Beyond Heaven
Chapter 1: Rings of Emerald Light
by Dark Ki (Email: BrendenKyo@aol.com) and Seiya Kou (Email: k_seiya@hotmail.com)
Ki here! This is your warning! This story contains language, violence, and GRAPHIC descriptions of yaoi (sexual acts between two men), as well as some mild non-consensual stuff. If you are not 18 or if you are offended easily, please do not read this! If you chose to ignore this warning, we will not be held responsible for any psychiatric care you require. ^_^ I don't know about Seiya, but I know I will also ignore any flames that you send because you feel that Sephiroth and Vincent do not make a cute couple or because you hate yaoi. (Face it: there's a LOT of us yaoi fic-writers out there who do what we like, and this IS on a yaoi site, after all! At least, it SHOULD be, unless someone else put it where it doesn't belong.) Thanks to Seiya Kou for this one; she was cool enough to ask me to work with her! ^_^
Green... endless green....
What is going on in here? It's... well, I can't say it feels like anything, because it doesn't. Nothing, just like the one time they put me in sensory deprivation... said it would relax me. No, I felt stifled, even panicked. I don't like being shut away anywhere. I need to feel....
//Sephiroth....//
I start at the sound. It's familiar... a familiar word in a familiar voice. Is that my name? My mind is so clouded that it hurts to think, but it's better than feeling nothing. So I pry through my memories.
... a sword slides through my back... I stare down at my belly, at the cold steel point emerging from the wound so fast it doesn't have time to bleed before I slump forward and everything grows dark... how poetic....
I snap from my daze, finding my hands pressed to my stomach and quickly dropping them. I feel silly; here I am, the most powerful general of Shinra that ever lived-- the most powerful warrior anywhere-- and I react to a little psychic trauma like a total rookie.
//Sephiroth....//
I look up, into eyes even more green than the pool of light we floated in. //Aerith... did you come here to mock me? To gloat in my time of defeat?//
//No, you silly man!// she laughed, as brightly as ever. How many times did I see that cheer of hers through Strife's eyes? //Your soul keeps calling out, and I decided to find out what you wanted, just to make things better for you.//
//After I killed you?// I asked incredulously. //If I still had Masamune, I'd offer you the chance to reciprocate.//
Aerith giggled. //That's a sweet thought, but I'd never do anything like that. Actually, I came here to offer you something to ease your mind.//
I snorted. //There's nothing you could offer me.//
//What about the chance to walk the planet again, as a living man?//
I scowl; I know to never trust anything that sounds too good to be true. //As if you'd really allow me to live again, much less in my previous form. What if I try to destroy the planet again?//
//That's why you have to earn it. We're sending you into a deeper part of the Lifestream, which will simulate a reality that we craft for you. You'll have a task to accomplish there. And in order to make sure you learn to work with others-- since if you succeed, you'll be back amongst the "living"-- you are required to choose a companion from among their number. It can be anyone, but choose wisely. You only get one chance.//
This chance... I want it more than anything. But to be saddled with a travelling companion...! I resist the urge to sneer, lest it cost me this opportunity. Perhaps I'll choose someone quiet and unwilling to get in my way, but they should also be strong enough to act as cannon fodder in case things get rough. I smile coldly as the perfect person comes to mind.
//Then I choose....//
*************
The sound of a gunshot cracked through the morning air, followed by another. Cloud came out of the villa, rubbing at his eyes. All he wore were his loose shorts, which didn't really attract much attention in the warm climate of Costa del Sol.
"Vincent, have you been up all night?"
"No, I just woke up a few hours ago. Trying to break my usual cycle." Vincent reloaded his gun and checked the sight. "Don't you think you would've heard the shots earlier?"
"Nah, I slept like the dead. Felt good."
Vincent cringed.
Cloud's expression crumbled. "Damn, I'm sorry. I didn't mean...."
"No, it's quite alright."
The ex-SOLDIER ran a hand through the mussed spikes of his blond hair. "I'm... gonna go get something to eat," he said slowly. "You want anything?"
"No, I'm not really hungry. But thanks."
Cloud shrugged and turned away. He took exactly two steps when his keen hearing heard the sound of Vincent's Death Penalty hitting the soft-packed soil. He whirled back, his luminous Mako eyes wide with horror as he watched the older man sag to his knees.
"Vince!" Cloud darted over, catching his companion before the man could collapse totally. "Vincent, what's wrong?! Can you hear me?!"
"C-- Cloud...," Vincent whispered. He shivered in Cloud's arms, his pale skin almost white with shock. "L--Life...."
"What?! Vince, c'mon! Don't pass out on me! Snap out of it!" Cloud shook him gently.
"L-- Lifestream... Seph...."
A faint glitter of green light shimmered in his garnet eyes before they closed. Vincent went as limp as death in Cloud's arms. Cloud couldn't stop himself from screaming, hysteria overruling reason.
*************
//Vincent Valentine... long time, no see.//
I watched Vincent flinch at the sound of my voice. Some part of me got a little twisted satisfaction out of it. He turned, his eyes clouding with emotions I couldn't read.
//No... you're dead...!//
//How cliched. So are you, in a manner of speaking. Yours is probably temporary, luckily for you.//
//What am I doing here? You need someone to torture to pass the time?//
//As much as I'd love to indulge in that, I asked Aerith to bring you here for a more important matter.//
Vincent folded his arms. //Which is?//
//My resurrection.//
I watched his eyes narrow in apprehension. //There's no way I'd help you come back. Not for anything.//
//What if I told you that you can't go back until I accomplish my task? Or, more precisely, until we accomplish our task?//
//I never thought you'd stoop to blackmail, Sephiroth.//
I laughed, and from the slight change in Vincent's expression I knew the sound was far from pleasant. //They asked me who I wanted. I wasn't about to ask Strife or one of his other ridiculous friends. Can you imagine me working with that ludicrous stuffed cat on the Moogle? Or that girl with the stuffed chest? I think not. You, at least, are quiet and somewhat approaching capable in combat.//
//Thanks for the compliment,// Vincent sniffed. //If I had my gun, I'd shoot your legs off at the knees.//
//Business before pleasure, Valentine.// I glanced over my shoulder to where Aerith stepped out of a swirl of green.
Vincent gasped softly. //Aerith...?//
//Hello, Vincent. It's good to see you again. Shall we get started?//
//Why the hurry? I'm enjoying baiting him.//
//You should know why, Sephiroth. All living things are made up of the energy of the Lifestream, and thus that energy has the desire to return to the flow. The longer he stays here, the more his form will break up. If he loses cohesion here, he'll become a semi-permanent resident of the Lifestream, just like anyone who dies.//
I turned back to Vincent to see his shocked expression. //You mean I'll actually die if I stay here too long?// His eyes spat fire at me. //You wanted to drag me into this for that reason!//
I shrugged. //It's not like your life was that much better up there. Hasn't Cloud been trying to get you into his bed since you murdered me?//
Vincent bristled. //You bastard....//
//Vincent,// Aerith said gently. //You don't have the time for this. You must help Sephiroth in his quest, or you'll both have plenty of time to argue.// She held her hands before her, and a long beam of Mako light settled across her palms like a weapon.
//Why did you let this happen, Aerith?// Vincent asked, exercising admirable restraint.
//I knew of the risks, but I had no way of affecting his choice. This isn't my offer, but something the entire Lifestream is presenting to him. I was hoping that he would choose someone else not of our group, but I knew he would.// She handed the light to Vincent, who blinked in startlement to see he was holding his Death Penalty. I admit that I wasn't too happy to see it; I'd been staring down the barrel of that gun as Seraph, and even then it bothered me. Just a little, anyway.
//Not going to arm me, Aerith?// I asked softly, letting just a hint of a threat into my voice.
//I didn't forget about you,// she chided gently, summoning another bar of light that became my beloved Masamune in my hands. I swung it a few times, relishing the weight of it in my grip, and grinned.
//Perfect.//
//Good luck, you two.// Aerith extended her hand, and tendrils of green, both much lighter and much darker than Mako, wrapped around Vincent and I. Vincent looked a little startled, but he held firm and let the light take him away. A second later, I felt a sudden lurch, as if the world had tipped upside down and then been slapped sideways, and I was spat out by the Lifestream....
*************
... onto a sandy beach. Vincent groaned and sat up, shaking his head. "The Lifestream's not very gentle with transport, is it?"
Sephiroth shook his head. "No. Does that bother you?"
Vincent only glared. "Where are we, anyway?"
"This place isn't real. Aerith told me that it's an illusion created by the Lifestream, though it acts like the reality we experience on the planet. Everything feels real here, including pain."
"So we can be killed."
"Exactly. So you'd better watch your own ass."
Vincent bit back a sharp retort. "So, what's our mission?"
"I don't know. I guess we'll find out." Sephiroth sheathed Masamune on his back and pointed to a town in the distance. "That looks like as good a place to start as any."
Slowly, the two unlikely companions made their way across the beach and onto the grassy plain.
On to chapter 2