askerian | FF7 - Pack bonding AU

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FF7 - Pack bonding AU - Enemy Skill

meltmallow asked, so here's the first bit.

~~The fic still has no title. >_>;;;~~ AHA! Continuing with my trend of using materia names, this fic is now "Enemy Skill". (nothing else really fit. sadness.) To push the cuteness even farther, every chapter will be named after one enemy skill. (... my first reaction was OH SHIT I CAN ONLY HAVE 24 CHAPTERS. Oh, self. Thankfully,

charcoalcat suggested "If you run out of chapter names and still have story to go, you could always snag the attack names of some of the summons. It would be cheating, yes, but it is technically the use of someone elses skills..." Good idea. XD)

SETTINGS: FF7 world, but instead of sealing Jenova inside her, the Cetran woman melded them at the genetic level (what this accomplishes will be explained later.) 2000 years later...

CONTAINS: eventual Sephiroth/Zack/Cloud, psychic bonding, slavery of sorts.
(of course me being who I am there might be strange bisexual polyamorous shenanigans at some point, because a pack ought to be bigger than three people and somehow! not everyone in that universe is male. I have no idea, but I can't rule it out either. It's just... pack boooond. ngh. *_*)

I admit this fic was inspired by Vathara's Ruby. Hopefully I managed to do my own thing with it... XD But if you like the theme, you should read hers, because prrrrt.

First draft, you know the drill, if anything is really unclear or the action is weird or I misused a word or anything like that, feel free to mention it, I'll fix it. But if you don't feel like keeping track of that shit, it's fine too. ♥

He'd been worried about the chocobo. He'd heard it call on his way down the mountain, a screech of denial and pain. Wolf attack on her chick? He didn't know what a chocobo would do so far up the mountain, when the closest flock was back at the village, but then again they had been known to nest in stranger places. He'd leaped across the ice-melt stream and scaled up snow-sprinkled rocks immediately.

It was still early for wolves, but not many other predators were fast enough to cause a chocobo trouble. He told himself he went because he needed to make sure, because the village had to be warned, but truth to be told he cared less about the villagers than about the hen screeching grief and rage over that ridge.

He liked chocobos better than people. The feeling was mutual. The only birds in the village were a handful of heavy draft-yellows, who always greeted his appearances at the fence with hopeful chirrups. Some owners slipped him a few coins to groom them, check their talons for cracks. More often he was stared at in suspicion and told to leave the birds alone as if he'd been about to do them a mischief; one or two times even chased off via thrown rocks.

With a walking stick and a belt knife as his only weapons, he didn't think he could possibly save the chick, not if a predator had it; but perhaps he could drag the mother away before she got herself killed. But when he got there, when he crawled his way under the bushes lining the edge of the ravine and peered down, there was no wolf to be seen.

There were chocobos. Several. Multi-hued.

Mounted.

Cloud stopped moving, breathing, started swearing at himself in his head.

He couldn't look away.

In the canyon itself there were two green chocobos downhill, two uphill, the two pairs facing each other. Stubby wings, powerful legs that would see them rushing up slopes a man would have to crawl through. Their crest feathers were puffed up in excitement. The riders kept them reined in, though -- one-handed. Because the other hand had a sword in it.

He knew who they were, didn't even need to see their faces -- he recognized the birds. Villagers didn't own greens, be they from Nibelheim, from Muspelheim, or any other villages of the Nibel range. No human he'd ever heard of owned anything but yellows.

There was a hen in the middle, of a color he'd never thought to see of his own eyes in his life. Glossy black-blue feathers, like a hole of midnight against the green moss and the snow. She stood above a curled-up body, feathers bristled in clear threat, talons raking the dried riverbed and screeching on the rocks. Her head swiveled, uphill, downhill, uphill, trying to glare at all four riders at the same time.

Cloud felt for the bird, honestly he did, and he would have felt for her rider as well -- he could recognize an ambush when he saw one, no matter that the ones he'd had to go through himself weren't mounted by professionals but by bored teenagers with branches as their only weapons -- except that villagers didn't ride blacks either. Even the local Lord didn't. Kaleb had a red.

Her rider wasn't human. Then again, the green-riders weren't human either.

They would kill Cloud without thinking twice if they noticed him.

Did they fight like wolves did, he wondered, when a wanderer entered their territory? The Noble Ones were rarely around, but when they were they didn't go unseen, unnoticed, and the black-rider wasn't anyone Cloud had ever heard of.

The black-rider moved then, pushed himself up on hands and knees, groggy and slow like a bear just leaving its wintering cave. There was blood all over his face, soaking his dark hair and the sleeve of his tunic and even down his leg. Cloud would have expected the bird to nudge him with her beak, checking on him, but while her head dipped a little, she kept watch on their enemies anyway. She was standing with one leg planted firmly on each side of her rider's body, stunted wings spread.

Cloud saw a gloved hand feel up her side along the cinch, close around a stirrup. The green riders stiffened, nudged their mounts forward. One of them shouted ... something, but there were too many echoes in the ravine and Cloud's heart beat so loudly in his ears he didn't understand anything.

It was strange to see them talk amongst each other, too. The Noble Ones talked to villagers when they had orders to give, but amongst each other they seemed to function with the smooth, well-oiled feel of a wolf pack, a hundred words in every glance, every twitch of their bodies, no speech necessary. Cloud had never been able to figure out the meaning hidden in their body language.

The injured rider leaned on his mount's flank, legs unsteady, called something back that sounded like a taunt. Cloud caught himself hoping he'd manage to get back on before they charged him. Because once he was in the saddle, the black hen would leave those greens in the dust.

It was actually rather silly that they would all have gone down in the ravine with him, instead of keeping a couple of warriors up on the edges where they could just leap on top of the hen if she tried to climb over a side to escape.

The only warning he got was a creak of leather. Cloud jerked to the side in a roll, dodging a descending talon by the smallest margin.

Over him stood the biggest bird he'd ever seen, its feathers red like drying blood. He couldn't see the rider's face for the helmet, but he could see the eyes, gleaming yellow in the shadow cast by the forehead shield. Cloud knew a moment of terror so deep he could be aware of nothing else.

"A spy," said Lord Kaleb, voice utterly dispassionate.

Cloud twisted away before he'd even started lifting his sword, scrambled out of the bush and along the edge of the ravine like a startled hare. Loose stones clattered under his feet; a green chocobo flinched in surprise.

If only he could run past the greens -- they wouldn't chase him as long as the black rider was a problem -- they wouldn't -- he could hide --

Fire streaked over his head and exploded in front of him and the world flipped like a pancake. Flat on his back again, breath knocked out. Didn't even hurt yet. The red chocobo racing at him. Huge sword held high. It probably weighed more than he did.

He was not going to die here. He kicked up, flipped-rolled himself on hands and feet again. Now it hurt. Not going to die here. Threw a handful of dirt at that bird's huge, beautiful eyes, sorry, sorry. Sword coming down, bird dancing blindly on his left side, sheer drop on his right, with the green riders and the black rider, slung across his own saddle like a sack of potatoes.

There was no real choice anyway, so Cloud hurled himself off the edge feet first.

It turned out momentum topped raw power and superior muscle mass. When his knees hit the closest green rider in the head, the not-a-man was knocked clean off his saddle. Cloud cracked a knee on the rocks when they hit the ground, though the rider softened most of the rest of the impact for him. Shaking himself, Cloud crawled to his feet once again.

Not going to die here, not going to, just not going to. Rock in his hand, flying to the other chocobo's head, sorry birdie, making it flinch back, his hand reaching for the riderless one's bridle -- if he could just climb on, but it whistled angrily at him and dodged his hand, and.

Black rush of ink-feathers. Gloved hand held out to his. Fast, a half-second to see it coming. Inhuman eyes gleaming through a mask of blood. Won't stop for you, they seemed to say. Here's a chance anyway.

He didn't even think. He didn't need to. He wasn't going to die here. That was all the thought he needed.

He caught that hand and let the bird's momentum fling him up into the saddle and then they were racing down the ravine, the rider flat on the bird's neck and Cloud flat on his back.

Behind them yells of rage, and then of frustration. Cloud breathed and clung to the rider as he watched the ground rush by under the black hen's feet. If he fell, he would be lucky to only break both legs. It felt like riding an avalanche -- no obstacle even slowed her down. Her rider didn't even try to turn her from her path.

Cloud chanced a couple of glances behind them. The greens and the red went from eating the black's dust to losing her entirely, sight blocked by boulders and trees and whatever else. There were more and more trees the farther down they went.

A bit too many trees actually. He couldn't believe they'd gotten so far in such a short time.

Cloud had never talked to a Noble One. Never wanted to, for that matter. In that situation, though... If they kept going downhill they'd reach the village eventually, but the villagers wouldn't hide Cloud, and Lord Kaleb wouldn't hesitate to go through them to find his enemy either. "Hey -- you've got to slow down!"

Plastered as he was against his back, Cloud couldn't avoid noticing when the rider went limp. Only their insane momentum kept him balanced on the bird's neck. Cloud started reciting all the swear words he knew as he felt blindly for the reins. His elbow nudged something that made the rider groan, but he didn't wake. A warm liquid seeped through Cloud's sleeve.

He glanced down to see an arrow shaft protruded from his side. Shit. Cloud gritted his teeth and kept stretching his arm around the unconscious body.

The bird was hard to slow down, barely reacting to the reins for the longest minutes of Cloud's seventeen years of existence. He tried to shift his weight back but the empty stirrups were too far down, and when he squeezed his knees to keep from sliding, the bird jumped forward. Branches whizzed past uncomfortably close to his head. Cloud couldn't even hope to direct the bird -- half his field of vision was blocked by the unconscious rider -- and if she had to turn he would take a spill, guaranteed. Even if he could shift his weight in time to turn with her, the dead weight of her rider would surely take him down as well, the saddle wasn't that wide.

"Stop!" he yelled, pulling on the reins until they bit into his palms.

The chocobo snorted, shaking her head to loosen the reins. He hissed as the leather burned his palm and wrapped them around his wrists, giving another tug. Shit -- riding yellows didn't compare. Even on the most stubborn one he'd never been so ignored.

Oh, hell. If she wanted to play it that way -- he knew the terrain better than she did. He gritted his teeth and shifted his weight and her rider's to the right, forcing her to turn to avoid a tumble, and then they were crashing through stubborn thorny bushes. There was a short, terrifying second of free-fall, and a sudden splash.

The bird yelped in shock as the ice-melt water rushed up to her chest, dancing on tiptoes toward the other bank. Her momentum was broken, though, and when Cloud tugged on the reins, she followed. Snorting, flaring her wings, and with much reluctance, but she obeyed. Cloud's whole body shuddered in relief.

"There, good girl. Let's stay out of sight, huh?"

He kept her in the water, pushed her upstream, in the shadow of the rocks lining the riverbank. She didn't complain about the cold as long as he would have expected.

The rider didn't complain about his toes dipping in ice-cold water either. For a few seconds, Cloud couldn't tell whether he was even still breathing, and didn't know which would be worse -- that he be dead or not. He had offered Cloud a way out, and on principle Cloud didn't like the idea of five people going against one, but then again maybe they had a good reason -- and either way he didn't care. He ground his teeth, angry at himself. He didn't care about why, or about the treacherous unfairness. He wasn't involved in their disputes.

Hadn't been, at least. Because now...

"Lord Kaleb's gonna be looking for me, isn't he," he told the bird, because pretending she listened made him feel a little less terrified of the thought of a party of Noble Ones hunting him down to silence him. No, actually, he didn't feel any less terrified, but he needed there to be someone he had to fake it for, or he'd just start whimpering and never stop. The black hen would do.

No one at the village would cover for him. Cloud knew a great variety of hiding places in the mountains; he'd even set up a few of them as emergency shelters during his years as a target for bullies of all kinds. But dried trail rations weren't going to sustain him long.

He couldn't stay. But he didn't know what to do. He'd never been anywhere else.

It would be a lot easier to survive without the burden of the unconscious male currently using him as a backrest. Cloud watched the black-haired head loll back on his shoulder with a grim scowl.

With an arrow through his guts, he was courting death by infection anyway. Perhaps it would be a kindness to take the knife that still hung to Cloud's belt and cut his throat in his sleep.

Cloud sighed and leaned into his weight, bracing him when the slope worsened. At least he kept Cloud reasonably warm.

.Next.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

...!!!

♥

^_________________^

Yay! It emerges. Does this mean you have to name it now?

Very much like the bit at the end with Cloud struggle with and outsmarting of the chocobo. Socute. And this-

...he needed there to be someone he had to fake it for, or he'd just start whimpering and never stop.

-Oh Cloud. *hugglepet*

It all reads good, I still enjoy it.

♥♥♥

your icon!! Socute. X333

... and yes, it means i have to find a name now. auuugh i suck at names so bad. DX

XD

And your icon is rather hypnotic. Where is is from?

Hmm, you could always go with your theme of materia names for FFVII? If you want suggestions, ask and ye shall be bombarded.

I have NOOOO idea. I grabbed it because it cracked me up, but I don't know the character from Adam. i'm rather sad about it too. She looks very fun.

... OH RIGHT *starts going through materia lists* X3

XDDDDD Comment #1 - shiny shiny shiiiiiiny fic. Purrrr. Looking forward to seeing the rest -- I can't even figure out who the black rider was, so far, though I might've missed cues somewhere?

Comment #2 - icon with the jiggles is the bad-girl demoness from Disgaea, I think her name is Etna or something like that? Anyway, Disgaea is hilarious, I think you'd love it either as game or as anime; I've watched it as anime because one of my friends did the English translation. ^___^

hehe^^ Well, so far all we know about black chocobo rider is that he's got black hair and he taunts people even when he's injured and outnumbered. Cloud didn't really notice anything else.

Noo, Etna is a flat-chested loli and has spiky ponytails. Maybe some other character from that anime, or... maybe she transforms into an adult version at some point XD I'll research it.

ah, I missed the taunting part! I was mentally flipping coins between Zack and Angeal with the dark haired part, because I can see either of them giving a random kid a hand, but the taunting sounds more Zacklike to me... :3

*looked up Etna again* oh yeah! It's been a few years since I watched it; guess the mental pictures got blurred. Ooops. Sorry about that!

Alas, no Angeal in my stories. Or Genesis. Or Lazard. Or Cissnei, which is too bad because from the cutscenes I saw I liked her. I haven't played the game, so I'm not introducing CC elements and characters in my fics.
(... hehehe. if angeal was using 17 year old cloud as a backrest, I think there would be a lot more straining and bitching about the weight. XDDD)

*sniffles* The search for her anime starts again...! T__T

pfffft yeah, good point. I can see them both getting toppled backwards off the chocobo who keeps on running, meanwhile SD Cloud's arm and foot are sticking out from under Angeal and twitching spastically. XDD

Also, I could *swear* there's an episode somewhere in Disgaea where both of the girls get turned into the sexy-fied versions of themselves (like Sexy no Jutsu only without the gender swappage) and I thought maybe that was this Etna? I have the mental impression of her gloating to angel-girl about how great it is to have, ahem, *assets,* and Laharl spluttering a lot and wanting to go smash things. Ah, it's been too long for details... sorry about that!

... delicious fic is delicious.
I'm not sure why but although I'm not a huge FF7 fan I love love love your FF7 fic. I've decided to quit questioning this and just enjoy. ♥ I love the way this story is being set up, the world-building is blended into the story telling just right.

... bwahahaha. It's my secret world domination plan, one fic at a time. DBZ, FF7 -- Soon I'll have you reading My Little Pony fic!

Wait, i don't even write or read that shit anyway. Um.

Thank you, dearest. u.u~

B-But

I

I like My Little Ponies.

Awesome, I totally look forward to the next part. I loved Vathara's Ruby for a long time as well and am glad to see another type of the story. Not that its that same or in any way shape or form a copy, but I do love other worlds within the same world...If that made sense. Either way, good job, hope to read more soon!

^____________^ Thank you! And yeah, I know what you mean, it's a genre I really dig and I wish there were more stories like that (but GOOD ones, because so many of them suck. x__x)

OH WOW. This is AWESOME. LOVE, lots and lots of Love I cannot wait to see more of this, absolutely fantastic.

Cloud is so REAL in this, so very very "Oh shit" real. And I adore that, because he does it WELL so...yeah, looking forward to more!

*^_________^* Thank you, dear~

*writing a sephiroth pov bit ATM*

!!!!!!!!

PUUUURRRRRRuuuuuuurrrrrUUUUUURRRRUuuuuuurrrrrUUURRRRUUuuuurrrr!!!!

*hunkers down to ~~lurk~~wait for the next part*

X3

*scritches the kitty*

*purrs and rubs and offers to read/review the zack part and maybe offer advice if wanted*

... I.. I love this fic. You'll be writing more soon, I hope. *__* because this is exactly what I need to save my sanity, what with how school's treating me. *angst* *checks to see if the guilt-trip is working* *doubles her effort* ... ...

I don't know about more soon, got part of Seph's scene done, but I gotta rewrite all of Zack's from the start and I kinda hate that, so... Hm.

so work on something else while waiting to see if Zack's part will work elsewhere?

... wtf? *a bit bemused by this*

what the hell, LJ. *kicks it* cough up that comment, damn it! DX

oh well... >__> blah. *hates on disorganized comment threads* I hope it sorts itself out. it better.

Yes. It better. Or else. *cue dramatic music*

I would say this is the beginnings of another awesome fic! <3 From what you've written we can already understand the world and Cloud's background. While reading I didn't hit any particular snags, so i guess that means it's pretty smooth. ^^

Yay! Thank you, i'm relieved ^____^ ♥

!!!

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

OMGYES. Love this like burning, it's even better than I thought it'd be (and since it's you I had pretty high expectations!). I love that Cloud is so wary (why do the villager hate him here?), and I love that he cares more about the chocobos than anybody else, and I love that he refuses to lay down and take it, that he thinks quickly and reacts and fights. And I'm surprised nobody's guessed the riders identity but I guess he didn't do much yet. Though randomly saving the human kid that appeared out of the blue while his own life was in danger - well, it is just the kind of thing he'd do, isn't it...

Just one thing - if Cloud lives so close to the mountains and tries to escape bulling by hiding in the wild, I imagine he'd know a little about survival there.

This dosn't feel like a first draft, it's so well written. Also, Enemy Skill is a damn cool name, but I hope you eventually organize this fic into long chapters, because already I love it too much to let go.

Hope to see more of it soon! (Um, may I ask what are the problems with Zack's part? And I'll love seeing your Sephiroth POV, none of your fics are far along enought for me to see him that clearly but you write him as kind of ruthless, kind of an asshole, and I find this different and interesting and really want to see more.)

:333333 ufufufufu.

(why do the villager hate him here?),
That'll come up soon enough. XD

Cloud does know about surviving in the mountains, but it's autumn and he's not going to like doing it for more than a week. It's hella dangerous out there. D:

With my tendency for long chapters of doom, i don't think you've got to worry about this. XD I just hope i can make them long enough to cram the plot in under 22 chapters, because I have a bad habit of lengthening THAT too. XD;;; This one was more of a prologue.

The probem with zack's part is that it was initially the introduction, so there's lots of infodump which I now think would be really anticlimatic re: Cloud's WTFs about the lot of them. Also I'd written it under the assumption that Cloud had fished him out of the river after the bad guys were long gone, which meant he was meeting cloud for the first time as he woke groggily when they were already safeish, instead of seeing him jump on top of a green rider, and it was a lot less actionny and not tense and worried enough as a whole. I need to rewrite that. There's some cool bits in it, though. As for Seph, i'll have to see what works best for the story. The one in Restore isn't really as much of an asshole as he currently looks like, he's just lashing out because, um, spoilery things. XD;; Hopefully Restore!Cloud will notice that at some point.

That'll come up soon enough.
*settles down to wait for it*

Cloud does know about surviving in the mountains, but it's autumn and he's not going to like doing it for more than a week. It's hella dangerous out there. D:
Oooh yes, it must be. Wolves and dragons and lots of different powerful monsters, I didn't take them into account but they must be around. Taking them into account in the game aways made me wonder how did people move around at all. Either everybody knows a bit about fighting or people who stray from the paths die very often. I'm betting on both. Aerith and Cid both know how to fight, anyway, even though considering their occupations they shouldn't. And every establishment sells weapons and healing items. City people with no training must be in trouble, thought. They must need to hire people to fight for them or ask the government, and when you think about it this explains why even an experienced, powerful warrior would want a "guide" - someone who knows the local predators and can tell you about how to kill or avoid them... Sorry, I'm rambling. :P

I just hope i can make them long enough to cram the plot in under 22 chapters, because I have a bad habit of lengthening THAT too.
Well, good luck with that ♥ Maybe if you write the whole thing first, posting it here on LJ, and only then organize it into chapters? Or maybe just reorganize it into chapters after it's done?

under the assumption that Cloud had fished him out of the river after the bad guys were long gone, which meant he was meeting cloud for the first time as he woke groggily when they were already safeish, instead of seeing him jump on top of a green rider
Well, I think we all have to admit that watching somebody throw themselves at a mounted warrior is one hell of a first impression, and rather more impressive than being fished out of a river, even if the being saved thing is more likely to predispose you to think well of that person. I think that this current scene of Cloud's works better as an intro to him - fishing Zack out of a river, for whatever reason (the Right Thing To Do, calm the chocobo, loot the body), would give us the impression that Cloud is kind and tries to help people, whereas you've made clear in this intro that Cloud is a bit cynical and definitely a survivor.

lots of infodump + some cool bits = I WANT. HAND IT OVER.

The one in Restore isn't really as much of an asshole as he currently looks like, he's just lashing out because, um, spoilery things.
Have I mentioned lately that you're a horrible tease? Now I don't know whether to desperately hope for more ES or desperately hope for more Restore. As for Seph, well, he's one very versatile character, since you can write his personality lots of different ways. I don't mind at all if he turns out not to be an asshole, but I won't mind it if he is one either - I can easily see him like that, with him having been raised by scientists (and maybe military), having won a war, being pretty much worshiped by a lot of people, and so on. He might simply never have quite learned to be considerate of others. Only if that wasn't the case in Restore, Cloud should have enough memories to notice the discrepancies - go, Cloud! Start being perceptive! It's for the sake of ~~hot polyamorous shenanigans~~ the Planet!

No time for long comment now.
but... *squee*

This took you by the throat and kept running. I love the imagery and the pace and action.

I'm really looking forward to the next part.

Hohohohoho. ^__^ Thank you~

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FF7 - Pack bonding AU - Enemy Skill

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