

Which means there are two ways for him to end up actually coming face-to-face with Sephiroth (well three but 'they run into each other' is the least interesting option)

Sephiroth (and/or Zack) go looking for him. If it's Sephiroth that goes looking it's partially to make sure that the conclusion of the whole matter of what happened to the trooper whose whole squad was killed only to pop up again a couple years later is one that will just fade into nothing and not become a threat for Shinra down the line. If it's Zack then it's so he can actually check on Cloud and explain to him that he had gone looking, etc, etc.

Sephiroth gets brainwashed by Jenova and Nibelheim is destroyed causing Cloud to come running and probably killing Sephiroth in very similar circumstances in the canon. Just with extra quilt because if he hadn't of left town because he didn't want to even look at Sephiroth then he might have been avoid to prevent it and protect the people he cared about.

With of course both those options having very different fallouts.

#Sephiroth #Cloud Strife #Final Fantasy #Final Fantasy VII #FFVII #Ramblings of the Goddess #Q and A with the Goddess #Anon question

[s-ephiroth]

Sephiroth Week || Day 5: Nature

Read the other week prompts on [AO3]

(Of a gentle witch in a flower garden and the things he seeks to discover.)

After their accidental, yet fruitful meeting, Sephiroth made sure to exchange phone numbers. He knew he’d need to meet that cadet again, eventually. The situation was one that would require the guidance of someone with knowledge of it, even if that didn’t come from someone above him in power. (Which was an odd concept, the more he thought about it. Perhaps it was just the way the situation was unusual that bothered him. Regardless, Sephiroth let the thought slip away for the time being.)

His secretive new contact reaches out to him just in time, in an afternoon during which it was brought to his attention a series of apparent problems with the reactor in the Nibel area and that the company was considering sending him out to investigate the issue. The area was full of dangerous beasts, after all. (Dragons, twin brains, zuus and so on.) It wouldn’t do well to send just seconds and technicians. They could save the technicians for reactors closer to Midgar and spare them the dangers of the distant location, while preserving their SOLDIERs from harm at the same time, as they were more than simply confident in Sephiroth’s prowess as a warrior.

(Overconfidence will do nothing but destroy you.)

The message he gets from Cloud simply reads “Meet me near the Goblin’s Bar,” with no reason added to it. It’s almost as if the blond knows saying so little and inviting for more is the way to catch his attention; setting a bait out to fish his curiosity.

When he’s able to, before he knows it, Sephiroth finds himself making his way to Loveless Avenue. He’s quick to see the cadet pretending to guard the area and wastes no time, promptly approaching him. Cloud gives him a salute as soon as he sees him, only dropping it when he’s told to be at ease.

They’re meant to follow protocol, after all, — at least while they’re in this area — so to the public eye and therefore, Shinra to an extend, it can be seen as just an infantryman reporting an issue to someone of superior rank who can deal with said problem.

“Sir, I’ve found the source of that problem,” the blond says, keeping the act just in case someone nearby overhears them.

“Lead me to it.”

And Cloud does as he’s asked, guiding him all the way to the train station. The realization they’re going down to the slums hits Sephiroth rather quickly but he doesn’t ask. In fact, they don’t talk much until they’re sure nobody’s going to overhear anything they say.

It’s always a strange thing, trusting someone he barely knows to show him the way and yet, something about the blond other than the complicated story bounding them together at the moment makes him worth of trust.

“I met someone,” Cloud eventually says, “she sort of dragged me into a church and we had a long talk.”

“That’s where we’re going, then?”

The infantryman nods.

“I thought seeing her could help a little. With the plan.”

Oh yes, the plan. Which they discussed over texts a few times, looking for ideas on how to prevent what could happen in Nibelheim. They’d have to do it without alerting Hojo about their intentions. Refusing the mission wouldn’t do, as the scientist could always order his… pet to be brought back to Midgar and for Sephiroth to go to the labs. But at the same time, going to that town could lead to trouble on pure accident. Cloud had suggested more than once for him to not accept the mission so the blond himself could sneak into the labs and solve their issue himself.

Sephiroth couldn’t help but think it was too risky to be worth it.

Part of the plan involved doing something to keep his mind anchored as well, to prevent him from engaging in reckless actions such as burning a whole town to the ground.

When they finally enter the church they’re headed to, Sephiroth has a feeling he knows what Cloud’s trying to do, while being completely lost on how this will help, if at all.

Just as they enter, a small woman stands from where she was kneeling down near the bright colored flowers that seem to grow in the place. She wears her long brown hair in a braid with a pink ribbon tied to it; her bangs framing her face just like his own do. Completely the opposite of him, she’s dressed in white; a dress that follows her little turn as she moves away from the flowers to approach them.

For a moment, as Sephiroth notices the green eyes, — different yet similar to his own in a way — he almost swears this is a long lost relative of his. He wonders about that.

Why does she feel familiar?

“Oh, you brought a friend!” She says to Cloud, before turning to him. “Hmm… Sephiroth, wasn’t it? Zack talks about you sometimes when he comes to visit.”

“You’re Zack’s girlfriend.” It finally clicks.

“Mhmm. The name’s Aerith.”

Sephiroth is thankful for the information as he couldn’t recall whether her name was Aerith or Aeris. He only knew that Zack seemed to be even more puppy than man whenever he mentioned her — which usually happened at times Sephiroth couldn’t fully pay attention to whatever he was saying, only catching bits of information here and there.

Aerith glances at Cloud for a moment, before the latter nods and leaves to sit by the flowers. Once the blond is away from them, she takes his hand.

“You’re looking for your truth, aren’t you? The place you came from, your family…”

He doesn't recall mentioning the topic with both Zack and Cloud, but nods regardless, with a puzzled expression.

“I’m sorry,” she whispers, “It’s just that I feel as if somebody important to you is really troubled right now. Maybe she’s been for a long while.”

“How… how are you doing this?”

The brunette lets go of his hand, her green gaze drifting away from him.

“Ever since I was young I can… feel the Planet and the bits of it resonating within people, the animals, the flowers… everything.”

Ever since I was young I knew I was different from the others.

Sephiroth takes a step back, a little nauseated by the thought. He doesn’t mean it as an offense against this young woman, but she doesn’t take it as one either, offering a sympathetic smile when she notices.

“It’s… a little scary, isn’t it? Sometimes it scares even me,” she pauses, getting a little sad so suddenly, “The first thing I thought when I saw you just now was that it must be sad… losing someone dear to you while trying to find out about yourself.” Sephiroth opens his mouth to say something, but she continues before he can say it. “But! It’s alright to grieve and maybe it’s okay to be so different. You get… hm, more to learn from other people or more things to talk about.”

He looks past her shoulder to where Cloud has given up on waiting them sitting by the flowers, now lying on the floor like a lazy cat out in a garden during a summer day. Sephiroth thinks about all the things he doesn’t know about this short, yet very noticeable cadet, about Zack (Why does your girlfriend look like she’s related to me?) and about the past; the things that happened before he even came alive.

So much yet to learn, his curiosity is tickled by such a thought.

“Maybe you have a point.”

Aerith nods at that with an expression that reminds him so much of Genesis that it’s almost painful; that one look of “Of course I’m right” that never failed even once at making Sephiroth either roll his eyes or smile… or both.

Wordlessly, she turns away from him to join Cloud, leaving him to follow after her; being unable not to wonder whether or not Zack is aware of those things. Once they’re all properly seated by the flower bed — the presence of which seems like a puzzle, given that, unless it’s a potted plant kept above the plate, plants aren’t meant to survive for long in the environment of Midgar — Aerith exchanges a look with the blond and a silent agreement, before talking again.

“I think what we’re here for is to make it clear how Cloud traveled through time.”

It’s a general agreement between the three of them. The infantryman urges her to explain instead of having him do it. Sephiroth wonders about how complicated the matter of it might be.

“In my family,” she says, “the women aren’t only born being able to ‘listen’ to the Planet. We’re also born with the ability to perform a forbidden magic… which Cloud’s a victim of.”

“So, as far as I understand, you can travel through time?”

“No, no, silly.” She chuckles and Sephiroth basks in the audacity she has, like a child playing with fireworks; not knowing about the potential danger of it and fearless in such ignorance. He catches Cloud snorting at it in an attempt to disguise laughter.

You just called the general of the most important corporation in the world ‘silly’.

(Well played!)

“We can only send back other people, because that comes at a heavy price: You have to die to be sent.”

And Cloud died, he thinks and gets the picture, then.

“But if you’re not sending yourself back, how would you know that you sent someone else?”

“I ‘smell’ of afterlife, apparently,” Cloud says and goes back into lying on the ground like a tired tabby cat.

Aerith laughs at that, the sound of it a timeless thing that somehow has Sephiroth understanding a little more the... time mage nature she claims to have — a nature he doesn’t question after they talked away from the blond for that one moment. (If you can do something unusual, it wouldn’t be surprising if you can do something else that’s also unusual.)

“You smell fine to me,” he teases the cadet, who simply blushes and curls into a ball.

He looks like a fusion of a chocobo with a hedgehog. It’s quite… adorable, Sephiroth thinks.

It only makes Aerith’s effort to catch her breath more difficult after laughing so much at such antics.

“Well, it’s not literally, thankfully,” she giggles and picks up a flower, only to put it on Cloud’s hair, “but here, now you can smell just like a flower.”

At that, Sephiroth understands a little what Cloud might’ve been trying to do when bringing him to such a place and such a company; he needs to avoid falling into despair, needs to stay on a bright path so his mind and his spirit become harder to break or to be influenced in the case they need to… face their monster together.

It also has him thinking about… something else that has him concerned and lingering behind for a moment longer to ask Aerith something before they return to the headquarters.

She had mentioned Cloud told her about their strange predicament, after all.

“I know you mentioned it’s a forbidden magic, but in the case we fail, in the case he dies again…” Sephiroth hesitates “Could it be repeated?”

She nods. “His mind and body would only remember his last death and the events before it, but yes.” Then, playfully she suggests “Would you like me to do it?”

It sounds as if he’s about to make a deal with Hel herself.

“Yes… unless there are any drawbacks,” he agrees to it anyway.

“Hm, there’s one. Say, if we were to repeat this enough times, the Planet would remember and it wouldn’t take it kindly against any of us.”

“Meaning?”

“It could become worse. He could forget he’s ever time traveled, for one. Something different could happen and you’d fail anyway, even if he lives. I could lose the power to do it and never know about it. We could never meet, and so on.” Aerith sighs at the prospect. “Would you still want me to do it?”

His simple nod seals the deal as a weird sensation courses through him. Not even the risks can shake his resolve of fighting such a terrible fate. And yet, he can’t free himself from the feeling he already agreed to such a deal before.

Just as he leaves, Aerith can sense it in the echo of him that his spirit leaves behind. But she thinks better of it than following Sephiroth to confirm the truth.

#sephirothweek #sefikura #(i mean it's eventual; guys) #(there's no escaping the eventual sefikura) #ff7 #arkeefic #time travel #let's play 'catch the reference' everyone? #sephirothweek2017

[illusioneery]

So, as I mentioned in my other blog, this will be a sefikura week (at least for me, but anyone who wants to join in this train I’m on is very welcome to hop aboard! The more, the merrier! ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧)

That said, let’s put this baby on the road, shall we?

(For this bit... things can get a little violent? So proceed with caution if you have issues with that or the topic of bullying, that is)

#sefikura week | day 1: Prelude

He cuddled his plushie that night trying to contain his excitement for the day that would follow; the day he’d be aboard a truck, leaving behind Nibelheim and everything that dreaded place meant. It didn’t mean that on that same, following day, the blond would arrive in Midgar or that the journey would be entirely pleasant but yet, it was difficult to relax with such knowledge in mind.

His eyes drooped every now and then, body warning him that he should rest instead of considering what was the probability of getting to meet Sephiroth after arriving in Midgar; his idol, of whom he had more than just a promotional plushie that he happened to be hugging at the moment. In fact, he had so much Sephiroth merchandise in his room that even despite the fact he took on small jobs to be able to afford those, his mother had entirely gave up on him regarding that whole topic.

(At least she seemed supportive of his plans to leave Nibelheim and find a better future for himself. And for Cloud, that seemed enough.

He’d return to those lands one day as a hero as much as Sephiroth was and no one would have the slightest reason to place the blame for anything on him ever again. It’d be the reverse and if he was lucky enough, people would even look up to him.)

Cloud rolled onto his other side, in hopes of finding a position that maybe would drive away all that excitement inside him and be enough to sleep.

He was going to work for the company Sephiroth worked for, too. A yawn escaped him, consciousness threatening to do so as well, while Cloud ran all those little scenarios in his mind. Meeting Sephiroth, fighting alongside him... now that he thought of it, would he even have the courage to talk to the man? Uhn.

In any case, sleep took over him eventually. Unsurprisingly enough, that night Cloud had dreams of that man. Thinking about him even in his sleep... maybe his mother had a point in sighing like she did whenever the name Sephiroth was brought up.

Part of his initial excitement died down a good two hours after getting on the truck that was supposed to take him to his next means of transportation. Motion sickness. It was never an issue with him never leaving the town for such a journey before, but now it basically screamed at him, wanting to be acknowledged.

That it got severely worse aboard the ship — which would take even longer than the truck took to get to its destination — didn’t help much.

By the time he got to Midgar, Cloud had started to doubt he’d even pass the test for SOLDIER. As it turned out, he arrived too late for the tests of that semester. They were, however, taking in new infantrymen. He decided that would have to do for the time being, if he wanted to stay in Midgar and try that test. It was a job in a place he wanted to work at, after all.

A haircut, some forms to be filled in and a physical exam later and he made it in.

Some months in the army taught him a few things. One, whatever they served in the cafeteria seemed like it’d create life someday and spread terror in the building. It could give enough energy to get through a day, but it didn’t mean it tasted like anything edible. Second, he didn’t want to pick a fight with anyone in his squad, as much as they wanted to pick a fight with him, it seemed. There were unspoken consequences to those who picked fights, which sounded terrifying.

Third, if one did well enough in their classes, — which aside from uses of materia, he barely did good enough — it was likely they’d be offered the test to get into SOLDIER in private (according to a certain rumor) or would pass said test with flying colors. Last, but no least, some lucky ones where picked to deliver paperwork to their superiors. He wasn’t one of them.

The reasons he had left Nibelheim for; getting blamed for everything that went wrong, the feeling of being close to useless... they were all there as well. And on top of that all, Sephiroth was still distant as ever. The General had no involvement in their training and wasn’t the chosen first they sent in the occasions that required it. Veterans could be deployed with him at mission locations if the mission required it. Cloud wasn’t a veteran.

The day finally came in which some of his squad mates got so fed up with his failures (that in no way helped the rest of the team) that they decided to take it out on him physically.

Cloud didn’t know whether he was lucky or not that they got interrupted by their captain walking in that bathroom. In any case, he was happy enough that the beating, the kicking and all the punches had ceased; his body aching enough already and a black eye requiring immediate attention before it could get any worse.

And so, that day, he sat in the infirmary wondering whether he would be blamed for that fight or not, anxious that it could mean he’d be leaving Shinra and waiting to see what result would come out of such an unfortunate occurrence.

#sefikura #ff7 #sefikura week 2k17 #arkeeart #arkeefic #yes arkeefic on this art blog hello #even if i'm writing in advance 7 chapters in such a short time period is a challenge #same for draw this much in such a short time #i'll try my best! #please bear with me #this is more like a ficlet but still #lmao it kind of reminds me of how i started silver birdcage as a ficlet #anyway