fic: don't nobody know (ff7)

[jukeboxhound_backup]

Not quite sure what this is except experimental, listening to guitar and blues.

Don't Nobody Know (But God)
FF7 || PG-13: complete AU || hinted Cloud/Zack, Sephiroth || 736 words
But none of ‘em see the angel by the door ‘cept the man that saw ‘imself reflected in a corpse’s eyes, an’ if that corpse were once the person Strife loved most in all this ugly world, well, ain’t no-one gonna say life’s anywhere near kind.

• For Prompt #76: Music, from 100_situations 

...

The bar’s dim, worn smooth as ol’ leather an’ tired souls, hot as the Devil’s breath. Agains’ the wall opposite the drink-sticky counter is Cloud Strife, threadbare jeans and worn ol’ boots and eyes like a huntin’ dog at the end o’ his years. Sits in a wood chair, one o’ them hand-made affairs nailed from branches wit’ a seat woven by some poor bird wit' nothin’ better to do, and runs ‘is fingers o’er the strings of a gee-tar sweet as anythin’. The notes trip their way out like sweet-voiced gurls at one o’ them fancy dances, dun up all priddy and makin’ the boys that much stupider, Strife’s fingers the sha-pear-owns keepin’ them young ladies in line and outta trouble.

There’s no light outside save the sharp grin of the moon, liddle sound ‘cept for what comes outta the bar. Low voices, clinkin’ glasses, and the music bein’ coaxed from Strife’s gee-tar. Ain’t too many folks in there, just a few what’s down on their luck: the ship’s cap’n cussin’ out the company what fucked ‘is career right over, the man in the corner wit’ ‘is broodin’ silence and red-shinin’ eyes, the liddle white gurl tha’s the apple of ‘er black adopted daddy’s eye. The barkeep’s a young lady wit’ a broken heart, keeps castin’ bittersweet looks at Strife who don’t notice nothin’ but the dance o’ the strings unner ‘is fingers. There’s an angel by the door and don’t no-one see ‘im.

Though he’s one o’ them country folk way back in the mountains Strife don’t ever sing ‘cept what he pulls outta the strings o’ thin twisted metal. Been comin’ here since the guv’ment decided to bring our good boys back from the war, brought ‘em back with bombs still ringin’ in their ears and dead man’s blud on their hands. The guv’ment said it were a war of democracy but unda’neath all that slickness they was sayin’, Gotta kill them slant-eyed bastards. They sent out our boys, not even men, told ‘em the only way were the ShinRa way and ain’t no two ways ‘bout it, them slant-eyed Wutaian bastards were ass-backwards. Boys like Strife were sent to kill savages and ended up killin’ other boys jes’ like themselves, saw ‘emselves reflected in ded glazed eyes and it weren’t like no fun-house mirrors.

Misery loves comp’ny, every sad fucker knows that. Got a ship’s cap’n with no ship, a man what left ‘is innocence in a coffin, a mismatched daddy and his liddle gurl who know that the color of a man’s skin don’t mean shit when you ain’t got the luxury of delusion. Got a barkeep what loved the Cloud that got sent off and then din’t recognize the Strife that came back. But none of ‘em see the angel by the door ‘cept the man that saw ‘imself reflected in a corpse’s eyes, an’ if that corpse were once the person Strife loved most in all this ugly world, well, ain’t no-one gonna say life’s anywhere near kind.

“Been waitin’ for ya,” sez Strife, fingers never stoppin’ their dancin’. The angel’s the only bright thing in the bar, got hair silver as them freshly minted bullets what tore Zack Fair all to pieces and stole the screams right outta Strife’s throat.

“It’s been a year,” sez the angel, but ‘is words're as invisible to the rest o’ the bar as the war, the kinda shit what can’t be imagined ‘til it’s shoved in yer ugly mug, ‘til ya see it down the barrel of a gun or smell it in the piss o’ terror.

“Maybe,” sez Strife, “but I’ve been chasin’ ya what seems all over the world.”

“He would have wanted you to live for him.”

Strife don’ say nothin’. Lets ‘is fingers sob and wail over the barbed-wire strings what ‘e ain’t been able to say ‘imself since blud n’ grief welded ‘is throat shut. Then ‘e sez, “S’pposin’ ya here fer my soul.”

“I thought you left that behind a year ago.”

Strife’s mouth twists into a skull’s smile, sez, “Aye, s’pposin’ yer right.”

The man’s standin’ up, tossin’ the gee-tar strap o’er a shoulder like it were a big ol’ broadsword and followin’ the angel outta the bar. Life ain’t kind, there ain’t nothin’ but the sharp grin of the moon an’ the silence of lost love. Strife don’ hesitate to shut the door.




x-posted to ffvii_yaoi  and ffvii_clack 

Comments

[fateofshadow.livejournal.com]

Holy crackers.

I had to read this out loud the second time and as soon as it did it read like poetry. Love this and you for writing it *huggles*

On a sad panda note, I couldn't get any bananas ripe enough to replace the ones big bro ate, so I can't make banana bread to my standards tonight. I'll bring some over in a few days time and I am still free tomorrow if you wanna meet up.

[jukeboxhound.livejournal.com]

:'D

S'okay. You wanna join me at the gym first? I was thinking of heading over there around 13.00, and if you'd like I can meet you at the same intersection around then. Alternately I'm always signed in to Y!, so you can also IM me tonight or tomorrow morning. Or call my cell. JUST A THOUGHT.

[fateofshadow.livejournal.com]

1 at the junction sounds fine (I ate far too many mini eggs today *groans* so I'm going to need to work them off) and yes, I shall ambush you by ways of modern communication... probably tomorrow though, I'm in the mood to be screaming 'MELON LORD' and other silliness so any chat tonight will be very silly with nary a breath spared for, well, breathing... >_>

[oceanandspace]

Wow, definitively strange. I even impressed myself by managing to follow/understand all that (English isn't my mother tongue ^^).

It just realized how relatively easy it is to transpose the FFVII world/characters into anything. Complete human AUs, magic FFVII worlds, anthro FFVII worlds, medieval FFVII worlds... You name it, it has been done.

That's probably one of the reason why the fandom is still going after all these years. That, and the awesome characters! ;p

[jukeboxhound.livejournal.com]

Dude, that's some talent right there. :D

To be fair, I haven't seen many fandoms that don't lend themselves pretty well to AUs of one kind or another. SPN's rather questionable just because I think the...American-ness?...is hard to separate from the show, but yeah.

Pfff, the release of the Compilation and AC:C doesn't help. (OMG AC:C KICKS AC'S ASS, I NEED TO WATCH IT AGAIN NOW.)

[oceanandspace]

Yep, I know virtually every fandom can be tweaked as we want, and maybe it's because I spend way too much time reading/imagining/thinking about the FFVII characters/fandom, but I always feel like, no matter what, every characters can be re-used and we'll still recognize them at the first glance.
Of course, the fact that it's recounting the fight for the environment and against some big corporation trying to get the monopole of everything is probably something that helps a lot too. No matter which universe/time we transpose it, those topics are still current issues.

The American-ness, as you say, does create an interesting issue. The first point being that one of the main props of the characters is a definitively American car. The most common change i've seen is to make it a black horse, but it doesn't exactly match, as we loose the idea of constant proximity and the rather large baggage/hiding place they move around with them.

Ah, yes, AC:C. Would you believe that I still haven't watched it?!! It has been waiting for me for years now, safely stored in my laptop, but I didn't get around watching it yet. But now that you reminded me of it, I'm probably going to did it up, finally. ^^

[jukeboxhound.livejournal.com]

Not just the car, though, but because it's such a large country it's got the never-ending highways, and the sheer variety of immigrant populations makes it easier to legitimate non-American myth and lore. I've always been charmed by their using smaller cities and towns as locations rather than the usual NYC or LA. A lot of the classic rock, too (although Zeppelin came from London), the Southern/Western-style dives, the pop culture references...I dunno. kroki_refur did an amazing crack British!AU called Winchester, Like the Bishopric (http://kroki-refur.livejournal.com/274186.html) about this, which is honestly what got me thinking about it:

"Yeah, so, I wrote this after one of fandom's many small kerfuffles about Britishisms in fic and how the American-ness of the show is so very central to the whole thing. I'd originally planned to write an actual ghost hunt -- because it's not like we're short of the wee buggers in the UK -- but the story took on a life of its own and decided it was going to be about something entirely different. And then Sam and Dean ended up going to America, so maybe what I learned is that the American-ness of the show really is central to the whole thing. Then again, maybe I just learned that we may be divided by a common language, but the language of pie is universal."

So, yeah. Anyway.

YOU HAVE AC:C AND HAVEN'T WATCHED IT. THIS IS MY 'JUDGING YOU' FACE.

[oceanandspace]

Oh yeah, the small towns, dinners and especially the pop culture references! \O/ ♥

And also, the references to the fandom \O/ ♥ ♥ so much love ^^

Thanks for the rec, it was a really funny ficlet. Made me realize how huge America is, compared to most other countries.

"but the language of pie is universal" XD, loved this! T_T Which is really sad, as we don't have pies in France, like you do in America. Or at least, they aren't the same.

While you have pies, we have tartes
More or less ^^

I think I still haven't watched AC:C because if I do, there won't be anything new in the fandom T_T
I'm still dreaming that one day they will redo FFVII in a FFXIII style or even FFVII CC style would be good. I'd even by a PS3 or 4 or whatever, if it meant playing FFVII with human sized/beautiful graphics!
*still dreaming*

*.* ♥ ♥ ♥

[kate louise scott (from livejournal.com)]

I would love to see the Wall Market scene in up-to-date graphics. lol. The Honey Bee Inn without the translation error, but most of all, Cloud in drag, going to kiss Don Corneo. lol.

[oceanandspace]

XDD OMG, the Honey Bee!!

And Cloud in drags is priceless. This would be... wow *.* ♥

But really, I'd love to see everything, but most especially the towns and cinematics and ALL THE SCENES WITH SEPHIROTH, oh please, please, please \O/

XD

Everybody needs an unattainable dream ;p

[white-jenna.livejournal.com]

Tearing up here. Beautiful.

[jukeboxhound.livejournal.com]

*hugs*

And thank you.

[chofi.livejournal.com]

Got a barkeep what loved the Cloud that got sent off and then din’t recognize the Strife that came back.

THIS LINE. I LOVE IT SO MUCH. <3

[jukeboxhound.livejournal.com]

AND I LOVE YOU. :'D

[armina-skitty.livejournal.com]

Holy crap, that was good. Echoing the love of the line: "Got a barkeep what loved the Cloud that got sent off and then din’t recognize the Strife that came back." 'Cause if that doesn't describe that warped relationship, i don't know what does.

[jukeboxhound.livejournal.com]

I have to admit, I'm getting more sympathy for Tifa each time. Hmm.

[armina-skitty.livejournal.com]

I like complex characters, particularly when those characters are female. And Tifa is a very complex character, or at least has the potential to be. So I love it when authors treat her fairly. Which you do, with all the characters you play with. ^_^

[kannachan27.livejournal.com]

<333
I have to say, this sounded a LOT better when I read it out loud. But, still. Beautiful.

[jukeboxhound.livejournal.com]

HA, yeah. Even so, the spelling doesn't quite match up, but it was getting to the point that it'd become way too difficult to read and I was hoping that what was already there would be enough to get the point across.

Thanks. :)

the connections are everything

[lucime.livejournal.com]

"The angel’s the only bright thing in the bar, got hair silver as them freshly minted bullets what tore Zack Fair all to pieces and stole the screams right outta Strife’s throat.
"

Love that line so very much. The atmosphere was perfect, the story itself would have worked even witout the FF7 background, but that line connects the two and makes it so much richer. The voice is the best part, I can see country boy Cloud narrating this himself.

Re: the connections are everything

[jukeboxhound.livejournal.com]

I always make dolphin noises when someone picks out one my own favorite lines. *coughs* I'm honored you think so, thank you.

[aikonamika.livejournal.com]

Ahhhhh... The accent. The accent! ♥ I could hear the Western twang in my head (hallo, growing up with family Out West), but whenever I tried to read it out loud I kept dropping into a Southern accent, which is close but not quite, and it's driving me mildly mad because this is amazing! I love fics that do that, that bring out the voice and the accent and the cadence.

And oh, but I'm wondering who the narrator was, because with as distinct a voice like that it feels like it's someone saying it all (and it's so hard not to write with the accent myself), and I can just imagine myself in the bar with a cool drink in hand as someone's telling me it. So wonderful.

I think I've been watching too much My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, because my brain is so babbling in Pinky Pie's voice right now. >.>

But yes. I love this, so very much. Both the voice and the story and the lines and the yes.

[jukeboxhound.livejournal.com]

Ahaha, oh dear, I confess it's a bastardized version of the way my oldest sister's waaaaaaay-rural South Carolinian husbands speaks (shit, that man gets to drinking and I swear to God it's a whole new language). Pretend it's a Nibel accent or something. XD Although, yeah, trying to stop typing in this voice was practically impossible for a while, sheesh.

Resisting...MLP:FoM...resisting...

Thank you. :D

[jukeboxhound.livejournal.com]

And by "husbands" I mean just one. Uh.

[pyrotechnik.livejournal.com]

I love the language in this. I kept hearing it is the gravel voiced accent of the old men I grew up around. I grew up in West Texas, and this sounds like it could be one of the stories they would sit around telling. Lovely lovely imagery.

[jukeboxhound.livejournal.com]

First time I went through West Texas I wasn't sure what to think. Coming from mountainous forest country myself, the seemingly endless plains and a sky that actually went from horizon to horizon was intimidating. I kept waiting for the aliens to take advantage of the complete lack of hiding places. Then there was a sunset and I couldn't remember why I'd been nervous.

I really think it's amazing that you were exposed to that sort of storytelling culture.

[pyrotechnik.livejournal.com]

I know what you mean about the sunsets. One of the things I really miss is what I call the Serengeti sunsets. These magenta and electric blue and purple skies and just hanging right over the horizon is this huge atomic orange sun and it looks like an orange someone has squeezed and is dripping down on the horizon line. And if you have clouds, they have this golden sheen on the underside. It's really very awe striking.
But yeah, the wide open sky can kinda suck your eyeballs if you've been driving for too long.

It was great growing up around my Grandmother and her friends. They would tell the most incredible stories, and just have this dry, wry sense of humor. It would take you a minute to get the joke, and when you did and started laughing, they'd just look so proud.

[boreal-forest.livejournal.com]

Whohaa...

You rock. Utterly rock! I love it, and, ahhaha, it was funny to read outloud. XDDD

[shiri-matakami.livejournal.com]

I SWEAR TO EVERYTHING HOLY THAT I WILL READ THIS AND COMMENT ON THE AWESOME WAY YOU WROTE THIS, BUT FINALS SUCK AND THEY WON'T LET ME DO ANYTHING.

;__;