GuiltyRed's Into The Nexus

Title: What Is Heart?
Characters/Pairings: Saïx
Rating: G
Word Count: 100
Series: 358/2


Roxas is no different from the rest of us, bereft of heart and bound to our same fate. How dare he act so, so… human.

But look at him. He emotes, without emotion. He laughs, he longs – and moreso, he brings these seeming emotions to others. How?

I watch him with Axel, and memory burns. He sits where once I would have sat, at my best friend’s side without a care in the world. The more they are together, the more Axel forgets his place here, and the more I remember just what I have lost.

Heart. Friend. The same.

4 – Props and grips

3 – Factions, schmactions

(Previously, in “M I S L A I D”: Marlene and Denzel have disappeared without a trace, leaving Sephiroth in the unenviable position of having to tell Cloud. And Tifa. Especially Tifa. Meanwhile, our intrepid jungle explorers found not water, but another handsome young man in the prime of his athletic fitness.)

2 – Lost and found

(Previously, in “M I S L A I D”: The relevant cast of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, Crisis Core, and perhaps a few other side projects have inexplicably found themselves on an inexplicable island. Vincent and Yazuu have gone in search of water, ignoring the trope that those who leave the group of survivors usually end up as either bear-bait…or lovers.)

1 – Who the where what, now?

Prologue – Where the hell are we?

Like the ringing of far-off bells, noise began to annoy Sephiroth awake. A cacophony of voices littered his fading dreamscape:

“Help! Oh, Goddess, HELP ME!”

“Where am I? What happened?”

“MOTHEEERRR!”

“Where the $#*#@ are my &$*% #*$^@ pants??”

That last anguished cry brought the Silver Warrior bolt upright. He staggered to his feet, his left boot sinking slightly in the soft sandy soil. Lush viney branches snagged at his hair. His heart growing numb with foreboding, Sephiroth disentangled from the undergrowth and headed toward the noise.

The trees gave way to beach scrub, then just the beach, littered now as it was with bodies. Some were lying stunned in the sand; others, like the pantsless man, wandered about aimlessly or with great, yet pointless, determination.

On seeing Sephiroth walk unsteadily toward them, several of the less-sturdy ones fainted.

A tall, slender man with blond hair and a torn cravat stepped carefully around one such spontaneous doorjamb in a trooper uniform and approached Sephiroth with what seemed to be hope in his eyes.

Or, Sephiroth reasoned, it could just be a trick of the light hitting his cracked and tilted eyeglasses. “Mr. Director. What happened here?”

“I was hoping you could tell me.” Glancing back over his shoulder, Lazard gave a quick count. “It looks like there’s about two dozen here, though I have no idea where here is. I’ve heard Tuesti mumble about potential rips in reality from ShinRa running too many mako reactors, but the science behind it goes right over my head. I always thought he was smoking Wutaian swamp berries or something.”

“Rip in reality, hm? That might explain why my last memory is of being distinctly dead,” Sephiroth murmured to himself. “Something very strange is going on here.” As he turned his attention back to the Director, he was struck by how handsome the man was, and at the moment how very nearly helpless, too. It wouldn’t take much to rip the rest of his clothes off and –

Sephiroth blinked and shook his head. Where the hell had THAT come from? Sure the man was pleasant to look at, especially compared to the likes of Palmer, but he most certainly was not Sephiroth’s type.

From the corner of his eye he caught a glimpse of a greenish shadow receding back into the treeline. Its movements seemed almost guilty, as though it had gotten caught doing something rather naughty. Returning his attention to Lazard, Sephiroth cleared his throat and said, “Well, whatever is going on here, we must attend to the wounded and set up shelter. We’ll need water, food, firewood. We’re in basic survival mode here.”

Lazard sighed and glowered out at the calm blue ocean. “But where are we, General?”

“We’re…” Sephiroth paused. He’d been about to say lost, but lost is such a desolate word with such absolute implications. He took a deep breath and started over.

“We are…mislaid.”

Title: Foreplay Fail
Author: GuiltyRed
Rating: PG-13 for language
Prop Used: Bubblegum
Warnings: none
Summary: Takes place during that episode where Schuldig stepped on Yohji’s head. Kind of explains a design change that happened between Kapitel and Glühen.


( Foreplay Fail )

Title: All In
Author: GuiltyRed
Rating: PG13 (language)
Warnings: none
Word count: 2440
Prompt: Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core, Zack/Nero (order doesn't matter): General Badassery (car chases, fights, etc) - "There is a reason why no one messes with the "creepy kid". "
Summary: The enemy of my enemy is my friend – if he’ll agree to the terms.
A/N: I’m taking the canon appearance of Weiß and Nero from “Crisis Core,” and trying to work it to make sense of some of the stuff from “Dirge of Cerberus.” Also, making a guess as to the origin of the Tsviets in relation to Restrictor here.

Title: Judgment
Challenge: Worst Case Scenario
Characters: Chaos
Word count: 100
A/N: Set during Dirge of Cerberus


He looked down at the humans cheering him on as he flew. Vincent knew them, some better than others – but all of them he knew too well.

Yuffie, directionless and alone.

Cid, searching for good only to laugh at its absence.

Barret, full of rage and steadily losing targets until only his daughter will be left.

Tifa, too ready to sacrifice herself for any lost cause.

Cloud, last of the man-made monsters.

He looked down at them, and through them, at the world.

Turning his flight – and fire – back toward the ground, Chaos said in his nonverbal way:

::FUCK IT.::

Title: What I Have Shown You
Challenge: Dreams
Characters: Cloud
Word count: 100
A/N: Putting another storyline in perspective.


Sometimes, when he thinks he’s awake, Cloud tries to make sense of a world seen from the wrong side of a fishbowl.

He listens to a dark-haired SOLDIER who tells him to hang on, to be strong, that help is coming.

Other times…

He feels the ground beneath his booted feet, the swathed sword a familiar weight in his right hand even as the newly-recognized weight of his wing drags at his left shoulder. He tugs the edge of his red cloak up over his mouth and nose and walks on, in search of the one who is his darkness.

Title: A Most Wanted Man
Challenge: Stranded
Characters/Pairings: a handful of SOLDIERs
Word Count: 100
 

“So, if you were stranded on a desert island…”

Genesis graced Zack with a curious look punctuated by a fractionally raised eyebrow. “Go on…?”

“Well, you know,” Zack mumbled. “What five things would you want to have?”

Sephiroth nodded sagely. “A radio, a helicopter, a –”

“No, no!” Zack blurted. “Nothing helpful! Just, you know, stuff.”

“That’s easy,” Genesis purred. “A copy of ‘Loveless,’ two sets of handcuffs, a big tube of lube and –”

“Excuse me, I’m being paged!” Angeal bolted from the room.

Zack pouted. “Man, why does he always leave before they get to the fifth item?”

Title: Old SOLDIERs
Challenge: Kunsel
Characters/Pairings: surprise
Word Count: 100


His heart leaped on seeing them; it had been a long time.

Too long.

Kunsel waved and called out to them. “Zack! Angeal!”

The two dark-haired figures turned and saw him; grinning widely, they broke into a run.

His old burdens weren’t welcome here. He dropped them by the trail, divesting himself of the last tokens of his service.

Kunsel dropped to his knees to absorb the impact as two determined children slammed into him. With a glance up at their mother, he said, “Boys, now that I’m really home, how about I tell you where your names came from?”

Title: A Good Son
Original Challenge: Worst Case Scenario
Characters: Rufus, Kadaj
Word count: 100
A/N: You just know Rufus was pissing himself in that scene, waiting for this moment.


“But Sir, surely you’ve noticed…”

The creature knelt with fluid grace, reminiscent of one who should never be remembered save in nightmares. He raised his head, his face childlike in its innocence and cruelty.

The cruelty began to grow, distorting into the visage of the man this boy would one day become. That thought itself was enough to set Rufus’ blood to ice; then the terrible burn from inside his flesh seemed to rise in answer to the creature’s proximity, and the world faded to silver.

A delicate, black-gloved hand reached up, beneath the blanket. “I knew you had Her.”

Title: Command Decision
Original Challenge: Kill a Character
Characters: Nibelheim ensemble
Word count: 100
A/N: This just kind of kisses the AU prompt too, but the significant change is the death, so, yeah…


“Oh, oh hell, what do I do now?”

Tseng cleared his throat. “With Professor Hojo gone, Jenova project is your domain now, doctor. This…incident is your responsibility.”

Hollander threw his arms wide as if gesturing at the entire reactor and the scorched town beyond. “But what the hell am I supposed to do?”

Tseng stated, “Read this,” and handed the frazzled scientist a folder marked “ShinRa Classified: SOLDIER Hospital Deepground.”

After flipping through a few pages, Hollander looked up, relieved. “Right! Okay, you there, stabilize those two for immediate transport to Midgar!”

Tseng nodded. “I’ll see to the townsfolk.”