jukeboxhound_backup: (gw - wufei.)
[personal profile] jukeboxhound_backup
I promised [livejournal.com profile] fateofshadow  some IP after, what, two years of no updates?  But rereading the original to remember what had happened was excruciating, so you can totally blame her for this.  No major events have been added or taken out, just...rewritten.  Hopefully for the better.  >.>  Unbeta'd by anyone else.

Imperfect Tense - Chapter 1
| Original main post | New main post |

Pairings: Squall/Seifer; Sephiroth/Cloud
Canon
: FFVII + FFVIII (no CC, BC, AC, DoC, or any other spinoffs)
Rating/Warnings
: R – Battle violence, implicit sexual content, foul language; time-travel, of sorts.
Summary
: Jenova's legacy, living on through the Sorceresses, is forcing Squall to face an unstable Seifer, Cloud Strife, and yet another potential end of the world. Maybe paperwork really wasn't so bad.
Disclaimer
: The original inspiration was Konitsu's Bandages, way the hell back in high school. 

Word Count: 2,291


1.

Monday.

Squall dreamed.


He stood in a field of pale flowers underneath a sky completely white in every direction. He knew he dreamed because there were no aches in his body, none of the exhaustion that had slowly been wearing him down, and instead it was a quiet kind of relaxation that made his limbs feel heavy. Squall walked until he realized he could walk forever and nothing would change.


The hairs on the back of his neck suddenly prickled and Squall whirled around sharply, hand instinctively moving for Lion Heart at his hip. A grey wolf watched him with eerily sentient eyes that glowed faintly blue. They stared at one another, waiting for the other to make the first move, and then he blinked –


And there was no longer a wolf but a man with the same glowing eyes, a little shorter than Squall with hair startlingly similar to Zell's. The stark black of his clothing made him look sickly pale and exhausted, but he managed to carry the weight of an enormous sword over his back easily enough.


"Who are you?" seemed the most sensible question.

"Cloud," said the man softly. "Cloud Strife. Most of the time." He didn't seem particularly disturbed by that.

The name wasn't familiar, and for a swift moment Squall wondered if all of this, this odd dream, was Shiva's doing. It didn't seem likely, but one never knew.


"I was asleep," was the safe, neutral statement that he chose, watching Strife carefully, but there was no sign of aggression or disbelief.

Strife frowned slightly. "Only the dead or the Cetra can use the Lifestream like this, Leonhart."


"How do you know me?"

"I don't. The Cetra do."

It was Squall's turn to frown, and he opened his mouth to ask who the Cetra were and what kind of dream this was, exactly, but then Shiva's voice was
calling him awake.

Squall lay in bed for a moment and stared up at the ceiling. Predawn light came in through the slatted blinds of the commander's quarters, washing the plain white walls with a faintly blue light. Griever's cross was warm on his bare chest as the Guardian Force, now that he was awake, withdrew into the back of his thoughts silently.

Cloud Strife.


Sorcerer?
he mused, though he'd never heard of a man taking that kind of position, only women. There was something about Strife's presence that had tainted the serenity of the field of flowers, the same kind of energy that had left a muted hum in the center of his chest when Rinoa had been around. Not as strong as when he was in the presence of a Sorceress, but there nevertheless.

A new Guardian Force?
But Squall snorted. It was just a dream. Don't be stupid.

The weariness had returned and he lay on his back for a while, thinking about nothing in particular except that Quistis would likely be irritated if he showed up to his office so early. The only sound in his quarters was the quiet hum of Garden's utilities. He wondered if he needed to restock some of the supplies in the armory; he should get Irvine or Selphie to check on that.

The light had shifted a few degrees by the time Squall roused himself and went to shower. The water was warm and had the faintly metallic taste that Timber was never quite able to strip out. His clothes were freshly laundered; courtesy of Quistis' badgering of the cleaning staff, no doubt, without whom he probably would've worn the same clothes for days at a time. She never did approve of his casual attire as a Garden commander.

He ran a hand through damp hair as he stepped out of his quarters with the mechanical whoosh of an electronic door. He met no one on the way to his office. It was probably because of the early hour.

Zell had once quipped that everything Squall touched turned cold.

His office had light grey walls and nondescript carpet, even with the strengthening light crawling through the window. There was, as usual, paperwork that had somehow found its way to his desk overnight: military requests, political demands and entreaties, applications, and Squall wondered why people seemed incapable of helping themselves. Why they thought killing a Sorceress would make him qualified for this position, especially when he hadn't been driven by any sort of ideal. Just his own selfish reasons.

Leaning Lion Heart against the wall within reach, he worked through the papers as the rising sun shortened the shadows in his office.

"Squall?"

Quistis was leaning in through the door, eyes stern behind her glasses. When Squall just blinked at her, she entered, the whip coiled at her waist bouncing gently against her thigh.

"Did you sleep at all?"

"Yes," he said shortly, turning back to the mission report he held. Casualties from monster attack…

"You're here awfully early."

He didn't bother responding to such an obvious statement.

"Have you eaten?"

"No." Scans showed monster stats were unusually high…

Quistis bit her lip briefly. "Squall…"

"I'll have the secretary call for something from the cafeteria." It was about the time she arrived, wasn't it? Squall couldn't remember.

Thankfully the instructor let the matter drop, albeit with a frustrated sigh. "There's been another request from Galbadia for financial restitution."

Squall's eyes narrowed. "Garden isn't a charity."

"Nevertheless, they feel that SeeDs were responsible for much of the damage and that SeeDs should be out there rebuilding, or at least paying for it," she said dryly. When Squall snorted, she continued, "They probably came to me about the issue because I'm a woman and so they wouldn't have to deal with you."

Idiots.

"Oh, and Laguna's been trying to get a hold of you."

Damn it. "If this is about the treaty, tell him I haven't changed my mind."

"I have been. I can see where you get your stubbornness."

The glare he gave her literally caused the temperature to drop a few degrees. She crossed her arms and shifted her weight, looking at him more keenly than Squall was comfortable with. Before she could press him on this other issue (and it was an issue, wasn't it, when a person's coldness was no longer quite so metaphorical), he asked, "Have you ever heard of something called the Lifestream?"

She frowned in thought. "It sounds familiar. Maybe it was mentioned in one of the magic courses? I'm sorry, I don't know anything about it. Why?"

But Squall had already stopped listening, and after a moment he heard the clicking of her heels disappear outside and down the hallway. He was irritated with himself for having indulged a moment of whimsy.

The monsters also appeared to display a basic understanding of attack strategy


It was a dream. It didn't mean anything.

Tuesday.

Squall dreamed.


The flowers were still soft yellow and delicate white, the sky still empty and unchanging. It smelled like rain that hadn't fallen yet.


The blond man was there again, sitting in the flowers with his elbows on his knees and the huge sword on his back, the tip pressing heavily into the ground. Squall stood beside him and wondered if humans could naturally have those eyes.

Time was impossible to measure in this place, so it could've been minutes or hours before Squall finally seated himself beside the other man, laying Lion Heart across his lap so its handle wouldn't dig into his hip. Neither spoke.

Then Strife said, "People say war and death are the two worst things we can experience."


Squall said nothing.


"They're wrong. The worst is the silence."

"Squall! I'm so glad I finally managed to catch you. You're an incredibly difficult person to get a hold of."

The brunet stared back at his father, already vaguely regretting accepting the call. Laguna's voice was cheerful, despite the tinny quality of the vid-phone, but there were lines of worry around his eyes.

"What did you want?"

Laguna looked taken aback by his abruptness, but he recovered with an exhausted smile. "Well, something's…happened. Sort of. I mean, I'm not really sure what happened, but it can't be good."

If people were given a finite number of words per lifetime, business would be so much more efficient. "If you don't know, then find me someone who does."

Laguna was gently pushed aside and Kiros' dark face appeared, looking more tired than even the president. "Some of our weather stations have detected an anomaly on the northern continent. Unusual weather patterns, mostly, and tremors. One of these stations near Dollet has been reporting sightings of monsters that no one has seen before."

Why haven't I heard this?


"Our scientists don't think there's anything to be concerned about yet. There hasn't been any increase in monster-related deaths or anything, and they're keeping a sharp eye on the situation."

Squall made a mental note to speak with Quistis about getting their own reports on these monsters; if there was something truly going on, then the SeeDs needed to be prepared for their missions.

Laguna took back the vid-phone and said, "You remember what we spoke about last time, Squall?" His voice was still lighthearted, but there was an unmistakable spark of shrewdness in his eyes. "If there is a potential threat – "

"No."

"Surely you see – "

"Balamb Garden is an independent institution," Squall said flatly. "An alliance made with any nation not only calls into question our professionalism but also usurps the entire purpose of SeeD."

Laguna's bid to tie Balamb Garden to Esthar, wherein the nation would provide financial aid in peacetime and the Garden in turn would aid Esthar in times in of war by default, made Squall's skin crawl. Garden belongs to no one, and he severed the connection.

"Look at me!"

But the other boy never turned in his direction, and he was confused and hurt because everyone else did, even if it was only because they were irritated or angered.


"Look at me!" Seifer grabbed the other boy's arm and twisted, leaving a raw rash. "Don't ignore me!"

The other wrenched his arm away and swung a tiny fist, connecting painfully with Seifer's jaw, and then they were rolling around on the ground kicking and snarling like little wild animals.


"SEIFER."

"Don't ignore me!"

"SEIFER."

The blond boy wrestled his way free and
looked up at Fujin, her one eye narrowed with worry. She carried a small tray in her callused hands.

"Fu?" Seifer rasped, blinking away his dream? Memory? Ow, my goddamn head.

"EAT."

His bed felt cold though he'd been lying there for several hours, and he shivered as he pulled himself up to sit. He was so weak, you insignificant little worm –

There was a bowl of broth that warmed his hands when he cradled it, and he let his lips rest against the edge for a moment, imagining that the heat from the broth passed through the bowl and his cold lips to soothe the pounding in his temples. Had Fujin always had one eye? He couldn't remember. Must've been a violent fight to lose her eye, but the other guy probably lost his life. Pride, that his friend was so strong; guilt, that she was wasting her time on a broken man.

"OKAY?"

"I feel like shit and this tastes even worse," he sniped, but there was no heat behind his words. If he tilted the bowl slightly the dim fluorescent light would refract off the broth and bits of vegetable inside, and he didn't have to see the sadness in Fujin's expression. Weak, said the voices inside of him. Pathetic. Sob stories only get you so far until the audience loses interest, and it looks like you lost that a long time ago.

Fujin's hands were cool against the feverish warmth of his skin as she gently but firmly pushed the bowl against his lips again. "DRINK," she commanded, and through all the timelines in his head Seifer felt a rush of anger (how dare she patronize me) and guilt (fuck I'm such an immature shit). But eventually he managed to finish the broth, as much as his nausea could handle, and then Fujin pressed him back down to the bed.

"SLEEP."

How the mighty have fallen.

Vincent had been dreaming for a very long time. His breathing had evened out until his heart beat once every ten years and the flow of his blood mimicked the natural tides of the Planet.

He dreamed mostly of the past in vague blurs, like watching a room full of people through a rain-drenched window. The people were indistinct, soundless shapes playing out familiar scenes.

Sometimes he dreamed of darkness and blood and agony, and during those times he could hear CHAOS laughing.
But most often he lay quiet, cradled in the warmth of the Planet in a sleep that was as close to death as he could come. He could see the Lifestream, touch it, but he couldn't join the cycle of birth-death-rebirth that was the right of all mortals.

Vincent recalled once dreaming of himself on a cliff overlooking Midgar, the sun low in the sky and the ground as dry as a desert. He stood at the very edge and when he looked to his side, Cloud was sitting by his feet, staring off into space towards the city. Vincent glanced behind them and wasn't surprised to see a large patch of dirt stained dark with old blood. Nothing was said, and after a while the dream dissipated.

But now his dreams were changing. The pulse of the Planet was shifting, growing faster, and Vincent could feel awareness returning to him.



Date: 2010-04-22 07:02 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] spellhorn.livejournal.com
*_________*

I have no words for how much I absolutely love this story. I'm almost positive that it's the first story of yours that I ever read. And since then I've been hooked on your writing and never been able to go back.

So nice to see this being rewritten and I can't wait for more.

Date: 2010-04-25 08:59 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] jukeboxhound.livejournal.com
I honestly can't figure out why people seemed to like it so much. When I was rereading it myself, I couldn't stop cringing, and maybe it's because it's my own, but...still. >.> But thank you. <3

Date: 2010-04-26 01:03 am (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
Well there is the fact that I read it /so/ long ago and I'm pretty sure my tastes have refined since then and then there's the fact that I'm a total crossover whore and it was definitely one of the better ones. Not to mention nostalgia, with it being the first of your that I read.

Date: 2010-04-22 08:36 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fateofshadow.livejournal.com
OMGOMGOMG

I WANT TO READ THIS! O_O

(Oh why do I leave deadlines so laaaate~!)

I will read this as soon as I hand in my essays tomorrow (why am I even on the internet?!? *wails*)

*drags self away, bawling like a little girl*

Date: 2010-04-25 11:06 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fateofshadow.livejournal.com
Mou~! *Pouts* At least I got the assignments in and got to read the chapter eventually! *Sits in a corner and sulks*

Date: 2010-04-22 09:31 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] aikonamika.livejournal.com
Eeeeeeeeeeeeeee! *happy flailing* I can see some of the little differences already, and they help to maintain the feel of that odd sense of disconnect, of not quite being aware of what's going on. But there's a feeling of motion starting behind it all, and just yay! *more happy flailing*

Date: 2010-04-25 09:09 pm (UTC)

Date: 2010-04-23 12:01 am (UTC)
ext_125436: (HP Snape Half BLOOD Prince)
From: [identity profile] muthine.livejournal.com
*Here from FF*

This is probably my favourite piece of yours and I'm positively stoked that you haven't abandoned it, and better yet, are working on a rewrite! I'm really looking forward to see how this one varies from the original, this introduction was all ready very promising with its clever construction of different povs.
It does its job particularly well as a teaser, as it offers us a slice of Squall's not so shiny life, Balamb Garden's political standing, and Seifer's fall. And the bits of Cloud and Vincent offer a *very* nice foreshadowing, I especially liked the oneiric quality of the dream sequences, very well done <3

Date: 2010-04-25 09:12 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] jukeboxhound.livejournal.com
I honestly have no idea if I would've returned to it if I hadn't trapped myself by promising someone fic of their choice. *shoots self* Adding that I just discovered a nearly finished newest chapter that's been hanging out for two years probably won't endear me to anyone.

Thank you. ^^

Date: 2010-04-26 07:22 pm (UTC)
ext_125436: (GK [HUG])
From: [identity profile] muthine.livejournal.com
Heh heh, thank that evil mastermind friend of yours x)

(Yes, I was about to boo at you, but seeing as how you supply me with Good Squall/Seifer, I'll that slide this time!)

Date: 2010-04-24 06:51 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fateofshadow.livejournal.com
This is love. Completely worth the wait: better sense of time, fresh and interesting in the new angles of emotional interaction. <3 *Goes back to re-read*

Date: 2010-04-25 09:11 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] jukeboxhound.livejournal.com
Since this is both for and because of you, I'm happy to hear that. ^^

Date: 2010-04-25 11:10 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fateofshadow.livejournal.com
o^_^o Teehee. <3 the Squall avatar btw, figurine?

Date: 2010-04-25 11:36 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] jukeboxhound.livejournal.com
NO. DISSIDIA IS JUST THAT AWESOME.

Date: 2011-03-09 12:33 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] kazi-kun.livejournal.com
*is utterly speechless at the awesomeness* (_)o(_)

Date: 2011-04-22 03:48 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] jukeboxhound.livejournal.com
\o/

...What kind of emoticon is that?

Date: 2011-04-23 06:17 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] kazi-kun.livejournal.com
It's one a friend showed me. It's the big eyes of wonderment or shock.

And here's a Final Fantasy imote he made: MOOGLE! *:3

Date: 2011-04-23 03:30 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] jukeboxhound.livejournal.com
I thought it was boobs with a front-fastening bra. Which is awesome in and of itself, but I didn't think that was what you were aiming for.

And :'D

Date: 2011-09-17 06:19 pm (UTC)
oceanandspace: the silhouette of a ship with the full moon in background (0-main-ff7-jenova headpiece)
From: [personal profile] oceanandspace
(re-reading the fic once more ^^)

Cloud Strife. Most of the time.
xDDD Cloud, I love you and your matter of fact behavior ;p

A new Guardian Force?
Cloud as a GF? OMG, can you imagine the damages???!

(and it was an issue, wasn't it, when a person's coldness was no longer quite so metaphorical)
Why do I love this sentence? O.o

Date: 2011-09-20 09:51 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] jukeboxhound.livejournal.com
Since I've made Cloud into a WEAPON in another fic, I don't think I could get away with that here. But there's always Squall...

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