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Title: Dain af Niohoggr
Author: GW Katrina
Beta: Skeren
Fandom: FFVII: Mercverse
Claim:![[insanejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/ij-community.gif)
mercverse for story_arc
Themeset/Prompt: Thirty Set 01: 09-Groom
Wordcount: 2,669
Ratings: PG-13
Link to Archive Post: Here
Dain af Niohoggr
It was a busy time at the home where the group lived and their official “office”. It seemed that whenever they were awake, someone was researching something, running messages somewhere, or trying to keep someone else from working too hard. Something was coming, anyone with the least bit of sensitivity could tell, and it just made those working on solving the issue work harder. It was engrossing.
Thus, the doorbell going off made Zack almost walk into a wall. He hadn’t heard anyone use that thing in a while. Usually someone who was coming over by this point just called, then let themselves in. Or, in the case of Turks, called and were met at the front door. Trying to remember the last time someone had actually knocked or rang the bell, Zack decided to take one for the team and deal with the person. Who was most likely some sort of salesperson, or maybe a Court member trying, for whatever reason, to get Cloud or Zack to support something. That seems to be all the ones who came anymore. Mostly because Zack had done his best to irritate the annoying people. The ones who had actual brains he got along with. Everyone else could jump off the highest tower of the castle for all he cared about them.
When he opened the door, he stared at the man on the other side, and had a very serious, very long moment of considering just shutting the door again. From the man’s face, he was just as displeased to see Zack as Zack was to see him. Another long moment, and Zack fought back the urge to just stab him as a sneer formed.
“Either let me in, or go inform my son that I wish to see him. It’s possible I might have some information for him over the situation that is happening.” The sneer and disdain were clear in Hojo’s voice, and the urge to stab was rising. Still, Zack stepped aside. If he did leave the man on the front step, Seph would have to deal with the man’s anger. Plus the manners that Cloud had thumped into his head over the years had taken some.
Also, if he left Hojo outside, the man might dissect something. What, Zack didn’t know, but he didn’t trust the man. From the way Seph acted around him, the man’s own son didn’t trust him, either.
“You can wait there.” A wave at the room that stood just off the entry hall for just this purpose. Once the man was in there, the wards would keep him from going further into the house unless a someone who was part of the household asked him back into the living part of the house. Another sneer told him that Hojo could sense them, but he didn’t move until the man was in there, and he could feel the wards lock. Zack wasn’t Cloud. While he didn’t use magic on a regular basis, he could, and it didn’t blow up in his face.
Feeling the man was secured, at the moment at least, and that he would feel it if he damaged the wards, Zack went hunting.
It wasn’t as if he expected Seph to be anywhere other than where he found his friend. Buried in the library, going through older and older books, hunting for some hint. Cloud was doing the same, as well as racking his brain for anything that had happened during his long life that was similar.
That was harder than most people realized. Zack knew. He wasn’t even sure if the twins and Seph realized how much Cloud lost, memory-wise. Oh, he was fine for about two or three centuries, but if you asked him about things before that, he started developing blank spots. One of the most important things that he and Cloud had ever talked about had to do with that. As his adopted heir, Zack had to know what to do if Cloud ever slipped into one of his blank states. The man barely reacted to anything, according to his own stories. Not that Zack had seen one of them yet, but Cloud had suggested they were probably his own way of coping with the massive amount of time he had been alive. Problem was when he snapped out of it, he didn’t remember any of it.
That, on top of the fact that, as he got older, Cloud forgot more of the earliest times. He had once mourned the fact that he could barely remember anything of his mother to Zack. while very, very drunk. After that, Zack knew why the man made the little plush creations of his. Outliving everyone was bad enough. Forgetting almost everything about them was even worse.
All that ran through his mind as he looked at the pair, then he coughed. “Seph, you have a...visitor.”
Seph looked up, a vaguely amused look on his face. “From that tone of voice, I would expect my visitor to be a giant roach or such.”
“It’s your father.”
The amused look vanished, and it looked as if Seph was torn between looking frustrated and disgusted. He wasn’t a big fan of his father, either, doing everything he could to just avoid the man. If the older mage had come here, though, well.... It must be something important. Hojo disliked his son’s chosen companions as much as they all loathed him.
“If you don’t to see him, I can always call Vincent and Chaos.”
That was with a bright tone of voice. Oh, if let loose on Hojo, the twins would shred him. They hated the man more than anyone in the house did. Including Sephiroth. Which was a wonder in and of itself. Sometimes Zack wondered what the man did to piss them off so bad, but he couldn’t ask them. Just the mention of his name would send them looking for something or someone to kill. Something that they really didn’t have time for at the moment.
Though it seemed that his sheer hope brought back a bit of Seph’s humor, as the man chuckled faintly. “No, no. I don’t want to make Cloud explain to the King why the man’s pet mage is dead and painting the walls of Cloud’s house.”
“Do not bring me into this. I don’t see why we would have to tell the King at all.” The blond waved. “Go see the man. The sooner you do, the sooner he leaves, and the sooner you can calm down over him deciding to come visit.” A grimace, and Cloud continued. “Besides, it’s possible that he might actually be able to give some useful information.”
That just got a sigh and a faint scowl from Seph before his face smoothed, settling into the blank, unfeeling look that he wore when dealing with Hojo.
Part of the reason that made Zack despise the older mage.
“I’ll deal with him. Then get back to more important things.”
Zack nodded, and turned to lead the way. Even if Seph knew where the man was, Zack wasn’t going to let him walk into that without having at least one friendly face.
///
Unhappy at the entire idea of having to deal with the man who claimed to be his father, Sephiroth kept his face calm and smooth. There was no point in having to listen to Hojo denounce the people he was friends with as unhealthy influences. Again. So he would listen to the man, tell him no to whatever idea he had come up with this time, and escort him out.
Zack lead him to the room, stepping in and resting against the door frame there. There was something amusing about that. If Hojo put his mind to it, he probably had the power to blow up most of this house. He wouldn’t do anything so wasteful and overbearing, but he could. And Zack just ignored that totally and was willing to take the risk in order to watch Sephiroth’s back.
This was part of the reason why he much preferred this family to the one he was born to.
“Send him away,” Hojo said after a long moment of staring contest with Zack. “I have something I want to talk to you about. Alone.”
He could just walk out, refuse to give the man the satisfaction of talking about whatever he wanted to talk about. But he couldn’t. Just on the off chance he might provide useful information. With a sharp nod of his head, Sephiroth okayed the idea with Zack. The younger man frowned, but moved to go. He did take the time to bump his shoulder against Sephiroth’s on the way out.
Once Zack was out of the door, Sephiroth turned to face Hojo with a faint frown. It deepened when he heard Hojo mutter about a “filthy little beast” after Zack left. Hojo could never appreciate Zack the same way that Sephiroth did, but he would not listen to the man being degraded in front of him. “Do you have actual business here, or have you come simply to be a irritant?”
Hojo looked at him coldly. “I do have business. It would be a grand opportunity for you to come with me today.” The blue of Hojo’s eyes was particularly strong today, which meant he had been working major magics recently.
“No.” He was not planning on going anywhere. “Now, if that was all you had to say, I have work to do. We have been hired by the Prince to.....” Hojo cut him off with a dry laugh.
“The Prince, hmm? Such a paltry title. So human. Limited.” The blue brightened, and there was something in the depths that bothered Sephiroth. He didn’t know what it was, but there was something that he had never seen in his father’s eyes before. Not obsession, but close. “I bring you an offer from Jenova herself.”
Jenova. He had spent his entire childhood hearing that name. Hearing the man in front of him going on for hours about her powers, even as he forced Sephiroth to work on his magecraft. Only the fact he loved magic had kept Sephiroth from refusing to ever touch it again. But he could no more ignore the singing in his blood than a person could ignore the twins when they were being persistent. It was just part of him. Turning his back on it took a stronger man than Sephiroth would ever be.
His father had nearly killed that love for magic. All in pursuit of that name.
Jenova.
The demon queen herself.
Looking at the man, horror breaking through his carefully held mask, Sephiroth felt frozen. Only after a few moments did he get his voice to work. “What?” A thin, strained tone. Not like his normal one at all.
“She wants you to join her.” The look in Hojo’s eyes became clear to Sephiroth now. Madness. The man was insane. Completely and totally. Even if he was hallucinating the idea that the demon queen had broken out of her seals, the very idea was a dangerous one. Hojo had power, and more than that, he had experience. Thanks to Cloud and his memories and books, Sephiroth knew some strange and forgotten things, but nothing beat the sheer amount of magic Hojo had learned over the years. If madness had taken over, and he was ready to act as if Jenova had come back....
A scoff from the man. “I am not mad, Sephiroth. She is awake, and looking for generals for her army. You were -made- for this moment. This one right here.” He gestured, sweeping his hand hard through the air in front of him. “She was going to be loose soon. I felt it when I first examined the seal that bound her.” The madness was brighter, and Sephiroth felt the first twist of fear low in his belly. This was bad. Hojo was completely insane. Nobody went looking for the queen of demons. “I knew, could tell it then, and I made a bargain with her.” Intent eyes focused on Sephiroth, and Hojo smiled. It sent shivers down his spine. His father never -smiled-. Smirked, yes, gave a false quirk of the lips that the foolish could mistake as a smile, sometimes. Never a smile like this.
“I made you with her power, willingly given. You were the greatest experiment I’ve ever done, all for her when she came.”
“You really have lost your mind....” Sephiroth’s words were slow, and he reached out, tugging at a very specific ward. This was not something he could handle alone. He was not a stupid man, and was not willing to risk everyone just to prove he could deal with his father alone.
Hojo frowned at him. “No. I have not. But I see that you aren’t willing to accept the power. Yet.” His face cleared as he looked at Sephiroth. That was even more eerie than when he had been smiling. “She is awake now, Sephiroth. And there are no Cetra to seal her again. With only the pathetic beings that live on this world now, she -will- win.” He focused on Sephiroth’s eyes. “You will join her, one way or another. Remember this offer, Sephiroth. You were bred to serve her, bound to her in blood and bone and magic.”
“You should leave. Now.”
Cloud was just suddenly there, Zack right behind him, both of them looking at Hojo with narrowed eyes. Around them both, Sephiroth could almost see the flex of the wards, ready to do whatever the owners of the house wanted.
Nodding once, Hojo looked to Sephiroth again. “She will come to you. I can tell you this already. Say yes when she does, Sephiroth. Only then will you survive the coming wave.”
He moved towards the door, not even looking at either of the other two men, as if they didn’t exist. Nobody relaxed at all until he was outside the front door.
The moment it was closed, Zack was triggering off the wards, sealing the house. Just in case. Magic started to scour the rooms Hojo had been in, making sure that there had been nothing left behind.
Rubbing a hand over his face, Cloud sighed. “We should have kept him. For nothing else, to ask him details.”
Sephiroth shook his head. “No. It....no.” He did not want the man here. Ever. Even if they could have gotten any information from him, which Sephiroth doubted, it would be suspect, most likely flawed. Besides, he did not want that man close to him, ever. He knew that he had been a test for his father. Had known that since he was old enough to understand what the words meant. But the idea that he had been -made- for such a thing. That he had only been born to be some monster’s toy....
“Hey.” It was a low sound, and a shoulder bump from Zack made him look up. The man smiled at him. “You’re not going to let him do that to you, right? He’s just a creepy old guy. I saw his type all the time before.” That was a rare reference to his time before being adopted by Cloud, something Zack very, very rarely brought up. “Just the right words to make you wonder, just enough truth to make you believe. Don’t listen to him. He’s a creepy old bastard, and he is nuts.”
Cloud nodded. “Zack is right. He’s manipulative. Don’t take anything he says at face value. Now,” he looked at both of them. “We have research to do. And a direction.”
A sigh.
“We’re going to need people who remember more details about history than I do. And while there aren’t any Cetra to ask, we still have their notes.”
Sephiroth nodded, silent.
If Jenova really had returned, then there was no time to focus on anything else.
The world wouldn’t survive another Angels War.
Author: GW Katrina
Beta: Skeren
Fandom: FFVII: Mercverse
Claim:
mercverse for story_arcThemeset/Prompt: Thirty Set 01: 09-Groom
Wordcount: 2,669
Ratings: PG-13
Link to Archive Post: Here
It was a busy time at the home where the group lived and their official “office”. It seemed that whenever they were awake, someone was researching something, running messages somewhere, or trying to keep someone else from working too hard. Something was coming, anyone with the least bit of sensitivity could tell, and it just made those working on solving the issue work harder. It was engrossing.
Thus, the doorbell going off made Zack almost walk into a wall. He hadn’t heard anyone use that thing in a while. Usually someone who was coming over by this point just called, then let themselves in. Or, in the case of Turks, called and were met at the front door. Trying to remember the last time someone had actually knocked or rang the bell, Zack decided to take one for the team and deal with the person. Who was most likely some sort of salesperson, or maybe a Court member trying, for whatever reason, to get Cloud or Zack to support something. That seems to be all the ones who came anymore. Mostly because Zack had done his best to irritate the annoying people. The ones who had actual brains he got along with. Everyone else could jump off the highest tower of the castle for all he cared about them.
When he opened the door, he stared at the man on the other side, and had a very serious, very long moment of considering just shutting the door again. From the man’s face, he was just as displeased to see Zack as Zack was to see him. Another long moment, and Zack fought back the urge to just stab him as a sneer formed.
“Either let me in, or go inform my son that I wish to see him. It’s possible I might have some information for him over the situation that is happening.” The sneer and disdain were clear in Hojo’s voice, and the urge to stab was rising. Still, Zack stepped aside. If he did leave the man on the front step, Seph would have to deal with the man’s anger. Plus the manners that Cloud had thumped into his head over the years had taken some.
Also, if he left Hojo outside, the man might dissect something. What, Zack didn’t know, but he didn’t trust the man. From the way Seph acted around him, the man’s own son didn’t trust him, either.
“You can wait there.” A wave at the room that stood just off the entry hall for just this purpose. Once the man was in there, the wards would keep him from going further into the house unless a someone who was part of the household asked him back into the living part of the house. Another sneer told him that Hojo could sense them, but he didn’t move until the man was in there, and he could feel the wards lock. Zack wasn’t Cloud. While he didn’t use magic on a regular basis, he could, and it didn’t blow up in his face.
Feeling the man was secured, at the moment at least, and that he would feel it if he damaged the wards, Zack went hunting.
It wasn’t as if he expected Seph to be anywhere other than where he found his friend. Buried in the library, going through older and older books, hunting for some hint. Cloud was doing the same, as well as racking his brain for anything that had happened during his long life that was similar.
That was harder than most people realized. Zack knew. He wasn’t even sure if the twins and Seph realized how much Cloud lost, memory-wise. Oh, he was fine for about two or three centuries, but if you asked him about things before that, he started developing blank spots. One of the most important things that he and Cloud had ever talked about had to do with that. As his adopted heir, Zack had to know what to do if Cloud ever slipped into one of his blank states. The man barely reacted to anything, according to his own stories. Not that Zack had seen one of them yet, but Cloud had suggested they were probably his own way of coping with the massive amount of time he had been alive. Problem was when he snapped out of it, he didn’t remember any of it.
That, on top of the fact that, as he got older, Cloud forgot more of the earliest times. He had once mourned the fact that he could barely remember anything of his mother to Zack. while very, very drunk. After that, Zack knew why the man made the little plush creations of his. Outliving everyone was bad enough. Forgetting almost everything about them was even worse.
All that ran through his mind as he looked at the pair, then he coughed. “Seph, you have a...visitor.”
Seph looked up, a vaguely amused look on his face. “From that tone of voice, I would expect my visitor to be a giant roach or such.”
“It’s your father.”
The amused look vanished, and it looked as if Seph was torn between looking frustrated and disgusted. He wasn’t a big fan of his father, either, doing everything he could to just avoid the man. If the older mage had come here, though, well.... It must be something important. Hojo disliked his son’s chosen companions as much as they all loathed him.
“If you don’t to see him, I can always call Vincent and Chaos.”
That was with a bright tone of voice. Oh, if let loose on Hojo, the twins would shred him. They hated the man more than anyone in the house did. Including Sephiroth. Which was a wonder in and of itself. Sometimes Zack wondered what the man did to piss them off so bad, but he couldn’t ask them. Just the mention of his name would send them looking for something or someone to kill. Something that they really didn’t have time for at the moment.
Though it seemed that his sheer hope brought back a bit of Seph’s humor, as the man chuckled faintly. “No, no. I don’t want to make Cloud explain to the King why the man’s pet mage is dead and painting the walls of Cloud’s house.”
“Do not bring me into this. I don’t see why we would have to tell the King at all.” The blond waved. “Go see the man. The sooner you do, the sooner he leaves, and the sooner you can calm down over him deciding to come visit.” A grimace, and Cloud continued. “Besides, it’s possible that he might actually be able to give some useful information.”
That just got a sigh and a faint scowl from Seph before his face smoothed, settling into the blank, unfeeling look that he wore when dealing with Hojo.
Part of the reason that made Zack despise the older mage.
“I’ll deal with him. Then get back to more important things.”
Zack nodded, and turned to lead the way. Even if Seph knew where the man was, Zack wasn’t going to let him walk into that without having at least one friendly face.
Unhappy at the entire idea of having to deal with the man who claimed to be his father, Sephiroth kept his face calm and smooth. There was no point in having to listen to Hojo denounce the people he was friends with as unhealthy influences. Again. So he would listen to the man, tell him no to whatever idea he had come up with this time, and escort him out.
Zack lead him to the room, stepping in and resting against the door frame there. There was something amusing about that. If Hojo put his mind to it, he probably had the power to blow up most of this house. He wouldn’t do anything so wasteful and overbearing, but he could. And Zack just ignored that totally and was willing to take the risk in order to watch Sephiroth’s back.
This was part of the reason why he much preferred this family to the one he was born to.
“Send him away,” Hojo said after a long moment of staring contest with Zack. “I have something I want to talk to you about. Alone.”
He could just walk out, refuse to give the man the satisfaction of talking about whatever he wanted to talk about. But he couldn’t. Just on the off chance he might provide useful information. With a sharp nod of his head, Sephiroth okayed the idea with Zack. The younger man frowned, but moved to go. He did take the time to bump his shoulder against Sephiroth’s on the way out.
Once Zack was out of the door, Sephiroth turned to face Hojo with a faint frown. It deepened when he heard Hojo mutter about a “filthy little beast” after Zack left. Hojo could never appreciate Zack the same way that Sephiroth did, but he would not listen to the man being degraded in front of him. “Do you have actual business here, or have you come simply to be a irritant?”
Hojo looked at him coldly. “I do have business. It would be a grand opportunity for you to come with me today.” The blue of Hojo’s eyes was particularly strong today, which meant he had been working major magics recently.
“No.” He was not planning on going anywhere. “Now, if that was all you had to say, I have work to do. We have been hired by the Prince to.....” Hojo cut him off with a dry laugh.
“The Prince, hmm? Such a paltry title. So human. Limited.” The blue brightened, and there was something in the depths that bothered Sephiroth. He didn’t know what it was, but there was something that he had never seen in his father’s eyes before. Not obsession, but close. “I bring you an offer from Jenova herself.”
Jenova. He had spent his entire childhood hearing that name. Hearing the man in front of him going on for hours about her powers, even as he forced Sephiroth to work on his magecraft. Only the fact he loved magic had kept Sephiroth from refusing to ever touch it again. But he could no more ignore the singing in his blood than a person could ignore the twins when they were being persistent. It was just part of him. Turning his back on it took a stronger man than Sephiroth would ever be.
His father had nearly killed that love for magic. All in pursuit of that name.
Jenova.
The demon queen herself.
Looking at the man, horror breaking through his carefully held mask, Sephiroth felt frozen. Only after a few moments did he get his voice to work. “What?” A thin, strained tone. Not like his normal one at all.
“She wants you to join her.” The look in Hojo’s eyes became clear to Sephiroth now. Madness. The man was insane. Completely and totally. Even if he was hallucinating the idea that the demon queen had broken out of her seals, the very idea was a dangerous one. Hojo had power, and more than that, he had experience. Thanks to Cloud and his memories and books, Sephiroth knew some strange and forgotten things, but nothing beat the sheer amount of magic Hojo had learned over the years. If madness had taken over, and he was ready to act as if Jenova had come back....
A scoff from the man. “I am not mad, Sephiroth. She is awake, and looking for generals for her army. You were -made- for this moment. This one right here.” He gestured, sweeping his hand hard through the air in front of him. “She was going to be loose soon. I felt it when I first examined the seal that bound her.” The madness was brighter, and Sephiroth felt the first twist of fear low in his belly. This was bad. Hojo was completely insane. Nobody went looking for the queen of demons. “I knew, could tell it then, and I made a bargain with her.” Intent eyes focused on Sephiroth, and Hojo smiled. It sent shivers down his spine. His father never -smiled-. Smirked, yes, gave a false quirk of the lips that the foolish could mistake as a smile, sometimes. Never a smile like this.
“I made you with her power, willingly given. You were the greatest experiment I’ve ever done, all for her when she came.”
“You really have lost your mind....” Sephiroth’s words were slow, and he reached out, tugging at a very specific ward. This was not something he could handle alone. He was not a stupid man, and was not willing to risk everyone just to prove he could deal with his father alone.
Hojo frowned at him. “No. I have not. But I see that you aren’t willing to accept the power. Yet.” His face cleared as he looked at Sephiroth. That was even more eerie than when he had been smiling. “She is awake now, Sephiroth. And there are no Cetra to seal her again. With only the pathetic beings that live on this world now, she -will- win.” He focused on Sephiroth’s eyes. “You will join her, one way or another. Remember this offer, Sephiroth. You were bred to serve her, bound to her in blood and bone and magic.”
“You should leave. Now.”
Cloud was just suddenly there, Zack right behind him, both of them looking at Hojo with narrowed eyes. Around them both, Sephiroth could almost see the flex of the wards, ready to do whatever the owners of the house wanted.
Nodding once, Hojo looked to Sephiroth again. “She will come to you. I can tell you this already. Say yes when she does, Sephiroth. Only then will you survive the coming wave.”
He moved towards the door, not even looking at either of the other two men, as if they didn’t exist. Nobody relaxed at all until he was outside the front door.
The moment it was closed, Zack was triggering off the wards, sealing the house. Just in case. Magic started to scour the rooms Hojo had been in, making sure that there had been nothing left behind.
Rubbing a hand over his face, Cloud sighed. “We should have kept him. For nothing else, to ask him details.”
Sephiroth shook his head. “No. It....no.” He did not want the man here. Ever. Even if they could have gotten any information from him, which Sephiroth doubted, it would be suspect, most likely flawed. Besides, he did not want that man close to him, ever. He knew that he had been a test for his father. Had known that since he was old enough to understand what the words meant. But the idea that he had been -made- for such a thing. That he had only been born to be some monster’s toy....
“Hey.” It was a low sound, and a shoulder bump from Zack made him look up. The man smiled at him. “You’re not going to let him do that to you, right? He’s just a creepy old guy. I saw his type all the time before.” That was a rare reference to his time before being adopted by Cloud, something Zack very, very rarely brought up. “Just the right words to make you wonder, just enough truth to make you believe. Don’t listen to him. He’s a creepy old bastard, and he is nuts.”
Cloud nodded. “Zack is right. He’s manipulative. Don’t take anything he says at face value. Now,” he looked at both of them. “We have research to do. And a direction.”
A sigh.
“We’re going to need people who remember more details about history than I do. And while there aren’t any Cetra to ask, we still have their notes.”
Sephiroth nodded, silent.
If Jenova really had returned, then there was no time to focus on anything else.
The world wouldn’t survive another Angels War.