Chapter Text
Ruby should have picked a better time. It was just a passing fancy, an overwhelming sense of nostalgia that drew her back to her childhood JRPG this night. She started playing around 9 pm after a late dinner, figured she’d mess around until around midnight and call it quits. By the time she took notice of the time, it was already past 3 am the next day. Looks like tomorrow’s gonna be another day off – another day where she struggles to break even with rent.
She doesn’t get moments like this very often anymore. Living on her own as a freelance coder is a tough sell in these times. Between the nigh unpaid volunteer hours and the occasional commissions she undertakes, she doesn’t have much time left over to relax. At the same time, there are also those days when business is slow and she finds herself with nothing to do but wait. Today was one of those days, and by nighttime with no new offers available, she was ready to do anything to alieve herself from the suffering. Besides, her old Playstation was right there. She had left it out in the open in front of the TV ever since she first moved in a few years ago, and she was always caring for and cleaning it of dust, always waiting for a chance to relive to her childhood.
It can’t be helped, after all. The Chocobos were calling to her. What kind of Final Fantasy fan wouldn’t give those big, silly, adorable birds all the love in the world?
But thinking about it, how the heck did she manage to drag out this play session from just a few Chocobo races to grinding points in Battle Square, to grinding EXP for her Materia and to filling out her inventory, and even challenging the endgame dungeons and boss rush again? It’s not like she had no opportunities to end it – all she had to do was put down the controller – but it’s inevitable with her. Whenever she dives deep into the flow of a session, it becomes an insatiable obsession that won’t stop until it can’t go any further, and then it just dies off rapidly; like yeast that had eaten their fill of sugar until none was left. This game isn’t just a fun time despite its age. It was her childhood growing up and her escape well into adulthood. She’s not much of a people person anyway; as far as she’s concerned, the outside world is an unforgiving place that she’d rather interact with as little as possible.
The save file she ran for tonight was the one where she had completed just about everything in the game already – all the sidequests, extra dungeons and superboss battles, maxing out her characters’ levels and stats, even maxing out the game’s displayed timer and money – everything except maxing out her inventory, which would have been such a tedious grind that she never had the time for. And yet, she still progressed with that goal she thought she’d never actually bother with. She’s actually, genuinely hopeless and does feel ashamed about how awful her time management is… but that shame doesn’t last long before it’s replaced by the innocent pride of her inner child. No regrets. This is entirely for her youth’s sake.
This is it. She hits the Circle button to input the final attack upon Safer Sephiroth. How appropriate that Cloud happens to be the one to get his turn. He rushes in and swipes at his archenemy one last time, and it’s all over. The screen flashes briefly, and Safer Sephiroth begins to fade away into pixelated pieces.
Ruby lets out a sigh in relief. Though her party was well over-leveled, the battles still took quite a while just hitting nothing but the Circle button and sometimes the Up and Down buttons to access healing items. This time, she had no Materia or Accessories equipped whatsoever, but her plethora of Megalixirs and Remedies made short work of any damage or negative status effects that would affect her party. It wasn’t even that she had planned to do a challenge run – not much of a challenge when everyone is maxed out, after all – but just that she had trouble deciding how she wanted to approach the final battles. She settled on the least-thought-out method, which happened to be brute-forcing all attacks. At the very least, she chose Yuffie and Vincent as Cloud’s other two allies, so they could still hit the enemies if they were “out of reach”, but that was pretty much the extent of her tactics going in. The battle ended so anticlimactically, as expected by employing such a foolproof strategy equivalent to a toddler throwing her Legos around. If only she could input taunts in this game, she would definitely use them, but this is plenty enough to rub salt in the One-Winged Angel’s wounds.
There’s not much else of the game left to play. All that remains is the final confrontation with half-naked Sephiroth in Cloud’s mind (not like that), and she doesn’t even need to press any buttons to win. It’s actually a few seconds faster if she doesn’t, since Cloud automatically counterattacks Sephiroth once he’s hit, and one hit is all that’s needed, regardless of his level. But, she’s already gone this far; might as well complete the game the more satisfying way.
As she waits for Cloud’s Limit bar to rise until it flashes rainbow, the game gives a few flashes onscreen and dramatic camera angles between the two enemies. Ding. The Limit Break is ready. She hits Circle twice so fast that the battle menu barely has time to show up. Like for an actor appearing onstage, the camera swings toward Cloud as he begins to charge up his attack. And then, he charges forward with an all-consuming rage and unleashes everything on the bane of his existence until the two are lost amid the flurry of blows. And on the 16th hit, he leaps into the air with one final extra-charged attack and slams it down with all his might. The last thing Ruby sees play out is the look of utter defiance that remains on Sephiroth’s face as the screen goes black.
And as if the timing was right on cue, the light of her lamp by the TV flickers and goes out. Or rather, it’s not just her lamp. The TV, the Playstation – everything – has gone out in an instant. Looks like it’s a blackout.
A BLACKOUT!?? OH MY GAHD, SONNOVA BITCH!!
Ruby gently sets down her controller and pushes it aside to safety before scrambling over to her console. But there’s nothing to be done; it’s gone. Her run has dropped dead, killed so suddenly like a certain female lead with so much promise. No cheats to bring it back now. All she can do is wait until the power comes back and the game will still be here waiting for her. But this particular session is no more.
She drops limply to the floor and buries her face in the carpet, pretending to have just died herself. She lies still for a moment, only to move her head to the side when she needs to breathe. A blackout in the middle of the night, on a day when she could finally be fully invested in a dear hobby of hers… If there is a God, He is cruel and unrelenting in the sickest way possible. She curses the name of this God for baiting her with this prime opportunity to achieve the inner peace she has constantly sought, only to deprive her from ever attaining it at the last possible moment. It’s as if she were stabbed in the gut with a sword and its blade was twisted in her wound, and she could do nothing but be left hung.
Wait a second. That sounds perfectly in character for the villain of this game. Damn, to think that God was actually the most iconic silver-haired bishonen hunk of a fallen angel. Why does He suddenly seem so cool? …No, that can’t be right.
She gets back up and sits with her arms propping herself up. Now that she remembers, she’d saved the game before she made the final descent. All those hours spent on minigames and Chocobo racing beforehand have been preserved, at least. Really, that’s all that matters. She can end Sephiroth a million times over and it still won’t hold a candle to the one true challenge of this game: beating that nasty piece of work in the Chocobo races fair and square. Damn Cheatin’ Joe and his steroid-packed Teioh! Which of those insane developers thought basing his stats on being the players’ Chocobo but better would be fun!?
Ah, well. Ruby mentally pats herself on the back with a proud smile. She may have abused the dumb AI by ramming other Chocobos in Teioh’s face, but hey, that’s just part of the game and a win is a win.
Enough mock-ranting, it’s time for bed. After sitting here in the pitch-black dark for a little while, her eyes have started to adjust to the ambient lighting. Nevertheless, that only goes so far and she’s still going to be stumbling around without any other light source. She left her phone in her room and on silent so she wouldn’t be bothered by notifications while she played. (In hindsight, she probably should have kept it around as an alarm.) She gets up to her feet and wobbles a bit, realizing the ever-growing fatigue coming over her. She stumbles around for a bit as she makes her way to the nearest storage closet and digs out a spare flashlight. When she turns it on, she almost blinds herself and has to wait to readjust her vision.
At least for a quiet moment, everything else seems to proceed smoothly. She stops by the bathroom beside her room. Water is still running just fine. It’s just a blackout, after all. She leaves her flashlight aside so it isn’t directly beamed onto the mirror before her. Then, she does a quick brush of her teeth and wets a face towel to wipe away any remaining frustration from her face. She takes a deep breath to calm her nerves and begins to clean up here.
But it seems trouble is never too far. She’s startled by some kind of sharp shearing noise crack the air, followed by a strange whooshing noise, coming from outside down the hall. Now that she has a flashlight, she no longer has her natural night vision, so she can’t make out anything in the darkness. Weird; she’s living alone, so there shouldn’t be anyone else. She also lives on the third floor, so it’s pretty unlikely that someone would have thrown something up here or anything – not that she would have any reason to be targeted. She always tries to keep a low profile whenever she goes outside. Not to mention, the landlady of this apartment wouldn’t let her tenants bring in pets, so that’s out. It’s too bad, since Ruby would have moved in with her pet dogs if she had her way. It can get a little lonely in here sometimes, but she’s come to live with it.
The only possibility remaining is that some boorish bird or rascally rodent has raided her. She slumps against the countertop with an exasperated groan. This is a pretty cheap place in a cheap neighborhood, so she doesn’t have too many options to guard against Mother Nature. This honestly wouldn’t be nearly as bad a problem if she could keep her dogs around. Some of them may be troublemakers, but there are no better guards around when intruders come by. No matter; she decided to choose this place and she’s going to live with it and all its consequences. She claps her cheeks and looks at her reflection with a determined face, and then finishes putting everything away. With flashlight in hand, she steps back out into the living room to make sure nothing fell over or broke.
As she cautiously steps out into the living room, she prays quietly to herself that she won’t actually have to deal with a real wild animal. The kitchen side of things looks clear. The window is open just a crack for air, just as she had left it. The cupboards and the countertop are completely undisturbed; same goes for her sink and the water filter beside the faucet. At the very least, this pest didn’t seem to be interested in scavenging for food…
Holy hell! There’s someone in the living room waiting for her. Her light reveals a tall, long silver-haired man dressed completely in black, and in his left hand he wields a sleek and very long katana. It’s so long that had he held it upward, it likely would have scratched the ceiling. The man stares back with an ominous, piercing look that would send chills down the spines of even the most hardened of soldiers. Just behind him, there’s a giant, weird-looking hole in the fabric of reality instead where her TV should be. It’s filled with a dark, swirling energy and a thin rim of white light. If she had to guess, it may be a very sinister, very magical portal to another dimension. Needless to say, she is completely speechless – or rather, dumbfounded. It’s as if he somehow popped into existence from the game she was just playing.
Oh, no. Not another isekai anime! What the hell, she never asked to be the protagonist of one either! It just had to be for FF7, one of the most popular and thus (maybe) most toxic fan communities out of any gaming fandom! And why is he here? She beat him fair and square. Surely, he hasn’t shown up just to whine and be a sore loser? Who even writes this stuff?
She shakes her head in disbelief. It’s time for bed and she’s so tired that she’s starting to hallucinate. Before she can even turn around and walk away, though, Sephiroth acts true to character and catches her with his sword right at her neck.
His eyes narrow dangerously as he speaks up, “…Pardon the intrusion. If you don’t mind, I have a few questions for you…”
Great. Now she’s also hearing things. His voice matches perfectly with how his Japanese voice actor sounds, but he’s clearly speaking in English. But that’s only expected. She often watches videos about this game in both languages since she’s fluent enough, and they end up mixing together in her dreams… Wait. Is this just a dream? When did she fall asleep, and why is she still so exhausted?
“If you refuse to answer, however, I will not hesitate to cut you down here and now.”
Of course, he’s just a figment of her imagination. What can he possibly do if she just ignores him? She gives him an unamused look and tries to back off, but he pursues her with the tip of the blade. Now she can even feel the sharp edge just touch against her skin. Well, that’s impressive. This is one crazy-vivid dream.
“Hold it. You’re not going anywhere… not yet.”
Now she’s getting annoyed. Even vivid dreams are only so fun as long as she has the choice to leave. She’s also had dreams before where she would “die”, only to wake up later just fine. If anything, it’s an even faster way to get to bed. Heh, just like in a video game, there seem to be warp strats for the real world too.
She lets off a sigh and raises her arms in surrender. “…What do you want?”
“I could ask you the same thing. After leaving the planet in such a mess, you conveniently make your escape to a neighboring pocket dimension where you can watch the chaotic aftermath unfold? Just what are your intentions…?”
“Uh, excuse me? This is just my apartment. I’ve lived here for the past few years. Why are you here?”
He makes an indignant scoff. “Hmph. Are you feigning ignorance, or have you really forgotten everything?”
“Neither. Mind telling me what you’re even talking about?”
“…” He watches her carefully for a moment, but she keeps an impatient glare on him and refuses to back down. He then replies rather coolly, “Your stray Remnants.”
“My what?”
“Still doesn’t ring a bell? How about the name, ‘Rubia’…?”
She blinks. Hold up. Who told this giant crow her online username? Has he been stalking her? No, wait, how could he even obtain that info? Do they even have access to the Internet of this world from Gaia? Well, there’s a scary thought…
He shakes his head. “To think that there would be another foreign entity that would appear from its depths to plague the planet, and it even dares to intrude on my realm of influence…”
She shrugs. “Sorry. Still no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Not in the slightest?”
“No! How do you know me? How did you get here? Why are you even attacking me??”
“…”
“What did I ever do to you, man… Write some silly comment on social media that you didn’t like? Complain about your latest game or Square Enix too much? Are you here on their PR control or something?”
“…”
“…You’re awfully quiet all of a sudden.”
After a tense moment of silence, he finally lets his sword aside. She lets off a sigh in relief as she can move again and rubs at her neck. To her slight dismay, she can still feel a tiny dent. It may not be bleeding, but being pressed up against the tip of a sword would naturally leave some kind of mark.
He now glances around the room and makes a particular pause upon the gaming console behind him, and then turns back to her with a rather disappointed look on his face. “You really don’t have any idea…”
“Finally, you get it. Whatever your problem is, clearly you’ve got the wrong person. Now could you please leave? I need to sleep…”
He turns away for the portal without another word, but reconsiders his next move. Then, something seems to come to mind and he smirks smugly to himself. He even dismisses his weapon in a wisp of black smoke, and turns back to her with a more relaxed smile.
“…Actually, that makes things easier.”
“Huh? Makes what…?”
“Let’s talk.” He now moves to take a seat on the sofa nearby. “Sit down. We may be here for a while.”
What… Seriously, what is this guy’s deal? One moment he’s being overly cautious and the next, he’s completely looking down on her. Pick an approach and stick with it, you fickle child.
“Don’t just help yourself in here. You’re not a guest.”
“Don’t worry. I won’t be here any longer than I have to. I just have a few things I need to be clarified.”
“No! You’re not staying!” She points at the portal and scolds him, “Get your bum ass and your dank portal out of my house! I didn’t invite you. You are intruding on private property and I will call the cops if you keep refusing.”
“Sorry, but it’s much too urgent to put off. This concerns the very fate of the planet, after all…”
“Don’t make excuses. Get outta here.”
“Hmph…” He passes her an apathetic glance. “Believe me, if I had any other choice, I wouldn’t even be here.”
“Yeah, yeah. That’s what they all say. I lower my guard for even a moment, and the next thing I know, I’m gonna be stuck with you in this bizarre daydream…” She gives him a dismissive wave of her hand. “I’m going to bed. You better not still be here when I wake up.” And she turns away for the hall.
“Hey… I’m willing to hear you out now. If you insist on being difficult, we can go back to having my blade against your neck.”
She stops in her tracks and turns back slowly with a scowl. “Honestly, I’m surprised you haven’t cut me down yet. What’s stopping you? Are you that threatened by my mere presence?”
He shakes his head. “It’s not that simple. The problem I speak of is on a much greater scale. As it happens, you may be the only one who can resolve everything.”
“What? What do you even want with me? What can I do?”
“For starters… you can take a seat so I can explain some much needed context.”
“…”
At first, she intends to leave again, but he’s so persistent that she worries he might actually follow her into her room, and things will only get more awkward. She makes a defeated groan and turns back around.
“Man… Why did you pick now of all times to show? Do you know what time it is?”
He doesn’t even glance toward the clock on the wall as he answers, “It’s half-past 3 in the morning.”
“So you just want to make me suffer…”
“It doesn’t matter. Time as you perceive it in this world is irrelevant.”
She takes a few aggressive steps toward him and plants a firm hand on the armrest. “What did you say to me, you little shit? Just because you came from a different time zone…”
“Have you even considered that this other life you lead is but an illusion?”
“You’re even doubling down…”
“Though you may try to escape it, there’s no use denying the plague you’ve left on our world.”
She throws up her arm in exasperation. “And now you’re just making stuff up.”
“Not at all. I’m only here to seek the truth…” He gives her a stern frown. “After all, you forced my hand through your own inaction.”
“Hah. So whatever this ‘plague’ is, it’s my fault because I didn’t do anything…?” She then slowly raises her hand before him and flips him off. “Get out of my house.” And she stomps off for the hallway again.
“Wait.”
“What!?” She spins around and snaps furiously, “Let me sleep! If you wanna talk, do it tomorrow or something!”
“Don’t worry about sleep. I can clear it up for you.”
“Huh? No, I don’t want…”
He then mutters something under his breath and snaps his fingers. Before she can even move another step, Ruby finds herself surrounded by a green wisp of magic, which disperses into a faint white light as soon as it comes into contact with her. In an instant, it feels like all the fatigue that had been building up to now has vanished and she feels a sense of calm fill its place. She suddenly feels so light in body and mind, as if whatever burden she had been bearing was removed.
“…” She blinks a few times and looks down at herself, noting how much easier it is to move her body. She then turns back to him with a very confounded look. “What did you do?”
“Esuna. You should feel relieved of your fatigue, if only temporarily.”
“Magic? Wait. You can cast magic in this world…?”
“I hope this has cleared up any doubts you may still have had. Now take a seat and let’s discuss.”
“…”
Ruby stares off into the corner as she tries to process what just happened. All of the strange disturbances up to now have gradually built further upon each other and are now starting to get to her. At first, it was all so absurd that it couldn’t be real. She was sure that she was just seeing and hearing things since she was dead tired. Even after he threatened her, she still couldn’t believe it. Then, she figured she had already fallen asleep, but she could never get rid of that intrusive fatigue no matter how much she denied it. And now, this guy casts a magic spell on her and it works just as intended, as if spitting in the face of all logic and reason. It’s as if he’s really, actually existing before her – like she’s no longer home and has come to the world of Final Fantasy without realizing it. Maybe he’s right after all. This place she calls home is actually the illusion.
“Ruby. Don’t overthink it. Sit down already.”
…No, wait a sec. She clearly remembers getting busy earlier today – er, yesterday – and made the conscious choice to play the game herself. No brainwashing or magical trickery here. No gaslighting allowed either.
She shakes her head. “Screw off. I’m going back to bed… or, to bed. Whichever it is.”
“You’re still tired? Surely, the spell should have taken effect…”
She points the flashlight directly in his face, to which he calmly averts his gaze. “Don’t give me that crap! I don’t know or care what you want! I’m just hallucinating because I haven’t gotten any sleep tonight!”
“You’re still in denial?”
“Shut up! ARGH! Nothing made sense from the moment you appeared! If you don’t get out right now, I’m calling the cops!!”
He turns away with a sigh, but doesn’t move.
“That’s it. You’re asking for…” She reaches down in her pockets, but then remembers her phone is back in her room. With an awkward pause, she lowers the flashlight, but gives him a watchful eye. “Stay here. I’m gonna get my phone.”
She leaves him in the dark again and hurries back inside, up the stairs to her room. She doesn’t take long to locate her phone and snatches it up. She’s tempted to start dialing right then and there, but before she hits any buttons, she hesitates and reconsiders the consequences. How would she even explain the situation? “A mad wizard-swordsman broke into my apartment by a magic portal and attacked me!” They’d be in the right mind to ignore her, and on the off-chance they do come, she’ll probably be the one who’s arrested for a “false” report. Above all else, she’d rather not take any chances if there’s even the slightest possibility that she’ll end up with actual bodies to clean up. In any case, she shouldn’t waste any more time and find some answers, no matter how ridiculous they may be. She hastily stuffs her phone back in her pocket and hurries back out to catch him again.
To her mild relief, Sephiroth has remained in the exact same spot where she left him. He’s cast another spell, a small Fire, in his hand to light up the area. It’s not an ordinary fire, though. There seems to be something that is appearing within its fiery tendrils and he watches it with a stone-cold gaze. When she steps back out, his eyes glance over to her oh-so nonchalantly.
“Did you make the call?”
“No. Cops would just make things worse.”
There’s that smug smile. “Well, then. It looks like you’ll be stuck with me for some time.”
She heaves a quiet groan. “…You’re lucky I’m taking the day off tomorrow.” She finally takes a seat beside him, trying to keep some space between them, and sets her flashlight upright on the coffee table before them. “Man… What even is my life anymore? I just wanted to game for once and now it won’t let me stop…”
He brings his hand bearing the dancing flames toward her. “Look into the fire.”
“Uh… Nice fire?”
“Look closer. You ought to see something appear…”
Ruby gives the mysterious fire a good, judgmental stare, but slowly widens her eyes as she sees a certain scene play out before her. In all honesty, all of it feels familiar, as if she’d seen it happen in a dream before, however long ago it was.
~
A white dragon, whose scales shone brilliantly in the dark of night, lit up the skies as it soared majestically. However, down below there is no stir whatsoever. The once lively towns that she had visited during her worldly travels when she was young were now silent and abandoned. This was a time of war, after all.
It wasn’t just any war, though. This war was one that has spread across the world, pitting friend and foe alike against each other. The finger of blame had been thrown everywhere. Some said it began with the arrival of a certain Calamity from the Skies that no one had anticipated would bring about their end. Others said it actually went back even further, as the proud Cetran capital had become rife with corruption and complacency. Even others laid the blame on a certain cult that worshipped a world-ending power that would turn out of their control: the Black Materia. Ultimately, everyone largely agreed that the disappearance of a certain dragoness marked the true end of times, as it was through her act of rebellion against the once proud Summon Guardians that exposed the extent of the corruption in the ranks.
No one knew where this dragoness would disappear to. In fact, it wasn’t a matter of where, but when. While she lived among the Cetra, she was well-respected as an honorary Summon Guardian under the tutelage of the Lord of All Dragons himself. However, she always had a rebellious streak that led her into many a times in trouble, but she would often be let off thanks to her friends in the nobility. It was inevitable that she would draw her own list of enemies because of that, but no one dared to cross her in fear of inciting the wrath of her fellow dragons.
That was all a tale of the long past by now. Even after skipping through time itself for greener pastures, she instead discovered that this great war would not be one to end swiftly – not because the two primary sides, often simply labeled “good” vs “evil” were evenly matched, but because there was no escaping the “evil”, no matter where it cropped up. Rather, it was a looming question as to which side was the “good”, if any.
The white dragon then arrived upon a cave in the mountains, on an island far from any town. This place was once a prison that held a Great Wolf that had been feared since ancient times to be capable of bringing the end times, according to prophecy. However, to this dragon, it marked a fateful encounter between star-crossed friends that would eventually lead to tragedy. She simply wanted to find out for herself why everyone feared this wolf so much, and in the end, she saw through the lies and rumors to find a hapless soul who was sealed away by no particular fault of his own.
The Great Wolf wasn’t here. He was somewhere out there after she had released him from an eternity in hell. Naturally, that was the moment when she went from being an honored Guardian to an outcast and a fugitive of the law. But she felt no regrets to turn her back on the society that once raised her. Now that this great war had broken out, several times had some people dared to approach her again to seek her aid and every time, she turned them down. Now, she simply lived on her own as little more than a feral beast with many memories she wished to leave behind for good. This cave was but one of the few places she still had to escape from all the chaos and rest, if just for a moment.
~
The scene ends as abruptly as it began and the flames return to dancing erratically as before. Sephiroth then dismisses the fire with a flick of his hand. Ruby blinks for a bit from the sudden shift in lighting. Now the flashlight’s beam is the only light that remains. Once her eyes adjust again, she then turns back to him with a very lost expression on her face.
“…What did I just watch?”
“A certain memory… one among many that you had left behind.”
“You keep saying I did things that shouldn’t even be possible. I’ve never been to your world for starters… At least, not that I know?”
“But you do remember seeing something like this before, yes?”
“Uh…” She scratches her head with her knuckles as she tries earnestly to remember. “…Maybe I might have seen it in a dream long ago? I don’t remember.”
“Dreams… Yes, perhaps that is where the secret to your power lies.”
“Stop that. They’re just regular, silly nonsense from my brain. I don’t only dream about FF7 anyway… Er, you do know that game, right?”
“The one you were playing earlier? Quite familiar.”
“Yeah, of course you would. It’s your whole origin…” Her cynical tone drifts off when she realizes something and turns back to him. “Wait. How long have you been here?”
“Not long.” He turns his head toward the yet open portal. “When you came out, I had just stepped out from there.”
“Tch. Lucky guess…”
“Oh, I wouldn’t say ‘luck’.”
“Huh?”
“I’ve done my research…” He makes the same eerie smile as before. “You’re Ruby Liu, better known by her online handle name, Rubia Ryu the Royal.”
Ruby is visibly shaken by that. “W-what the…?”
“You’re a freelance programmer, correct? I hear you also translate works in several languages and write fiction for commissions on the side.”
“I… What the hell, man? Have you been stalking me from across universes or something?”
“I’d rather put it as ‘observing at a distance’.”
She slumps back. “That’s a yes. You were supposed to say ‘no’…”
“You would have been impossible to find otherwise. I would be remiss to let an opportunity like this slide.”
She looks off with a dead-looking expression on her face. “Gee, I never knew someone I knew from my childhood would want to see me in person… Am I some kind of celebrity in your alternate universe?”
He turns away himself. “More than that. You were an ancient deity worshipped as one of the summoned guardians of the planet.”
“Pfft. Well, now I know for sure that this was something out of a dream or my fanfics.”
“Precisely.”
“Huh?”
He turns back to her and speaks with a straight face, “In this world, you may have been writing stories for your own entertainment, but the world you created took form in an alternate reality that became merged with ours.”
“What? No. That’s not how anything works.”
“I also found it difficult to believe, but after deciphering the origins of your Remnants, my search led me directly here… to this pocket dimension built on an illusion of your own creation.”
“Again, it’s not an illusion! This is just where I live, damn it!”
“You can continue to deny everything, but the fact remains that I was able to travel here and confront you.”
“…” She rubs at the temples of her forehead as she feels a headache come on.
“This isn’t a dream and you’re not asleep. In fact…” His eyes narrow threateningly too. “If I hadn’t shown any restraint earlier, you wouldn’t be sitting comfortably right now.”
She whines pitifully and collapses on the other armrest, defeated. “Lemme alone… I don’t get why any of this is happening. Nothing makes sense anymore…”
“It doesn’t have to make sense. Simply put, you – or this alternate version of you – are an entity that defies logic. Crossing dimensions and merging worlds seem to be little else but play to you.” He casts aside a wayward glance. “It might not be a stretch to say that you wield the power of ‘absurdity’ itself…”
“…” She peeks back behind her with a frown. “Then why is this the first time I’ve heard of this?”
“I don’t have an answer to that. It’s you who should figure it out.”
She looks off again, mumbling aloud to herself, “Man… When did I ever become a reality-warping God? What a pain. I just game and write and code. That’s all I need…”
“…”
“But, okay, let’s say I am the person you’re looking for…” She sit back up and turns back to him with another glare. “Then why do you get to show up out of nowhere and bully me? Where’d my almighty power go, huh?” She even gets in his face. “I wish I could just throw you out this portal with the power of my mind and be done with you…”
He calmly looks away to ponder in silence.
She pulls back and drops against the sofa with a soft whine. “…For once one of my stupid dreams actually comes true, and it’s in the worst way and at the worst timing. I can’t fight back, I can’t run, I can’t even die in peace! Instead, I’m burdened with even more shit that I don’t know how to deal with…” She clasps her head in both hands and groans. “Ughhh! Why is it that even in an ‘illusionary’ world or alternate universe, I’m always being shoved into situations I don’t understand!? Is that just my Destiny? To be eternally frustrated!?”
“…” He waits for her to finish ranting before he answers, “…Regardless, the point is: if you had never abandoned those memories, they wouldn’t have become the plague they are now.”
She flops back violently against the sofa cushions with her eyes shut, and then slumps like her life force has been all but drained. After an awkward silence, she starts whimpering like a sad pup. “…I give up. Don’t care. I’ll hear you out to the end…” She then drowsily opens her eyes again and turns back to him. “So, uh… what even is this ‘plague’ you keep bringing up?”
“An amorphous mass of stray thoughts that have spread throughout and corrupted the Lifestream from within. They were once memories that belonged to you, but have been discarded ever since you disappeared from that world. And yet, they never faded away. They were lost souls without an identity or purpose, but they could still gather together and move as one as if they had a collective will of their own. They refused to heed the planet’s will and rejoin the Great Flow, so were sequestered within the deepest depths of the core, to be lost to time. In fact, it seems they’ve been lingering undisturbed for millennia – perhaps even before Mother had arrived on this planet.”
“Okay… so why are they still there if alternate-me isn’t?”
“I’m still trying to figure that out myself. At first I suspected that their foreign origins – or even their creator from afar – was preventing them from disappearing…” He passes her a suspicious glance.
She looks away to avoid him. “Who knows…”
“In any case, despite being mere memories, they shared a singular will and acted only in their interests. Any attempts at controlling them were futile.”
“You honestly tried, huh.”
“I didn’t have many options. As they were abandoned memories, it was inevitable that they would be drawn to the Terra Corrupt. But they couldn’t be absorbed either… Instead, it was the opposite.”
“Hm?”
“I cannot say for certain when it happened, but your Remnants have awakened from their stasis. They’ve begun to feed on their surroundings and merge with them to propagate further. As these Remnants have no purpose to their existence, any unfortunate soul they meet will lose all sense of existence as well.”
“Well, that sounds… bad.”
“It’s not just the Terra Corrupt; it consumes any and all living energy that comes into contact with it like an insatiable black hole. If nothing is done, this plague of ‘void’ will destroy everything that the planet has created and preserved throughout history since its very birth…”
“Damn… So Gaia’s cancer got so bad it got cancer, and they’re both in stage 4.”
“…And that leads us back to you.” He now turns to face her directly. “As their creator, you hold the responsibility to clean them up before they cause any further decay.”
“Wait, before that… If it’s gotten so bad, why not just turn back time? You can do that, right?”
He solemnly shakes his head. “That doesn’t matter. Your Remnants exist in a form that is completely independent of the Great Flow and thus exist outside the flow of time itself.”
She rolls her eyes in disbelief. “In that case, what can possibly be done about them? They’ll just continue to exist regardless.”
“As I said, you exist in a form that can defy all reason, and it means you’re the only one capable of resolving this.”
“Uh, sure…” She glances off idly. “It’s not like I’ve just learned a moment ago that my alternate self exists as a ‘God of the Void’ or anything. Where do I even begin? Because nothing is coming to me just by putting myself in that mindset and I’ve been trying. More specifically, trying to rid of you…”
“Then search for your answer. Return to our world and see for yourself how things are. Learn as much as you need about the past lives you once led. You might just learn what’s needed to be done…”
“…”
Ruby drifts off into a pensive mood and takes the moment to take it all in. The more she thinks about it, though, the more confused she becomes. It’s apparently not enough that her alternate self is even more irresponsible than she is with abusing omnipotence. She’s also gone and disappeared without a trace and left a giant bird-winged problem here for her. And yet, as little sense as all that makes already, there is one little question that lingers in mind.
“…Wait. You said something about my Remnants escaping stasis? What happened? Was there something that kept them contained all this time that was destroyed or something?”
“…” He turns away to drift into his own thoughts.
“I mean, there had to have been something the planet could do to keep them there. Something like… a Weapon? Would that have been enough, though?”
“…”
“Or possibly a higher authority… like an Arbiter of Fate…” She drifts off and soon she’s hit upon a realization. She then turns back to him and gives him a suspicious look. “Hey… You know something about that, don’t you?”
He closes his eyes and rests back against the sofa with a sigh of his own. “…A certain suspicion did come to mind.”
“Yeah?” She scoffs. “I bet a certain someone led some people to said Arbiter, where they helped him destroy it.”
“…”
“And then he absorbed the power of the Arbiter before it dissipated. But, he ran into a problem: he was suddenly overwhelmed with these lost Remnants that wouldn’t listen to him.” She then shakes her head with a sigh. “So he made his way here to me to complain…”
“…”
“‘I cannot say for certain when it happened,’ he said…” she says mockingly. “Frankly, I’m surprised you weren’t swallowed up yet. How’d you manage to escape?”
He finally turns back to her with a genuinely troubled look. “To be honest, even I’m not sure… I figured that the first contact was all that was necessary to be engulfed, and yet I was able to view those scattered memories without consequence…”
“Ah, so you’re just special…” She pauses with a dry smirk. “Special needs, more like.”
For once, he actually looks irritated as if he was stung. “You’re in no position to mock me when you so haphazardly discarded them in the first place.”
“Shut up, you dumb bird-rat-cat. Don’t push your problems onto me just because you didn’t think things through. You now have the Arbiter’s power, for crying out loud! You figure out what to do about them.”
He grumbles, crossing his arms. “Unfortunately, I can’t help. Once the seal was broken, the Arbiter’s power held no sway. We have no other options. You have to do it.”
“And I’m telling you, I’m just a normal human living in a completely different universe! I can’t do anything either!”
Now he’s getting impatient too. “Even now, you continue to deny it? What else must be said to convince you to take responsibility?”
“How about just going back to your world and finding alternate-me so she can fix everything? I’m not her! Leave me alone!” She throws up her arms in a huff and moves to get up.
That may not have been the best move from her. Suddenly, Sephiroth seizes her by the neck and presses her back into the sofa. He leans in close with a rather intimidating glare that immediately cows her into submission.
“…Don’t make me repeat myself. The whole reason I’m here is because your ‘alternate self’ no longer exists anywhere in or on Gaia.”
Ruby grunts as she begins to choke. His grip on her neck is especially tight now that he’s actually getting angry. He stares her down for a moment longer before releasing her and letting her gasp for air.
“You are the only one that has a connection that can be traced back to the lost Remnants. In other words, there’s no one else but you.”
“…Guh…” Ruby coughs a bit, rubbing her sore neck, and eventually finds her voice again, albeit a little hoarse. “…That’s so unfair… What can I do…?”
He now gets up from his seat, but then turns back to her with a sharp glare. “I just said it: return to our world and discover its secrets. The way there is ready before you…”
“…Agh.” She clears her throat and manages to regain her normal voice. “Okay, then… If I go, will I get to follow you around or what?”
He raises an eyebrow. “Do you mean to accompany me everywhere? That might be more tedious than it’s worth…”
“Then how do I fend for myself? Monsters and enemies are everywhere. I can’t fight to save my life. I just know I’m gonna end up dead somehow…”
“If you need to prepare yourself before you enter the world, that can easily be arranged at your next destination.”
“My next destination? Where am I going if I step through that…?”
“You’ll know when you see it.” And with that, he heads directly to said portal.
Just before Sephiroth steps on through, though, he hesitates and turns back around. To his growing impatience, Ruby remains where she’s seated. She has her eyes closed, but isn’t asleep yet. Whatever she’s busy thinking, she’s clearly not intending to budge until after he takes his leave.
“…Hey. What are you waiting for? Come along.”
“No? Never said I was going.”
“…”
Up to now, he’s been trying to be patient with her as he has no other leads, but there’s only so much to a stubborn overgrown child that even he can stand. But if he returns to Gaia without her in tow, all of this time and effort spent would have been for naught. He promptly draws up another scheme to try to get her to move, and his eyes trail off toward the edge of the portal, where he stops upon the silent gaming console near his feet. Just like that, he’s found his answer. He then turns back to her with one more question.
“…Just one more thing, if you don’t mind.”
“Huh?” She snaps back to attention. “What now!? Just go!”
He peers over to the gaming console again. “So, this is the classic Playstation…”
“What do you want with it? It’s just got my game in there.”
“How often do you play?”
“Uh… why do you wanna know?”
“Just curious.”
“Hmm… not that much anymore. I’ve been busy with my job and all…”
“That’s too bad. So you finally got a chance tonight, huh…”
“What’s with you all of a sudden? Why the awkward small talk?”
“…” He kneels down and hits the eject button on the machine, and it pops open the lid, revealing the third disc of FFVII.
“Wait. What are you doing…?” By now, Ruby is starting to get a bad feeling.
Without a word, he pops out the disc from its slot and holds it up in his right hand exactly where she can see it.
“Hey! Put that back! It’s not yours!” She hurries over to stop him and grabs him by the arm. “What are you, a sulking child!? Don’t just take things!”
He easily shakes her off and turns back around to face her. She freezes when she sees that his maniacal smile is back. And then, it gets worse when he summons back his sword in his other hand.
“No… Don’t you dare.”
He raises the sharp edge of the blade up and slowly lowers the disc in his other hand toward it.
“NO! DON’T YOU DARE!”
Ruby lunges at him, but he swiftly sidesteps her. She manages to catch herself before crashing into the TV ahead, but by the time she turns around to face him again, she hears the high-pitched screech of metal scratching plastic. There it is; even with the poor lighting from just the flashlight, she can see the deep cut that runs across one half of the disc. It goes so deep that it cracks through to the top layer.
For that instant, time seems to slow down around Ruby. She rushes in toward him again, but is so flustered by what she’d just witnessed that she stumbles over her own feet and drops to the carpeted floor as time picks back up again. The carpet is soft enough that she can avoid a nosebleed after she face-plants, but as she gets back up, the her face has flushed a bright red and her eyes have hardened into full killing intent.
“You BASTARD!! What the hell was that for!?”
Once again, she charges at him, but this time he doesn’t avoid her. He simply tosses the broken disc aside and blocks all her attempted swings with just one hand. He’s even lowered his sword aside so it won’t be in the way.
“What the %&^#!? Why are you here!? Why are you doing this!? You were my childhood, you asshole, and you destroyed it! You owe me a new copy!!”
“…You said you wanted me out. I’m just covering all the bases.”
“%^&# you, you %&#$&^@ %&^#@!! #%&#!! %&$-Graaaaah!!”
After every one of her wild flailing punches were nullified, Ruby then throws a hard right with all her might, and he catches it without breaking a sweat.
After taking a moment to catch her breath, she gives an exhausted sigh. “…Well, shit. I’m out.”
He then reveals another sinister smile. “So you are.”
“?”
At this moment, Ruby realized she dun goofed. For just an instant, the pupils of his eyes flicker and thin into slits. Then, she feels an intense burning pain where he’s grasped her and yelps helplessly like a frightened pup. He releases her shortly after and she stumbles to the floor. She curls up in a fetal position, clutching her aching hand, and continues to whimper softly. To her surprise, though, the pain rather quickly subsides. She lifts her other hand off and takes a peek at it, and gasps in horror at the black patches that have formed on it.
She looks back up to him with a look of utter disbelief and disgust. “…You bitch. What’s the meaning of this?”
“It’s insurance… since you keep refusing to cooperate.”
She turns back to her blackened wrist again and feels a few nerves pop aggressively in her head. This bitch really just infected her with his disgusting germs. It’s a disease wrought by his will and spurred by one’s own negative emotions. The stronger the emotions, the worse the disease will grow. It has no known cure, aside from the blessings of a certain white mage… who doesn’t exist in this world. So she’s just screwed.
“Whether or not it develops into a full outbreak will depend on you. I’m sure you’re aware, but severe symptoms can develop quickly in people who are often alone, so I would advise that you find yourself some good company.”
As soon as he mentions that last word, Ruby flops to the floor lifelessly. “…I’m just gonna die.”
“Ideally for everyone and the planet’s sake, you should try not to.”
“Why would you care, huh? You just like to torture random people as a hobby?”
“…” He looks back with such disappointment that it seems to emit off of him. “…We’re not going through this again. Haven’t you been listening?”
“Yeah, yeah… I’m your only clue to these ‘Remnants’ you won’t shut up about. But seriously, what good will it do if I go to your world? I can barely keep myself together here…”
“Anything can change once you step on through. You just have to take the chance.”
“Ughhh…”
Ruby rolls over again and grits her teeth as she seethes quietly. So what now? Is she just going to be another puppet for him to play with? Is she going to become so braindead – well, even more so than she has been – that she’ll just be throwing herself off a cliff somewhere in a certain Northern Crater? Man, eff that. She still has a sense of independence, dang it all.
“You know you don’t have a choice. If you continue to deny it, your Geostigma will continue to spread throughout your body until it completely shuts down. Needless to say, that death will not come quietly and easily…”
Of course. He just had to twist the metaphorical blade again. But that’s just it, isn’t it? It doesn’t matter what she says or does in this life or the next. She’s just doomed to be dragged into some kind of mess that people blame her for and she never has any idea why. That’s always how it is and how it’s always been, even across alternate universes.
“Don’t keep me waiting. Call me when you’re ready and we can discuss what to do next.” And finally, he moves toward the portal without further delay.
Just as things seemed to settle down again, further trouble is never too far from trouble. Before he can step through, Ruby lets off another high-pitched squeal in frustration. She has HAD it. This night has just been awful mishap after awful mishap, each one worse than the last, and now she can’t even go to bed in peace anymore. Building on all the rage she’s kept pent up until now, that nerve in her head finally pops and she snaps at him.
“No! NO! No way!! You aren’t just going to leave after the absolutely HORRID shit you’ve done!” She finally crawls back to her feet and stomps over to him. “I don’t care that you’ve attacked me, accused me of causing ‘cancer’, or given me Geostigma! You broke my only copy of FFVII, you damn brat!!”
“…” He doesn’t even look her way.
“AUGH!! Now where am I gonna get another vintage disc 3 for a good price!? This game has aged like dog water, but it’s still the most expensive Final Fantasy! I’m barely getting by as is! Do you want me to starve just so I can buy another copy!?”
Now he does, but only to offer her a smart remark: “All your problems at the moment can be solved if you step this way…”
“No, shut up! As soon as I do, I’m gonna be stuck doing your bidding! And I’m gonna die anyway when I stop being useful!”
“Hmph. That depends on what you accomplish while you’re there. In fact…” He then reveals a rather coy smirk. “This could be a good opportunity.”
She shudders even before he says it. “For what…?”
“Why don’t we make a game out of it?”
There’s the magic word that seems to trigger a switch in her mind, and she immediately calms down as if all her rage fizzled out in that instant. “Huh? A game?”
“Yes, a battle of wits, you could say. I’m sure you’ll find it interesting enough, but you’ll only get to hear more if you come along…”
Ruby then reconsiders her options, now that she’s actually tempted to proceed. Thinking over them again leads her to realize something else entirely and she gives him a suspicious look. “…Jesus, man. How many ways are you gonna try to get me to come with you? You’re almost starting to sound desperate. Don’t tell me you’re that down bad?”
“Hmph… I’ve said my piece. The rest is left to you…” And with that, he steps forward and disappears through the portal.
“…Agh, %&#@ my life,” she groans aloud now that she’s finally alone again, “That giant dick screws with me from the outset and I doubt he’s gonna stop screwing me over. At what point is he gonna make it official…” She pauses and cuts off her own train of thought. “No. Bad brain. Out, out… Ugh. The last thing I need is to start up some Stockholm’s. Let’s just go…”
She faces the still open portal before her, takes a deep breath, and takes the plunge herself. As soon as she dives in, she begins to tumble around like she’s entered a place free of gravity. She’s hit by an overwhelming and disorienting lightheadedness, and the ever swirling motion of the tunnel spins her into a dizzy spell. She shuts her eyes to avoid losing all sense of direction, but it’s a moot point when everywhere around her has started to converge into the same endless void. And then, it’s nothing but darkness.
What a strange night it’s been. After having it prolonged for so long, Ruby finally gets her chance to rest and relax, and she now notices just how tired she’s really been. Not physically tired – the Esuna already worked its magic – but she’s mentally and emotionally drained to exhaustion. As she continues to drift off into the unknown, she finds herself in a strange state somewhere between being awake and asleep.