So sorry for the delay but things have been hectic with my University, plus the ton of projects and essays.

So this is extra big as an apology.

Chapter 24

One could never underestimate grudges. It was among the first things wizarding children, youkai children, magus children, magical children in general learned. A curse, a wish, a mere thought spoken in the heat of the soul, swathed in anger was sometimes enough to doom entire families and lineages.

Emotion was such a strong factor in magic. Always had been, but negativity always seemed to work the best.

Bella should know, far better than she would have liked. had she not been irked the teacher's hair wouldn't have turned blue back in elementary school. Has she not been pissed, little fatso Dudders wouldn't have gotten stuck in the snake enclosure in the zoo when the actual beast had happily slithered away. Had she not been terrified, she wouldn't have popped on top of that roof in the middle of a "Flower Picking" session.

And while Sei swore up and down the infamous Potter luck must be an actual curse, and maybe the fact that it wasn't acting up as much in Gaia was damning enough a fact on its own, Bella herself was much more the "Show me the proof" kind of gal, even if she took care to be covered on all bases, so to speak. Perhaps desperate of her, but she didn't care. She was entitled to a few delusions at this point.

She sometimes wondered how much of it was an actual curse, or her being so inviting of everything going sideways, what with the "We shape our reality" belief that she had encountered once she found out about Wicca. She would stay up at night and wonder, How much of the bullshit that befell her was the doing of Dumbledore's greater good, The negativity that oozed in waves from her relatives as they blamed every single bump on the road on her, her own self deprecation that had at some point trully believed that her existence was cursed.

The "May you live in interesting times" was an actual curse after all and there wasn't one person that truly wanted to fuck with it. Even if to cast it.

Point is, resentment could get you a long way, knowingly or not. Looking into it more in old grimoires and legitimate defense books, it was staggering how easily a spell could work if you plastered a little bit of disdain on it.

Point the second, Belladonna Melania Potter was not some unknowing chucklefuck on the wondrous effect of emotions on magic. There was a fun little story there, even.

Magic, after all, was what you wished it to be, the only reason there were rules in place was so the users wouldn't get blown to bits from overexposure.

Point the third. She fucked herself up once with energy drainage and misplaced anchoring and that had not been fun. Let's not have a repeat, shall we?

So how would one go about casting an intent based, thought reading, perception distorting scheme that would affect one person and would not degrade as time passed? The first answer any prospective and or ambitious Warder, or a Hexer let's be honest here, would give was of course an anchoring base. But since there were so many Reactors basically bloodletting the Planet, Midgar didn't really have anything for a long term anything to anchor. So what was the next step one would have to take?

The most effective way in such a situation would be for a channel to be established, that would syphon the energy required to the scheme from a source of the prospective Hexer's choosing. Many a caster would just set the source as the afflicted themselves, a sort of renewable type esque system. the ward itself was going to unbalance the person as was, most didn't really care if said person expired a tad earlier than what was ordained.

Only problem is that once a caster settled for that, you suddenly had more of them using that method with an end result of a lot of people shrugging the mortal coil earlier than normal and that in turn got you an influx of souls and that got you a lot of unhappy and most importantly, overworked Reapers. As such, that was not a favorable option.

How fortunate would it be if there was a cache of energy one could tap into in such an occasion. Oh wait...

Vincent felt something crawling up his spine. A vague itch starting in the small of his back and spreading up untill it reached the point between his shoulder blades and just dug itself a hole and nestled there. And then he could hear a very familiar gait and he didn't have to wonder anymore. Sooooo...what did Bella-Dearest do now?

As if on queue, the witch in question came up from where he knew was the basement, carrying the source of his discomfort, a crystalline sphere containing an inky blackness, roiling around and throwing itself in the walls, as if consciously attempting to escape. Why was he even surprised.

"So what exactly is this?"

"Oh this little beauty?" not the word he would go for but okay "Just a little thing that will serve as a battery for a spell of mine." she passed it to one hand and tossed it up and down. His hair stood on edge. he might not exactly know what it was but something told him he didn't want it breaking anywhere in his general vicinity.

"So you're cursing someone."

"Curse is too strong a word." she answered with an unrepentant grin that just reaffirmed that it was indeed a curse. "More like setting up a long term counseling program."

"And you need that as a power source?"

"Well, there's nothing to anchor the spells."

He had a very sinking feeling. "And that is where exactly?"

"Midgar."

Fuck. "So the president." he stated anyway.

"Ye~up." Her initially innocuous smile widened, showing no teeth but still forming a really unnerving grin and promising very unpleasant things.

Let's turn the clock back a tad, shall we?

Bella fell into a sleep Cycle as scheduled and woke up two weeks later and life moved on. Or that's what one newly woken up Belladonna Melania Potter would have liked to believe.

She woke up, feeling rejuvenated,the magic rumbling under her skin, twitchy and ready to be used. And then she actually moved and remembered she hadn't actually moved in months.

Fuck, she could feel the sarcopenia. Skellegro would nourish the bones but physical therapy to recover lost muscle mass was going to be a nightmare. Sitting up in took more out of her than it had in years. She stretched and he delicious pops only served to get her revved up, even if they hurt. Sending magic to reinforce her limbs, she was able to stand. Her first walk, assisted by the walls as it was, had her feeling woozy and unbalanced but she just pushed on, the lift down was just a standing wait so that would be a break anyway.

And then just as she entered her wonderful library, in come Vincent, quite clearly tense and obviously heading to check up one her. The moment he saw he he seemed to deflate yet tense even more.

Okay, so something had gone to shit.

"So who fucked up what?" No hello's or good morning's. All she wanted to know right now was the amount of annoyance she would have to expend or if she'd rather go back to bed and sleep another month.

"Shin-Ra is going to try to take Wutai again."

She stared, completely silent and blinked slowly.

Excuse me?

He was kidding, right? She gave the fucker an Oskar worthy performance! She expended far more energy than she had been willing to all to give him a very good insentive to not under any circumstanses try this bullshit again. But noooo!

Okay then. 'The repetition of history is either farce or tragedy.' she is dully reminded.

Idly she wonders if the man suffered of some kind of...well... disorder.

Either way, extreme prejudice it was. She had no capacity to be merciful at this point, she was just so fucking done.

And she was most definitely not wasting her magic for this bullsh-

Oh wait...

A grin twisted it's way across her lips 'Farce or tragedy indeed.'

"Hey Sirius-dearest, can you do me a favour?"

"Shoot, Prongslet-dearest."

"Think you can get me some of Mr. Shinra's blood?"

"...Sure? Why?"

"Black specialty curse."

"Ooooh, isn't that gonna fuck with your Karma, or some'n?"

"Hardy-har-har. It's intent based, he's only himself to blame."

"Of course he does. What brought this on exactly?"

"You wanna take a guess?"

"No I don't wanna take a guess, his existence in general is a point of contention." She huffed a laugh. Too true

"True. Well, Wutai."

There was a pause on the other end and Bella could just hear the disbelief. "Wait, really now? Fucking really?"

'I feel you, believe me I do.' insted she settled for a simple affirmation. "Ye~up." If a very vindictive and sadistic one.

"Hooo, yeah, no shit he brought this on himself. Do I have a deadline?"

"If you could bring it by the end of the day it would be just great."

"You'll have it by six."

"Thanks Padfoot."

"Don't mention it."

Cloud was currently lounging in Bella's lap as she was reclined on a mountain of pillows, controller in hand and playing Dark Souls, finally having graduated from Bloodborne, and predictably, dying every five steps. 'Ah FromSoft, how you always make us feel like we haven't touched a controller in our life before.' Bella meanwhile was using his head as a stand for her book, occasionally giggling at him dying from the same ambush for, like, the third time. The whole room had a pleasant jasmine smell from the shower they had just had after finishing up the current training routine.

He was well, could have been better, but he was well nevertheless. Sure, he could have done without the heart attack his beloved sister in all but blood had given him, but well, she was okay now. Somewhat.

She could walk and run and excersize but her stamina was shot. She could cast but she was using most of it to fix what the long period of torpidity did to it. Gaia what that did to to her. She may act like she was fine but she did most decidedly not look it. Cloud could feel her ribs when he hugged her, the ribs digging into his back when she hugged him. He hated how the skin on her cheeks stretched over too prominent cheekbones when she smiled and made them pop out even more. He absolutely despised how he could outrun her in training and could hear her panting behind him in cardio.

And Cloud got to spend so much more time than what he normally would with her. For once their schedules run parallel to each other and they spent almost the whole day together, sometimes Cloud even slept in her room while she either played or read something. And he fucking hated it. And he hated himself a little too because he didn't hate it enough. He loved training with her, loved how proud she looked and the smile she gave him every time he completed the same exercise correctly, how she didn't make him feel useless every time he made a mistake like his previous teachers, and he loved when every time he moved forward in hi training, every time he got better he would come one step closer to catching up to her. Even a little bit closer to the unreachabe standard, only surpassed by sephiroth himself.

But this was not it!

The only good thing out of this mess was that one week later she was visibly better. Here's to hoping she is fully back to normal before the next Sleep Cycle so she doesn't get set back again.

"Bellaaaa-neeee~ aren't you going to help?" he tipped his head back to pelt her with the Puppy Eyes.

Bella however was not falling for it, placing her book between her and him completely shielding herself "Sure. Git gud." the way she responded told him she knew what he was doing and wasn't falling for it.

"I hate you."

"Love you too baby." she turned the page and went to reach for her notebook.

Clood reached and grabbed the pen for her since she had placed it on the opposite side of the bed after she had last used it to write something in the margins. he knew that because he had heard her muttering theories along with the dulled sound of the ballpoint pen. "Think you'll be able to do some VR tomorrow?"

"You just want to take out your frustration on the virtual Hollows." she accused knowingly.

"So?" he raised an eyebrow even if his back was turned to her.

Bella hummed in though and answered after a little pause. "I suppose I could do a few demons."

"New character?"

"I was thinking so. Might as well go all the way." he felt her shrug.

"Any thoughts?" he was already thinking if he wanted to make a new one two if his current one was incompatible.

"Maybe deprived." ''Maybe' she said!'

"Wanna go with New Game + too while you're at it?" he drawled because of course she would go with the only class that made the game even more difficult than it already had any right to be.

"Maybe..."

"That was a joke, damnit!"

It was near the end of September, but Midgar was refusing to get chillier than 27 Celsius. Winter always came late in Midgar, what with the pollution and the smog hovering over the city and trapping the few sun rays that managed to get to ground level. Even when winter came it never went below the tens, very rarely below zero. Sephiroth remembered the first time he was sent out of Midgar in the winter. Because Wutai winter was real winter. It had not been fun.

The first few months of autumn were always slow, new years always seemed to trudge in, never wanting to actually start. Sephiroth couldn't blame them. For Gaia, New Year's was on the first of September, they had been surprised when Bella told them it was in January in Earth. Why? It was the middle of winter. Apparently it was a civil event rather than a seasonal one. It stemmed from the worship of the ancient roman god Janus, Ianos in it's original Greek, a two faced god reigning over doorways, gates and passages, beginnings and endings, transitions, duality and time. One face looked back to the past while the other was turned towards the future. The name January came from him.

As an added bonus, she had mentioned offhandedly, in January in the Northern Hemisphere of Earth, days started lengthening.

What?

They had been so confused when she had said that, he reminisced with a quirk of the lips. It wasn't a literal thing, she had explained. As the Earth moved around the Sun, the cycle executed was not a perfect circle, but an oblong shape, all the while it spun around itself as well. As such there were progressively longer days with shorter nights half the year and vice versa the other half. He found it pleasantly varied, something he could get used to.

How nice would it be, living in a city with real green trees, with actual flowers planted in flowerbeds next to the streets, where he could see the sky. As he looked out of his office window, down in the grey streets, lit with artificial neon greens and yellows and reds that hurt his eyes, Sephiroth wondered. His mind took him to seas where the vast sapphire and turquoise of iridescent waters met the ceruleans of the sky, sometimes speckled with pinks and indigos and golden marked tufts. He wanted to walk on the white sand of a shore where the water glimmered in shining beryls and dotted with brilliant seafoam.

Was this what Genesis's thoughts were like?

When this was over, he swore to himself. He would go to those places Bella spoke of and showed them in photos.

But the now was different. He was still in Midgar and working for Shin-Ra. Reality had to come first if he wanted to have a chance at his fantasies, as was showcased by his receiving a message on his Phs. The sharp, generic ping of the message jostled him, so abrupt and jarring he almost threw it at the wall. but then again he would be required to get a new one, wasted gill either way.

President Shinra was prone to calling for such meetings, a number ranging from anywhere between two to too many per month. Couldn't he skip? Go back to his daydreams? He was already deliberating whether it was worth wasting his Cold Brew on this nonsense.

The trek from his office to the Meeting Rooms was not a short one but once you knew the way it took few minutes to reach them. Quite ironic, that the one of precious few thing this company was efficient at was annoying it's unfortunate, long-suffering employees. Pre-empive boredom was a skill acquired only by a lucky few, as per Shin-Ra recruitment protocol.

He was out of his office and well on his way to the designated meeting room - consequently numbered #13, how charming - when he got a certain feeling deep in his gut. It was the sort of subtle, constant weight that you didn't even notice until it was hammering down on your temples with ferocious vengeance. Paranoia could get him so far. It was surprising how his chest still clenched even if he knew they would never get caught. Angeal had said it was rather fortunate lest they get complacent. Complacency meant mistakes made, in that they all agreed.

When he got to the meeting room though, that was a different story.

Perhaps he had gotten more attuned to others, or maybe the others never bothered to hide them. The fact of the matter was that the atmosphere in the room was...charged. First he spied Heidegger looking like the smug asshole he was and trying to hide it from him and he started having thoughts. Then he spotted Tseng looking pained and he was making assumptions. And last he caught the unbearably self satisfied look the president himself had and he was dreading the next few hours.

Then the actual meeting started and he was very happy he wasn't caffeinated. Corporate murder was still a crime no matter how justified.

And Bella was still asleep. That was a combination spelling out very bad things. Sephiroth wondered how much he could stall before Bella woke up. Maybe Tseng would be agreeable enough not to shoot him for treason if he worded everything right. Could he skip around his Rune books for the psychotropic ones? If he was careful enough that was a maybe, probably it would be best to bring Genesis in as well...

He had to return to the meeting. First order of business was opposing the Presidents plans. Additionally, scoping out the field was never a bad idea to start with.

Two days later, the plan to reaproach Wutai get suddenly revoked.

Fortunate? Yes.

Opportune? Indeed.

Suspicious? Very.

How strange, the very sudden and not at all fortuitous change happened to correlate with the President's steep decline into paranoid hallucinations and selective insanity. A very strange phenomenon associated with anything to do with antagonistic actions toward said independent nation, a very broad subject encompassing direct actions, inadvertent contentions and even dissension and false testimonies.

Very odd indeed. Almost as if the the adversities were triggered by intent. Like consequences.

Huh.

So Bella must have woken up.

He scheduled a few free hours for the next day and went to pay her a visit with Angeal and Genesis who had come to the same conclusion.

Bella's days were rather busy after her last Sleeping Cycle. Between physical therapy to try and get back to what she was before she fell asleep, planning for the move that has been pushed back to Hell but was still happening - she needed to actually travel if she wanted precise facts about the Planet's current condition - as well as making arrangements for Samhain since she missed Beltane for obvious reasons, she was pretty swamped. That last fact had her annoyed in the least and distresses at worst. She had been set back a year. Hecate knew how much time the Planet had as it was.

Unfortunately, Samhain was a Sabbat that lasted one measly night, or at least the part of it that was of consequence to her. If her calculations were right, her next sleeping cycle should finish one or two days before October 13th, leaving her in full power in the Day of the Dead, so that was opportune at least. She should probably stay in Wutai until then too. Wutai had a Lifestream Spring, an ideal location to connect with the Planet and it's afterlife.

Now she had a little less than a month to come up with the best suited ritual outline along with a supporting energy management program so she wouldn't set her own recovery back. Just like what she'd have done back home for an especially bad exorcism.

She felt herself sink into a familiar routine of pleasant rumination and pondering, now treading the familiar road of mission preparation, as long as it was never labeled as such.

As far as she knew, Gaia had one actual deity, the Goddess Minerva, worshiped in conjunction with the Lifestream as the Planet's consciousness. However the Lifestream itself sometimes exhibited signs of sapience, a fact that left her unsure on how to approach communication. Additionally there was absolutely no record describing either Minerva's or the Lifestreams temperament. At least it was a set amount of entities she had to come in contact with. The only thing she was sure about was that the Lifestream pool was imperative. she would have to put some time aside to ask Goto and the Priesthood of the Leviathan about it.

At least if push came to shove she could ask Nadeshiko for advice.

Cut to push coming to shove and being desperate enough to ask Nadeshiko...Damn.

"Well good...morning Bella..." Nadeshiko's voice came muddled from the other end of the line, like she had...been sleeping...Just as she turned to the neglected clock on the wall Shiko spoke again "May I know why you're calling at 3 in the fucking morning?" Yeah, it was late.

"Is it that late?" she murmured apologetically "I didn't notice..." she was honest about that. Samhain planing had come to a head and well...she had been just so consumed with it, having come to realize what she needed to do and, really, just burying her head in the sand in denial for an embarrassing while when she really had no reason to.

"Whatever. What is this about?" She wouldn't like it, that she already knew.

"I wanted to ask, how would you go about coming in contact with the Netherworld?"

"I'm going back to sleep."

"No-Wait! I'm legit asking! Not astral projection!"

"Are you talking about Trancing?" Yeah, Bella could not blame Nadeshiko's very disbelieving tone. Trancing is not something to be done lightly and by someone inexperienced. If done carelessly, you could end up losing yourself, your spirit not just left to wonder in a parallel dimension like in Astral Projection, and in danger of being devoured by demons - or whatever came upon you really -, but you ran the risk of being left adrift and assimilated with the world itshelf. There were few cases of people returning once they got lost in the Streams of Reality, as it was called. Which is why she was asking Nadeshiko.

Well, the risk of that actually happening was pretty negligible. Bella was not in any way inexperienced. But with her luck? They were a bit...weary.

"Forget it."

"Shiko please." she felt like a little kid begging for candy.

"There is no 'please' here Belladonna! Trancing is not something you just do."

"I know Shiko, which why I'm asking you." Oh how intimately did she know already. "Shiko you know me. I wouldn't be asking if I didn't have a very concrete understanding of what I was asking for." And she had taken steps to mitigate the, admittedly already low, risk "It's not even he first time I've done it. I'm just the one doing the preparation this once, since you are not here to do it. That's barely 5% of the heavy lifting."

She had no intention of failing this. The hours upon hours she'd spent coming up with binder arrays and conjunction schemes to ensue safety were source for traumatic flashbacks at this point.

"Bella if you don't do it right you will end up brain dead." 'No shit Sherlock.'

"Nadeshiko, I know how to Trance. I have arguably done a whole lot more dangerous shit than this. And I actually have a catalyst for this one. It's not going to be nearly as difficult as the one's we've done before. I just need you to tell how you set the anchors so I can then set my fucking arrays."

"You do know that that is classified as dark magic right?" The other young woman pauses as she registers the absurdity of the sentence "Yeah, what am I saying. You've never given a quarter of a fuck about that."

'That classification is the reason there is such a bad reputation around the ritual.' she scoffs and says instead "Wow, now you notice? And you have the balls to call yourself my friend."

"If having balls means being a stupid about danger then thanks, but no thanks. I like being alive." Nadeshiko sniped back at her.

"That's a low blow." Bella smiled as she relaxed in the banter, her shoulders falling back in her armchair as she reclined back fully.

"Fuck of."

"Indeed. How do I anchor?" Never let it be said that she was not persistent

There was a sigh on the other line. "What is your cattalyst?"

Bella smirked. This was what the entire plan was hinged on. "The Planets very lifeblood, pure and straight out of the source." If there was no Lifeastream then she wouldn't even be considering this.

"Like leylines?!" Nadeshiko let out a breathy whisper. Leylines were not something tangible and using them, even if you knew how, was not easy. They ever-flowed, moving and being constantly renewed, like a serene river. Heraclitus said it best, 'No man ever steps into the same river twice' and that was an apt metaphor to describe them.

"Better than leylines!" she plunged in excitedly. "Shiko, as in the actually tangible springs and pools of the stuff they use for energy! They even inject it into people!" She was still valiantly avoiding the implications of that last little tidbit, and was going to keep doing it unless she was forced to deal with it "I swear it's the stuff of druidic wet dreams."

Nadeshiko chuckled on the other end "Huh. Look at that, you actually do know what you're doing."

"When do I not?" there was an inhale and she rushed to cut the other woman before she undoubtedly sassed her. "Really, Nadeshiko."

There was a pause and a defeated sigh "Okay, take pen and paper and listen very fucking carefully."

"Thanks Shiko-chan."

"Yeah, thank me by not getting assimilated."

She was not really surprised when throughout the three-ish weeks it took for the next Cycle to begin, this one lasting a scant four days and depositing her perfectly two days before Sahmain, the visits never stop. Sei may not have been there, Yuri long having departed and Nadeshiko only pointing out her existence by calling to bitch, but Seph, Gen and Geal, unknowingly, filled the empty space just fine.

It was nice having a house full of people...

Angeal, having taken notice of her abhorrent condition, he would have to be blind no to, stays a constant pillar of support besides her, graciously offering his experience in the form of exercises and training or just advice in general. The fact that he spends two hours in the house minimum is absolutely astounding and has her drowning in her gratitude.

Sephiroth is not able to be there as much as he had expressed he would have liked, being a General and whatnot, but makes up for it by taking over Cloud's training, or her rehabilitation, whatever's available, sometimes both and working them to the bone with such a frevor and such prejudice the bone deep ache is the only sensation that prevails for hours after, sometimes days. The improvements are so visible however, and their rate so steep, the bonding curve might as well be painted with neon dye, he is so effective.

Genesis on the other hand, finds himself with too much free time in his hands after he pitched a fit of colossal proportions after the Corell fiasco. Apparently. The smug ginger damn near set up camp in her library, wearing an expression of almost deranged satisfaction and untamable curiosity combined. HE brought his own bloody pillows! Not even Hermione reached the levels of zeal the redhead was currently exhibiting and Bella laughs to keep the traumatic flashback at bay. She pitied her old professors if that is what they were subjected to. Still, the fervor with which he came searching her out for his questions was honestly adorable. It was like having a little brother. Well, another little brother, this one less fun-sized.

Also. Emperor Goto pays he a visit, in person, along with Empress Sakuya and little Princess Yuffie. In the flesh.

Did she mention personally?!

"Um Bella-nee, the Emperor and his entourage are at the door."

"Pardon?"

"The Emp-"

"I've heard you the first time. You better not be pulling my leg or something."

"Why would I? We're not in training."

"It's a figure of speech. Go tell the other's while I get the damn door."

"Haiii."

They come bearing gifts and gratitude but all that really matters is the glint of respect in the draconian woman's eyes.

"Hignesses. It's an honor to see you here. You shouldn't have inconvenienced yourselves in such a way. A missive was all I needed and I would've come immediately." she ushered them in taking notice of the civilian clothes the royal family donned. Incognito or not, the bearing is not something that could easily be overlooked.

Goto Kisaragi waved her off with a jovial smile but still staying by the doorframe. He didn't seem to be intending to stay for long. "We weren't sure if you were completely recovered. Yu were so composed that day I couldn't have imagined the damage you sustained was so extensive." she didn't know if he meant her long absence or her deplorable state.

A laugh escaped her throat hoarse and near painfull. "Sephiroth didn't do all that much damage. I collapsed and then got sick since I didn't properly anchor the wards around the city due to lack of time and got too exhausted." she explained with a small smile.

"Arguably, that is an even worse predicament." Sakuya stated softly. The woman's dark pits roved over her frame, obviously cataloguing the sharp cheekbones and slightly sunken eyes and the very much bonier hands poking under the long sleeves, hanging uncomfortably over her frame. She looked like a scarecrow, she couldn't begrudge the Empress for low-key staring.

The little princess however, hadn't had the reservations and etiquette her mother possessed and the little girl openly stared at the witch. Bella took it all with good humor, it was only natural.

"Please don't feel forced to host us. We only came to express our gratitude." The Emperor waved at the people behind him to bring the boxes and crates in. Yeah, there was no incognito, not with that procession.

"At least allow me to serve you some tea." She insisted, the manners Madame Zabini painstakingly crammed into her head, demanding for her to at least ask.

The Empress snapped her fan open and brought it up to cover her lower face, a regal image only slightly offset by the fact that little Yuffie reached stubby little hands, pawing for the brightly colored fan, which, like, mad respect. "You need not provide accommodation, for this is not a visit forewarned."

"Then at least let's make this a casual social call. I cannot in good conscience let you just leave after you came personally to thank me."

Godo and Sakuya shared a brief glance before they came to a simultaneous conclusion. "I suppose there would be no harm in that." Godo smiled in earnest as Sakuya gave a shallow nod.

"Then come this way your Majesties, I have the perfect place." Bella smiled wide and content, leading them through the Sun Room and to the little alcove that had become many a person's favorite spot ever since it's creation.

The toddler, of course, is adorable in the way only small children can be. Cloud was completely enamored, caring the small child or holding her hand when she walked and playing with her and even reading in the few Japanese he knew. Bella spent half the time she was having tea gushing alongside the just enamored Godo. By the end of the day the adorable little Yuffie just as attached to her "Kumo-Nii" and was very upset that they had to part. Which is one of the reasons Bella squeezes an appointment for tea with Sakuya once a month. For the first time since the whole Wutai debacle Bella started feeling the weight on her shoulders lessen ever so slightly.

Even if the visit was very sudden, it was not without it's positive effects.

"I was meaning to ask, Your Majesty-" she directed towards the Emperor "I would like to ask for permission to access the Spring Shrine on the 31st of this October."

The man looked at her inquisitively "There is no need for formalities at this point Belladonna-san." He waved her off the moment she went to refute. "And while usually I would not entertain such an idea, I am sure you have a reason for such a request. I will grant you permission as long as you share that reason with me." The austere tone however did not much the indulgent smile he was giving her. She hid her giggle behind a well timed sip of her tea.

"But of course, Your Majesty." she smirked at the almost pouty grimace she elicited. At a side glance she can see the Empress's eyes shine with amusement. The fan does a wonderful job concealing the undoubtedly present smirk, but with Sakuya, you just know when she's pleased.

She cleared her throat and went about laying down her thought process. "Last year in the 31st of October, I felt a particular rise in the ambient energy, scant and near exhaustion as it is. Like the earth itself was taking a breath. And I noticed it coincided with a holiday my people celebrate, a day when the veil between the realms of the living and the dead is at it's thinnest." she had the eyes of both royals on her, their undivided attention "As I am now, I do not even know how the world truly works. And I thought that the best way to learn is commune with the Planet itself. The only way for me to do that is through the Lifestream. And I'm not about to traipse into a Reactor for that toxic sludge Shin-ra calls an energy source."

"While it is not...Mako" the Empress bit into the word with a barely constrained hint of disgust. "the Lifestream itself is not to be trifled with." She cautioned.

Was that a stutter, her heart did in her chest?

Quashing the delight to be immolated deep within her chest, Bella smiled reassuringly "All I need is proximity. I do not plan anything like taking a dip in."

The look she received back told her 'You better not be.'

Another little stutter as her heart strove to recover its usual beat.

"Would you require assistance by the Priestesses of the Leviathan?" The Emperor inquired. The Mako spring was a holy place for the people of Wutai. It would be more surprising if their Faith was not brought up at some point.

"Not at the moment. However any and all Priestesses are quite welcome to join me."

Godo raised an inquisitive eyebrow. He had no doubt thought that she would like privacy. Probably a disagreement too.

She shook her head. "We do not really hoard our knowledge. We do not wish for the ones that will come after us to stumble through the same hurdles. That is counterproductive if not contrary to very meaning of our community's existence."

Sakuya leveled a look at her direction. "You speak like there are more people like you."

Wait.

Wait a sec.

Bella's gaze swiveled to the very sheepish looking man across her, trying to convey the 'You didn't tell her!?' because how did she go about asking that? The man himself was averting his eyes, hands on the table and fingers laced, she could see a finger it was itching to scratch, preferably the are around the head...

She gave him a unimpressed look, mirrored by the identical one Sakuya was shooting them, slowly dragging her eyes to the expectant Sakuya.

Bella put her teacup down, and with a twitch of a finger the kettle came flying, much to the unflappable Empress's surprise, that still remained unflappable - How? -, and topped the cups up. She did not however further touch her tea, instead turning to fully face The Empress, who was giving her her undivided attention.

Yeah, fuck that.

"I am afraid that you will have to ask his Majesty for the bulk of the details." she started diplomatically and throwing the guy right under that bus "I am a part of a Coven you see. A gathering of practitioners of The Craft of Magic, our purpose being to further expand our knowledge through mutual cooperation." she stated without going into the whole 'Another World' business. That was not a thing she wanted to deal with currently, not with the quite terrifying Empress of Wutai.

Now, taking her cup again, she strategically covered her lower face in a disguised sip, watching with mirth as the Emperor was getting stared down by his wife.

May His Majesty rest in peace. His (unwilling) sacrifice will be so fondly remembered.

Yeah. That happened.

She was, as mentioned, not surprised when the visits never stopped. So she was not at all surprised that the day of the ritual, there was another visit.

Three guesses as to whom.

But well, there was a tiny little hiccup there...

Genesis was not about to wait for the other two slowpokes to wake up. Oh no, he was going there by himself and he was going first. Bella wasn't going to start her rituals until the evening but it didn't hurt to be a bit early. What if he took the time to wear her out enough to maybe let him join her. As of the moment, if his clock was to be believed, he had at least ten hours. Afterall he would be a fool to not grasp the chance when the gift of the Goddess was presinted there, roght in front of him.

Now if the portkey didn't make him want to die, that would be great. Sephiroth was a dirty liar, he was never getting used to this.

It took him an embarrassing amount of time to notice he was not alone in the library. A figure was huddled in one of the armchair, swathed in a fluffy blanket and reading a book. Genesis could see obsidian tresses poking from under the soft cream blanket, the rest of the face hidden behind the book. He squinted bit to make out the title. "Turn of the Screw"

"Good morning Bella." he greeted her amiably.

She didn't answer however. Didn't even twitch.

Huh, that must be a very good book. Maybe he should give it a go too.

"Bella." he said louder, an amused smirk on his face. She didn't respond this time as well. Okay...

Genesis started walking towards her. "Hey, Bells." Nothing. 'Dreams of the morrow hath the shattered soul.'

"Doc." He tried again but he got no answer. Okay now he was getting wor-she just turned the page!

Was she fucking ignoring him? Anger swelled in his gut, a grimace rising to his face. Genesis stepped up to her, more decisively this time. And then, a few meters away from her, he came to an abrupt halt in his gait. In the fraction of time it took him to cross the space covered by a single step, he had slammed into a veritable wall of malignance . Like he had walked into a waterfall of it, he felt drenched. Something cold and balefull, tightly coiled around the woman and he felt as if he was encroaching on it. A bead of cold sweat run his back, perfectly across his spine, the breath flying out of him as he gasped. With widened eyes he looked at the woman seated that scant little distance away.

He took a deep breath and asked the question he should have asked the second time he had gotten no answer. Bella would never had ignored anyone like that.

"Lady," he saw the minute tensing of her frame and he knew he had her attention "who are you?"

She stopped in the middle of turning the page. Her pause was abrupt but soft and very rigid but she neither turned nor put the page back. Her head slowly lifted up from behind the book, like jet-black Serpent rising out of water. Genesis could now see that the woman's hair was too straight, too tidy, something Bella could't achieve to save her life. She had a low fringe too, just low enough to cover her eyebrows and a bit of her lashes but not her eyes, that bore a distinct Wutaian curve. Eyes so black and deep, he felt like he was gazing into a dark, cold void. Eyes that were staring right back at him.

For a split second, Genesis Rapsodos felt like The Void was looking back at him.

"You must be Genesis Rapsodos." she spoke, voice light and musical. The sound would have been beautiful if the one possessing it didn't make him feel so disconcerted.

"My name is Nadeshiko."

Wasn't Nadeshiko the name of the one that had sent Bella the two pit vipers?

Why couldn't Bella have one normal acquaintance?

"Shiko-chan." the voice comes from behind him and he startled something terrible. How overwhelmed was he by this woman's aura that he hadn't registered Bella's own aura, disconcerting in it's own way. A pair of thin, too thin still, arms wraps around his own, the touch warm and comforting. Between the breath he expels and the next inhale, suddenly he can breathe easier. Like a gentle, warm wave, Bella's familiar presence spreads around them, shielding him. "How shameless of you, Young Lady!" the witch chastised, tone fond and teasing. "Flaunting them assets around like that!"

"Don't pretend you don't do the same for the sake of your delicate, British sensibilities." Nadeshiko drawled and he could hear the uncaring shrug. "If we want to pretend you have any left that is." her eyes returned to her book, finally turning the page.

"Yeah because between you, Kiyo and Annie, that's just about dead..." Bella responded dryly, rolling her eyes. There was a story there, Genesis realized. "So, to what do I owe the pleasure?"

Nadeshiko stopped, slowly raised her head again and nailed Bella with the blankest, most deadpan stare Genesis had ever seen delivered in his life. Sephiroth could take lessons. "Are you actually shitting me?" what she actually meant, the 'I'd rather you don't keel over.' was loud and clear.

Bella however just scoffed. "Well, I see you continue to so wholly trust me." she leaned dramatically against Genesis, his arm still in her grasp. "Just do keep in mind, it's going to be us two, a Priestess trainee and this wanker-" she knocked his arm with her head gently "if I'm right about why he's here so early" she ribbed him with a smirk.

Ah, she knew him so well. "Guilty as charged." he agreed, there was no reason to deny it anyway. Bella's sighed in mock long sufferage.

"For fuck's sake, it's not like I'm doing something actually dangerous." she sighs, now hanging heavily on his arm in some kind of retaliation. Both Nadeshiko and Genesis just looked at her unimpressed.

"Yeah." Nadeshiko deadpanned, closing the book and putting it on a side table. Her face was now revealed. Not that it did him any good, it was covered from the nose to the chin with a surgical mask. "Why do I not believe you?" She hopped of the couch, socked feet poking from under the blanket, came padding delicately on the carpet towards them. He tensed slightly, readying himself for the coldness she exuded but it never came. He thought he saw Nadeshiko's eyes flicker at him, a very quick and tiny move, he might have been wrong. The colour so black and so deep, it could barely be distinguished from her lashes. It could just as well have been a twitch of her eyelids. The crashing malignancy was absent as she came to a stop in front of them, but as she unwrapped the blanket from her shoulders to instead put it around the witch's. As her hand brushed his arm, the cold rushed up his limb with a violent vengeance, so much worse than before, so numbing now that the distance was gone. She had retracted it. Maybe because Bella told her to or perhaps because she noticed his discomfort.

As he watched her tuck the blanket around a mutinous Bella, fussing over the too thin wrists and sharp bones jutting out her shoulders, he though, 'Maybe this wouldn't be so bad.'.

Cut to the vindictive little chit finding great joy in sneaking up and poking him, just for the luls.

Nadeshiko, just like Gakusei before her, slotted herself into Bella's routine effortlessly and expertly. As Genesis watched, Nadeshiko extending a hand holding a pitcher of water(?) at Bella, as the witch was doing a short rite, and the woman taking it from the air, eyes closed and chanting softly, as if it was expected of it to be there, he started to get an idea of how in tune they were with one another.

The most baffling thing in their routine however came up when they started talking. Discounting the wealth of things those two could get to talking about, the way they discussed magic was beyond fascinating. As in they actually started completing each other's sentences, and in one memorable, astounding case, Genesis had the dubious honor of witnessing conversations, were one woman would speak, stop to think, and the other would pick up from apparently where the thought had left off. And he knew that because the gaps of silence were so noticeable. Case in point, it was near impossible to follow at times, and he was low key fuming.

He was legitimately keeping notes at this point like when he was still a schoolboy, fully prepared to slam them down in front of Bella and demand an explanation.

Then he had the glorious honor of experiencing Angeal's encounter of Nadeshiko, almost mirroring his own, from an observer's point of view and he was a tad less irked. He was such a dick and he didn't even mind.

The end of that left the two childhood friends enjoying the moment of quiet - and those were becoming progressively rare - watching the two women go about their preparations.

"So you won't be coming along?"

"I think I'll refrain." Angeal confirmed. "There's going to be a Priestess there too and I don't think that cloak will fit us both." he pointed out.

Genesis scoffed derisively. "Oh my friend." he lamented dramatically. Angeal shot him a look but was steamrolled. "'My friend, your desire is the gift of the Goddess.' It's just a trainee,-" he pointed out one finger up and wiggling, Angeals eyes almost rolled to the back of his head "and Bella has made it known to the Royal family, and thus the Priesthood of the Leviathan, that we're desserting at the first opportune moment." he raised a second finger. "It's Seph they have issues with. There is no reason for animosity." the redhead shrugged uncaringly. "Should be honored to even be included. Plus, you could ask Bella to cast that very neat little trick she had when we fist met her."

Angeal sighed. Cradling his forehead on the hand he had perched on the table. "Genesis, we are still Shin-Ra, defecting or not. The connection is enough. Secondly-" he raised his fingers in a direct mockery of his friend's stance "- Shin-Ra still invaded and killed her people. You can not expect her to not hold even a smidgeon of...disdain. Also, while I am sure it would be a sight to behold, magic has never been my strong suit and I do not feel the connection you do to it. As I said, I'll refrain."

Genesis's grimace was just shy of a resting bitch face. He planted his elbow on the table, putting weight on the arm as he changed his seating position for a sideways crossleg, now half facing his friend. He leaned his face in his hand, grabbing his cup to aggressively sip at his tea. "Don't remind me. I caught the tail end of a conversation about some areas in the forest that she warded away because they were so damn haunted." he changed the subject, content to know that his friend was not restraining himself from something because of some little girls 'delicate sensibilities'.

"Even more valid then."

Then Genesis got a glint in his eyes "Apparently she dropped Boss-Man in one of those areas." he smirked vindictively.

The dark haired man chuckled incredulously. "Oh Gaia, was that why he looked so harrowed?"

"In~deed." Genesis laughed. "Poor Sephiroth, I actually pity him for having to deal with the blabbering tub of lard. 'Wings stripped away'"

"That is technically a redundancy." the voice of the Silver General came for directly behind him "And that is why I pushed him on Tseng"

Genesis was proud to say he did not jump, but it was a close thing. He swiveled to look the smirking man, a hand coming to grab at his chest. "Don't do that! Nadeshiko is already bad enough."

And could he take a minute to bitch a bit. Because the she would just take every chance to sneak in that poke, usually in the ribs, or the back of the neck, and then fucking disappear while he tried to get his hives under control.

Sephiroth raised an eyebrow in question.

"Remember the teammate that sent the two pit vipers?" Angeal answered the unasked question. "She's here to help with the core ritual." He smiled in amusement "and she very much likes surprising Gen with a good jab in the ribs."

Sephiroth smirked gleefully, taking the mocking tone Genesis would habitually use to mock him. "She sneaks up on you?"

"Shut your trap" the redhead snapped, cheeks slightly flushing. "I'd like to see how much better you fare when you meet her."

Sephiroth scoffed and went to get a cup for himself. Or he would have, had he not bumped into said woman in a very convenient example of synchronicity. There was a lull in motion as he the silver haired man visibly tensed, eyes actually widening a bit while his breath stuttered for just a fraction of a second. He took half a step back to put some distance between the source of arguably one of the most upsetting feeling to grace his nerves. He got body contact too, so it must have tru ly been startling.

Nadeshiko on the other hand, just stood there, dead eyed and starring at the towering man before her.

"And you are Sephiroth." she said monotonously.

"Yes." he spoke still a bit out of it.

She nodded shallowly. "O-Rin has spoken to me about you. She has requested a rematch."

Sephiroth got his shivers to subside. "I would not be averse to a rematch. However I've no recollection of an O-Rin."

"Well, not in the flesh since doesn't have any." she spoke with an amused inflection, that only made them recoil. "You might however remember the peculiar style you faced in the Emperor's office?"

Sephiroth almost lagged, eyes roving over her stance, trying to decipher her incomprehensible words. "What do you mean?" he carefully asked.

Nadeshiko had the gall to look at him blankly in disappointment making Genesis choke on he tea and Sephiroth bristle. His lips parted, no doubt to deliver some kind of scathing retort, only to be stopped by Bella's very opportune arrival.

"For fuck's sake Shiko." Her voice reached them before she breached the doorway. "What she means is that, I cheated. I left control of my body to O-Rin, one of Nadeshiko's spirit guardians, since I was in no condition to fight myself." she approached, lugging a crate full of something wrapped in tarp that she passed over the the other woman.

Pause. What?

"Go ahead and ruin my fun, why don't you." The dark eyes woman lamented, eyes turned to the sky.

"Shiko-dearest, you do not have a socially acceptable concept of 'fun'." Bella did not hesitate to fire back.

Nadeshiko passed the crate to one hand so that the back of the other one could dramatically go to her forehead. "How heartless of you." she mock wailed.

Sephiroth however was, understandably, stuck on the previous exchange "You were possessed" he directed to the green eyed witch.

Bella shrugged, passing him a chair from the kitchen. "Technically. When it's consensual, it's called Unity."

"When done by inexperienced people it's extremely taxing and, or dangerous." Nadeshiko yelled from the other room, the 'Like her' heavily implied, before poking he head back through the door. "Is what she's neglecting to mention." she finished sweetly and hurriedly retreated with a deranged giggle when her friend shot her an unimpressed glare.

Huh.

Bella rubbed the bridge of her nose and turned to Sephiroth, completely ignoring his own unimpressed stare. "Have a seat dear, I'll fix you some coffee."

An eyebrow rose on the General's face. 'You think you can bribe me woman?'

The witch just smiled sweetly. 'I know I can.'

Genesis tried to smother his chuckling and Angeal dropped his face in his hand, because of course Sephiroth caved. Took him about five minutes, but he still did.

Genesis smirked at his friend as he joined them as Angeal clapped him on the shoulder. "Great in mystery is the gift of the Goddess."

Soon Bella joined them, a mug of coffee for Sephiroth and a cup of tea for her. "Are you coming too Seph?" she inquired.

He took a slow sip, staying. "I do not know." he answered after a while. and he really didn't, it was very visible on his face.

She nodded in understanding. "I see. What are you not certain about?"

"The use for it, for a start." he mused, slowly as he tried to get his thoughts in order. "My magic is good, more than good for that matter. But it has never been anything...other...than that." he tried to explain without sounding conceited. Bella hummed pleasantly however, an expression of understanding painted on her features. She lowered her cup and smiled. "It's too new, right?" she traced the rim with a manicured finger. "A little bit too intimate. Magic is magic. A tool right? That's what you're used to?" It was phrased as a question but really, it was a statement. "A tad too..alive." she looked at him, eyes soft and Sephiroth just nodded along silently. "Maybe a skoosh too religious too?." Bella tilted her head slightly, lips softly quirking up. He belatedly realized her movement's purpose was to keep eyes contact when Sephiroth himself tried to unconsciously break it.

"It's fine." she reassured him. "It is a religious practice for us. We live because of magic, for us, Magic, be it one's own little sliver or the world's as a whole, Magic for us is alive. We feel it. Worshiping it and everything that represents it is but a logical understanding." She spoke softly, slowly, herself. Her hand cradled her cup, the liquid gently swirling around in soothing spirals, in an image of her own feelings. "All that being said the last thing I want is to push my own beliefs and practices n you, most certainly not my religion."

Genesis blanched. "Wait a minute, is it okay for me to be there?"

She laughed, waving her arm in a dismissing manner. "It's fine. I said the same to Goto. We don't really hide our practices and techniques, since we want others to learn and not fumble like we did. And it's not like I'm doing anything too intimate. Just a ceremony to thank the deities and the rest you can't do without guidance or experience." she nailed the redhead with a stare that told him to not get any bright ideas. The shit-eating grin she got back followed by the mock surrender had her turning his tea cold.

"Are they going to work though, if it's something from your word." Angeal asked thoughtfully, half in clear inquiry and half trying to distract Bella from his insufferable friend.

Bella gave a nod. "Here's the thing." she took a sip to wet her lips. "Remember when I told you, almost a year ago, that my world and your's are very closely connected? Well I did some research, or well, Shiko-chan did." she turned her eyes to the door where the other woman had returned. "Wanna take it from here?" she asked and the dark eyed woman shrugged. She moved towards them and pulled up a chair next to Bella.

Wow those two looked very alike next to each other. Sure the eyes were different, the hair on Nadeshiko's head tamer, but they had the same build, the structure of the face seemed similar enough, their mannerisms were almost the same and they were so in tune with one another.

Nadeshiko pulled a metallic looking straw from the inside of her coat, snagging Bella's tea. Apparently that mask needed to stay in place even at the risk of being a heathen.

"Shiko-chan..." the green eyes witch whined.

"You know how it goes Bella-channn~" she answered mockingly.

"The usual?"

"Yes."

Bella stood up to presumably fix her friend's drinks, an indulgent smile on her face and Nadeshiko started talking. "The people you refer to as 'Ancients' and 'Cetra' bear stark similarities to people we refer to as Shamans and Druids. So with that in mind, we did some research and we started noticing things just not adding up." she paused to sip the tea with the straw Oh-For-The-Love-Of-All-That's-Good-And-Pure "Specifically there is a deficit of souls back on Earth."

So here goes the fucking nuke.

Silence.

They just stared. Sephiroth's cup halfway to his lips and Genesis caught in the middle of a sip, lost control of his airway making him choke. No words came as they turned those few sentences around in their heads. Because what could they say? What this woman - what she was saying...

"You mean that our Cetra, the Ancients, that were wiped out centuries ago, they are Shamans and Druids that, somehow, crossed to our world?" Shephiroth vocalized what they were all thinking, but damn did it elicit feelings.

Wonder, for one.

Fear, for another.

Because if the Ancients were half as powerful as Bella Potter, or Nadeshiko, or Sei or even Yuri for that matter, by virtue of being from the same world, if they were even half as powerful as them, and they were still wiped out, what kind of hope did they have, considering that they, Sephiroth Valentine, Genesis Rapsodos and Angeal Hewley, could barely hold a candle to Bella, what kind of hope did they have? If whatever did that decided to come back.

"How?" The words were punched out of him as Genesis dropped his head in his hand.

Nadeshiko shrugged. "We don't know. But it took enough souls and the balance was left very fragile, and as a result, the whole thing nearly capsized when humans decided to be stupid and started killing each other with massacres." She spoke with clear disgust and it was the first time she showed emotion when talking to someone other than Bella.

It was a bit overwhelming to take in, but knowing that the very balance of your world was compromised due to something you know nothing about would put a sour taste in anybody's mouth. Here was a parallel that nobody was happy to realize. The fact that it was people like you that almost made it happen only made it worse for Earth, as opposed to something completely unknown as was Gaia's case.

Angeal, a true to his name angel, broke the thick atmosphere. "How exactly did you figure that out?"

"I myshelf am a Shaman."

Silence. Complete and utter silence.

Who spoke next, no one was quite sure. The only certainty was the overwhelming.

"You- you are..."

"Shaman. Yes."

Bella walked in at that point a tall glass of something sweet looking topped up with vibrant berries and sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose as she handed the other woman her drink.

Around late in the afternoon, Bella and Nadeshiko started getting ready, disappearing towards the witch's chambers. Bella was the first one to descend and head to the front door in a flurry of motion. And the world seemed to stutter.

Bella had never cared to be made up and pretty in front of them aside from the nails (claws) that she always had in optimal (fighting) condition. Her clothes were always well-fitting and comfortable, good quality if slightly old fashioned with the modest ruffles, vintage she had called it. With the ever present bun that just couldn't hold all the tufts in she created a picture of "unkempt but kept together", for all the sense that made.

Might be why the sight of her dressed in silks and glittering gems and so in her element did things to to them.

For once her hair was let free to fall down her back in all it's wild glory. Elegant little braids run through the length, strategically keeping the bulk of unruly strands out of her eyes with many little beads strung through, giving the deep black tresses a subtle purple and deep blue shine as they glinted under the light of the chandelier.

Actually, everything about her shone at that moment.

She wore a long and simple dress, it's color a shimmering white. A sleeveless long robe was draped over it and kept closed by a long leather piece where her wand was hang from a chain in an inky black sheath. Two circular brooches were placed on the base the straps, pinching both sets together. Surprisingly, on her feet were sturdy military boots, making her gait heavier than normal as she headed to the neatly arranged bags in the entrance with a purpose.

They had never though the woman as anything other than a witch, she had told them so herself and it was probably because of that. Bella was kind, she was an impossibility in this world and Bella was a witch. Now though, there was such a stark difference between the two images. This, this was what made the distinction between Bella their friend that was a witch, and Bella the witch that was their friend. It was a peculiar feeling to have, seeing this aspect of the young woman so clearly in display.

"What's with the shoes?" Genesis couldn't help but asked once he managed to get his brain working again.

"There's a bit of trek to the shrine and I am not doing it in the sandals that usually go with this." she answered easily, gesturing at her attire. then she turned those luminous emeralds of her, even brighter under the light and wreathed in shimmery white and their breath caught in their throat again.

Whoever said that witches were ugly was an abhorrent liar.

"Huh." Genesis's was just able to choke out, cheeks an ever faint tint of pink.

The other two didn't fair much better, Angeal coughed and turned his eyes to the floor, his complexion able to better conceal the warmth, while Sephiroth's blush bloomed across his nose, his own complexion doing nothing to make it better.

Thank Gaia Bella was looking at the baggage, taking inventory.

Nadeshiko came down herself, a hurricane of movement wreathed in white hershelf. She was a little more dressed, with an underlayer visible through the severe slit of her own dress and a draping neckline with mantle pieces falling onto her back and so many little chains and it was very evident even with the long veil that she was not pleased. She swiftly approached with a look on her face, retrieving a little bag from Gaia knows where that had Bella groaning miserably. Thankfully with the attention now completely away from them, they were free to get their shit together, diverting their attention and consequently exchanging looks, taking in the others' states per'se.

"Must I Shiko-chan?" the whine came almost distant beyond the susurrus between their ears. Just enough to break them out of their impromptu crisis of faith.

The other woman's mutinous answer broke fully through the haze as the three SOLDIERs focused back on the two women.

"This is a completely different world with a completely different deity." Bella actually did roll her eyes, before closing them at the meaningful glare her friend shot her. Nadeshiko quickly padded some red on her edge of her lids, continuing her lecture "If you are going to be coming into contact with said entity, no matter how slim that chance may be,-" a red pencil was quickly run under the eyes "then by Amaterasu you will be making a good impression." she finished with some bright red tint just on the inside of the witch's lips.

Fuck the make-up was not at all helping!

"Sure Shiko." she sighed as she caught sight of something else inside the little bag "Is this really a necssessity?" she whined.

"Yes." she answered immediately. She didn't let Bella speak when she saw her friend open her mouth. "Because I say so." she snapped, knee-jerk fast.

Bella whined again, a sound that came out tortured as she bent a bit down. Nadeshiko huffed and placed a diadem on her friend's locks, a delicate thing, made of gold wire intertwined with little glittering gems.

"You happy?" Bella demanded unimpressed, the crown now sat securely on her locks.

Oh sweet merciful Minerva...

"No." the other woman snapped as she eyed the witch consideringly. I wouldn't be objecting to full on ceremonial robes but we can't always have what we want, now can we?" she patted Bella's cheek trice "If I had it my way you wouldn't be doing this, period, for that matter." she said sweetly. "Play along would you?"

Genesis choked out a snort.

When the knock came from the front door, and that was the front door of the Wutai house, there actually was one, Bella and Nadeshiko had just settled with their squabbling, Bella now sporting jingling bangles, hoops with torquise in her ears and a very unearthly looking shawl. Bella looked annoyed and Nadeshiko just shy of satisfied. Bella tossed Genesis the cloack and they finally opened the door to the young trainee to take the mantle of Head Priestess.

All it took was one glance and Genesis was glad he was under the cloak because him and this girl would not have gotten along. There was just something about the aura she exuded. Her expression soured the moment she saw Bella, eyes nailed on the clothes in particular, most probably noting the difference between the traditional ceremonial garb of Wutai and the robe Bella was donning. Then her eyes fell on Nadeshiko and it was like she was suddenly faced with an incomprehensible creature. The rapid fire back an forth in Wutaian, followed by the openly annoyed expression that came upon both Bella's and Nadeshiko's faces told him that these three wouldn't either. Nor did the very reluctant bow and introduction that followed.

From what he picked her name was Fudji.

Oh she was shooting glares at Nadeshiko, wonderful.

Well Nadeshiko did look Wutaian. Perhaps a rivalry? Suddenly he felt an overwhelming sense of pity for the young trainee.

The trek to the shrine was made with much fanfare from the people of Wutai, much to their surprise. It seemed that the Emperor had decided to make the day a holiday. The house Bella was given was close enough to the city's square to be considered central, but removed enough to not be hassled by the buzz of the capital. However the lights from the city's central square could still be seen and the lights and jubilation of what could only be a festival. And what a celebration it was. The street was filled with stalls on both sides, sporting colourful signs even more vibrant merchandise. The street was illuminated with row upon row of flower-like lanterns of all sizes, like luminous flower chains. A bonfire burned brightly in the central square, flames rising high as if reaching to touch the sky. And the Emperor's pagoda, with all its levels lit almost blinding bright, served as the beacon to an otherworldly kind of bridge, situated right between the river that run through the imperial capital and the high mountains.

The moment they entered the square the world almost came to pause. The crowd of people in their colourful draping wear, turned to them, and in a swift movement they parted to make way like a painted sea. Their smiles were even brighter that the myriads of lanterns blocking out the sky and the witch just stopped and stared. Nadeshiko placed a hand in her friend's elbow, leaning into her side almost flush as she rose to her tiptoes to whisper into her ear. Bella's face softened and her lips rose to a quivering smile. The arm Nadeshiko was holding onto shrugged of her friend's hand to instead come and loop around the nearly identical woman's shoulders and give a quick squeze. She turned to look and they exchanged a meaningful look before both broke out a little laugh.

The moment over, they marched through the street, side by side and heads held high.

Genesis didn't know what to expect of the Shrine. It was a well preserved building but between the ingrown vine and vegetation and the glowing green liquid spilling from the fountain in the middle, it was clear no kind of cermony had taken place her in a while.

He was halfway through observing some of the wall carvings and fighting himself to not brush the moss away, when an elated squeal made him jump at the sudden breaking of the silence. He whipped his head around to see Nadeshiko jumping up and down in her spot, eyed glued to the pool of lifestream. Bella looked on fondly from where she was arranging candles on the floor. That is until her friend run and damn near tackled her to the floor. Bella barely managed to hold hershelf on her hands for all of two seconds, before Nadeshiko was pulling her up, on her feet and then up in the air. The witch's startled laughter filled the shrine as Nadeshiko twirled her around. "I take back everything I've ever said about you! You are the best friend I could have ever asked for!" the Shaman squealed, barely muffling he sound in the witch's stomach as she held her with a strong grip on the witch's thighs.

Genesis thanked every God that could listen, Bella's ones included, that he had taken his phone with him. What he wouldn't give to see Sephiroth's face when he sent the video.

They very surreptitiously ignored the Priestess scoffing at the display.

Bella let her friend babble and squeal and when it seemed that she finally was winding down she tapped her arms to let her down. "See I told you I had a good catalyst."

"Good, is too small a world. People back home would give up an arm and a leg for a few measly smatterings, let alone all this." the other woman said breathlessly and Bella laughed again.

"See, this is why you should be trusting me more." she ribbed her friend pointedly.

Nadeshiko stilled and turned to her in an almost robbotic way. "No, debateable. I really shouldn't." she said monotonously.

"You bloody traitor!" Bella cried in indignation.

"Shush."

"Shiko-channnn~"

They quickly set up a wide enough circle of candles so that both of them could sit comfortably. Bella retrieved an intricate silver ladle from her back and a silver basin and handed it to her friend, who immediately bound up to the overflowing fountain with another squeal.

"Now, as Shiko is getting our catalyst, watch how I set up the circle." Bella spoke to the Priestess but Genesis knew it was mostly for his benefit. "A circle is imperative during any kind of magical work. It serves as a shield between you and the outside world. It creates a sort of bubble that filters out negative energies that may influence the outcome of whatever work you are doing and it also help power whatever work it is you're doing." she placed two goblets in front of her and a little ceramic plate with bundled herbs to the far right. "As I said, a bubble. However, that is the way I do it. Others visualize a wall or a line and I urge you to find what fits you the most."

Fudji nodded, but when she spoke it was in Wutaian and Genesis, while able to perhaps catch a few familiar sounds, was not able to understand. It seemed he needed to put learning it in his bucket list.

The witch held her gaze, an eyebrow rising slowly and face blank. "I am speaking in this language because I am most comfortable with it. Additionally I do not consider it an irrational action to know the language the rest of the world is speaking."

Yeah. Unimpressed as hell.

"So. Setting up a circle, also depends on the person, however, for first timers, this is the way that is widely recommended." She took the bundle and lit it with a snap of her fingers. "Shiko-chan dear, since you're up please." she called to the other woman as she extinguished the flame and made sure there was enough smoke generated. Only Nadeshiko didn't come.

Bella sighed long sufferingly as she turned to her friend, perched on the wall of the fountain just staring at the wispy green, a hand hovering over it. "For fuck's sake Kuchisake, don't snort it!" she yelled at her mesmerized friend.

The veiled woman startled and quickly padded back to the circle of candles, handing the basin to Bella with extreme care and putting the laddle away. "Do not call me that Scarhead." she snarked as she accepted the bundle.

"Pay attention to Nadeshiko as she cleanses the space first. There are spells that can be used for that or rituals, but this space is untouched by man and any of the negativity that comes along, so a simple incense cleanse is just as good. Make sure you get the corners too. And the fact she is cleansing clockwise is also important. Make sure to start from one side of the exit, cleanse all around and when you reach the other side of the door the close it and that is because if there is anything that could be cast out it needs a gateway to escape outside from."

The Priestess asked something in Wutaian to which Bella didn't even stall at. "Why not eradicate them?" she said slowly and clearly. "The answer to that is mostly that it takes a lot of energy and depending on what you're dealing with, the process can be really complicated. A botched eradication is very dangerous because it may take far more energy than you want to give and sometimes, it may keep taking until there is nothing left." she raised her eyes to receive back the bundle of herbs when Nadeshiko came back, and placed it at the edge of the circle "Right now, what we have in front of us is already demanding enough." she finalized her explanation.

Nadeshiko now in front of her and comfortably seated, a snap of her fingers had all the candles lighting up at once.

"This is a simple ritual for thanking the gods and asking for guidance. Please hold your questions for after." she said evenly, an unfamiliar tinge to her voice. Her eyes turned to the front and hands linked, her and Nadeshiko started.

The chant was simple but the overlapping of their voices permeated the space with a decisive timbre. The words filled every corner of the shrine and slowly the air became charged. Genesis could feel the hair on the back of his neck rise. It was indeed a simple rite, a few words and shared offerings, but the energy was now high, almost feeling anticipating. Bella filled the chalises, both women hovering their hand over them and suddenly the energy felt excited. With fluid movements they brought them up in a soundless cheer before twining their arms and drinking.

"May we never thirst."

A lull fell over them. Bella and Nadeshiko took in a breath and as they let it out the energy dispersed, now bearing a feeling of lurking in the corners.

His breaths came even easier if at all possible, but the air itself felt different. It felt thicker and it made something excited dance in the base of his spine, just building and building there. His mana felt so much lighter he felt like he could just cast an apocalypse no sweat. He took a moment to appreciate the feeling, savoring every breath.

"Any questions?" Bella asked, the weird melodiousness still present in her voice.

Genesis could not ask and he had so many questions! How did the words work to summon the energy? How important was the wording exactly, I mean she said "What works for you." but what were the limitations of that exactly? What exactly was the importance of the drinking? Was the material of the tools important because there was a lot of silver. Where did the garb that Nadeshiko was so stringent about come into all this?

Fudji stubbornly continued speaking in her language and Bella continued to patiently repeat in, well, English, and answering in a teaching manner. Halfway through that after putting Bella's calmness and the Priestess' ever worsening mood together he realized Bella was treating her, well, other than an obstinate child, as if she didn't know how to ask. How much it was grating on Fudji was such a delight to experience.

At least the questions she asked were intelligent one's. He barely had any of his own unanswered.

And then they unrolled five tall and thin, carved obelisks and placed them around Bella rather than the circle. Bella took a deep breath and placed her hands in front of her. In goes another breath and then a pulse. The obelisks lit up, complex characters coming to life on the obsidian surface where spidery strings of light crackled. They pulsed again. Once. Twice. On the third the five obelisks connected as white light shot from the base and a five pointed star formed under the witch, one thin line connecting the basin in front of her with the circle. And then the chanting started again. The two women opened their mouths and the sound that came was pure music. No words were distinguishable no matter how hard he tried. Their voices built up in volume and clarity and the energies vibrated. The glowing lifeblood in the basin churned almost in anticipation.

Nadeshiko raised her hands in a manner very obviously practiced and as they reached eye level the energy peaked.

Genesis recognized the feeling. It was the same feeling they felt when Bella had used the Kaleidoscope all the way back when they met. It had been a year but he doubted he could ever forget it, the deep knowing that there was something happening.

And then there was a lull. Bella's form slumped and Nadeshiko dropped her hands, now breathing slowly but not the trance of the ritual.

Fudji snapped something in Wutaian, voice shaking as bad as her shoulders were. Her expression was unreadable.

"We wait." Nadeshiko stated simply and nothing was spoken after that.

Green.

All she could see was green. Soothing yet blinding green.

Her thoughts were frazzled. She couldn't focus on anything but a vague objective weighing heavy in the back of her mind.

Move. Move forward.

It spun around her. Lazy swirls as she moved.

Move. Move.

The green was gentle. A kind embrace. A restful sleep.

Move. Forward. Not here. Move.

It reached for her. Let it in. It's fine.

It twined around her. Caressed.

A kind voice.

Move forward. Move. More.

The green caressed her again. Probing.

Move.

It probed again.

Move. Move forward. Move.

The green turned toxic

Pain.

It lashed out.

It hurt. It hurt. It burned. It hurtitburnedithurtitburneditburntithurt.

The wrong green reached. It demanded.

It hurt.

It surged forth. It engulfed.

No. Nonononono.

It screamed.

She struggled.

It sought to bind.

Fight back.

Chant.

It recoiled.

Fight.

Denial. It burned. She was fine.

She was fine.

She moved. The green moved too.

She is fine.

The swirls left silhouettes at the edge of her vision.

A gentle caress to her temple.

The green pulsed.

This was fine. She is fine.

Warmth reached to her and she reached back.

Here.

She reached forward. More.

A hand touched her back and a hand touched her shoulder.

The green stilled. It is time to go child.

The green rushed and she let it.

Breathe.

This is fine. She is fine.

She breathed.

"Bella!"

It washes over her and washed her away. She withdrew and it followed.

She pushed up.

"Belladonna!"

She breathed.

Bella came to with a choke.

She couldn't breathe. Something was clogging up her throat and her lungs burned and she couldn't breathe. She gasped trying to dislodge it. Nadeshiko's eyes met hers and Bella motioned for her to finish the ritual. Next thing she knew, her friend's hands seized her shoulders with a steady grip and pulled he forward, shielding her. Her head was getting fuzzy. Black dots encroached on her vision.

There was a harsh impact on her back and something pulled.

Finally the clog loosened and came undone. She brought her hand to her mouth as she coughed and retched. Wispy green and barely there liquid fell to the floor as it breached the gaps between her fingers. Green tinged with red.

No wonder her chest hurt, that thing was burning. Her throat was fucked, wasn't it? Peachy.

The retching came to a stop, but the itch deep in her chest stayed. Wonderful. So she hadn't upchucked the whole thing. So fucking wonderful.

She hadn't realized but she was practically in Shiko's arms. A hand was rubbing circled on her back and the other was holding her temple gently to Shiko's collar. The silk of the draping neckline was soothingly cool on her heated skin and her friend's veil tickled her where it brushed up against her cheek.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

She blinked to disperse the tears in her eyes and finally straightened. They were facing the fountain and the presence of the Priestess was behind them. Nadeshiko had shielded her from the obstinate girl's eyes. Genesis' however was right in front of them. Crouched if she was reading it right. A green eye made itself visible for nary a second before it was gone again.

Nadeshiko explained the closing of the ritual and the circle while Bella tried to center herself again. An invisible hand touched her shoulder in a comforting gesture and she smiled slightly. Nadeshiko handed her a potion and she downed it promptly. "That was not how I expected the burn potions to be used." She said in a scratchy voice now that her throat was well and coughed again. Her hand was stained with red tinged green droplets when she took it off her mouth. This was going to be very unpleasant.

The cleanup was swift and the track back quiet. Bella tried to make herself look presentable for when they entered the city again, and thankfully Nadeshiko was strong enough to support her without looking it, until she could get back to the house.

The moment her and Shiko entered the house she felt herself be lifted up and carried, through the house, to the gate to her tent and to a familiar sitting room. Genesis placed her on the couch carefully and was immediately off to the kitchen and back with a glass of cold water."Are you alright?" He asked crouched in front of her.

She nodded and swallowed heavily. "Yeah. Everything went well, believe it or not." Her voice shuddered and she coughed again. Okay, so that was too much talking.

"What exactly happened?" Nadeshiko asked her as she entered the sitting room too, sedately and holding on to Bella's discarded cloak. Bella raised a hand for her to wait while she tried to swallow the acidic bile. "Wait, I'll get you another potion." Nadeshiko patted her friend's shoulder as she passed by her. Bella nodded in gratefulness.

Another cough wracked her frame, nearly making her choke on her water, a very unpleasant thing to happen if it had. Still the coughing continued until she could feel her throat burning again. A slight line of burning past her lips told her the cause of her misery had trickled down her chin. Her hands shook, nearly dropping the glass, if not for Genesis's steadying hold around her own. "Careful. Are you absolutely sure this is 'well'?"

She nodded, wiping her mouth with the back of her fist. She had her breaths under some control now. Another vial was thrust into her field of vision and she downed it instantly.

"I'll need more of these." She gave a test cough and was pleased to note her throat did not feel as if there were chunks tearing out of it. "And yes I am sure." She spoke resolutely. "Guessing Cloud and Hail are already gone to sleep. Where are the others. 'S far too quiet.." she took a small sip of her water to try and settle her trachea a bit more.

"What is?" Angeal very prompt entrance brought a feeling of foreboding to Bella. "Are you alright?" His voice pitched higher the moment he actually took her state in.

She went to chuckle only to immediately regret it. The laugh turned into harsh, gravelly hacking. And of course that caused more of the sludge to dislodge and splatter in her palm. "Is that blood?" Poor Angeal looked about ready to have a conniption.

"No, the red velvet just went down the wrong pipe." The scratchy tone her voice now held only made the snark more exaggerated.

"She said it actually went well." The disbelief was clear in Gen's tone as he spoke to his friend. A disbelief mirrored by the dark haired man as he approached to take a better look.

"This is well?"

Bella rolled her eyes only for Nadeshiko to flick her on the temple. "Don't you roll your eyes missy." she ignored the glare Bella sent her way. "And then you have the gall to wonder why I don't trust you."

The witch looked on mutinously. "I repeat, it went well."

"Sorry but the blood does not exactly convince." Angeal stated blankly his arms crossed in front. As if to compound on his point, another coughing fit had the acidic liquid dripping from her fingers again. "See what I mean?"

Bella knocked back another vial before washing it down with water. "Look." she started, her voice sounding a bit better. "It went as it was supposed to." she raised her hand to silence any interjections "I submerged just fine, almost like the rare few times we manage to tap into the leylines-" she directed that part to Nadeshiko "I found what I was looking for, and we'll get to that believe me." she took another sip of water.

And just as she was about to continue explaining the door opened again, signaling the entrance of Vincent and Sephiroth, who understandably, stopped dead and stared. "Are you alright?" Vincent asked in an exact same way Angeal had only minutes earlier.

Bella groaned, something she regretted just as she'd done it as it started another fit. Thankfully this time only a dew droplets stained her palm. Still. "Is that blood"

Bella made a whimpering put upon noise. "It told me to breathe and I did." she exclaimed, or tried to, exasperated. "And it was fine until I had to wake up. I wasn't expecting to have to vacate Lifestream from my lungs!" she drank more water to prevent exasperating her throat.

She stoutly ignored Genesis's own surprised choke.

"If that had been the problem you wouldn't have woken up normally." Nadeshiko mussed as she passed another glass at her friend who accepted it gratefully and all but rejoiced at the statement. "So you did actually resurface..."

"Exactly!" she gestured with her hand next to her head. "And breathing is a very integral part of resurfacing. I had no reason to not breathe. I don't choke on the leylines why would I now?" she ranted, and then proceeded to start coughing again.

The Shaman held a hand to her chin, posture thoughtful. "That points to a difference in physiology." she stated slowly but gradually picking up speed. "We indeed don't have a problem back home because our magic filters the energy we breathe to come out of the trance."

"Because if you don't breathe while still under then you have to use entirely your own energy to wake up." Bella interjected and Nadeshiko nodded picking up the train of thought.

"The leylines or the The Streams are not something tangible so, what we breathe gets filtered by our magic and then turned into energy for our use. So the question is, why, since you woke up normally-"

"Why did it not entirely translate to energy for you?"

"Why did it not entirely translate to energy for me?"

By this point everyone else was just watching the two through their back and forth while not understanding anything.

"They are shockingly similar." Sephiroth observed with dread in his voice.

"'The fates are cruel.'"

Angeal rolled his eyes. "You two are too dramatic."

Another coughing fit, thank Gaia they were getting sorter and sounded less painful, brought their attention back to the two women, Bella now on her fifth vial.

When the witch was able to talk again she had a very somber expression on her face. "I have two possible ideas as to why." she stated slowly."And both have to do with Jenova." Silence fell in the room, all attention was now on her.

"One-" she raised her index finger "-it is the leftover influence left by Jenova when the Alien bitch was submerged in Mako before Shin-Ra excavated her. A part of her aura may have seeped through." she drank again and cleared her throat. When no coughing came she spoke again, picking her words carefully.

"Two. And I am speaking of what I saw when I Tranced. Jenova came to Gaia in a meteor and turned the Cetra against each other by mimicking the voice of the planet, slowly but surely driving them to extinction. They just barely managed to seal her but they were left very weakened and picked of by the other, non-Cetra people that had started to increase in number, in this world's first and hopefully only witch hunt." she took a breath. "What I felt in there, may be either the echoes of the trauma Jenova inflicted on the souls of the Cetra that then went to join the Lifestream upon death, bearing the corruption and transferring it to the Planet like a residual haunting. Or it may be that the corrupted souls did not just pass the trauma through, but the part of the consciousness that Jenova infected them with.

The silence was suffocating.

And then an almost deranged chuckle.

Everyone was startled to realize it had come from Genesis, Genesis himself included. But he couldn't help it.

Jenova may have killed the majority of them but they had finished the Ancients off. And today nobody remembered, raising the Cetra on this pedestal while forgetting that it had been them that had put the final lid on their coffin.

One turned to two and before long he was full on laughing wildly until he couldn't breathe and all he could do was wheeze.

And Jenova, oh where to even start and where to end? The conniving, malicious entity that had taken advantage of the Ancient, that had killed so many by their own hands. And it was that - that thing's fucking cells they had been injected with!

He felt even more sick to his stomach that the first time he'd learned about Jenova.

He dropped his face in his hands choking on his breaths. If he was feeling like that then he didn't want to know about Angeal, his ever honorfull and sometimes too pure friend, and Sephiroth who Hojo injected all while knowing.

He chanced a look past the hair covering his eyes and, well, it was bad. Geal had a white-knuckled grip around Sephiroth's arm, almost as white as he was, ans poor Seph...He looked on in the distance blankly, empty, and both physically and mentally off kilter. his skin even whiter than normal. He seamed to be trying to draw as much comfort as possible from the physical contact with his friend and father, who had an arm around his son's shoulders.

A gentle hand was placed on his shoulder and he snapped his head up to face her. Bella's eyes were soft as her gaze panned from hi to everyone else.

"Let's leave the heavy stuff for the morning, hm?" her thumb rubbed a comforting line up his neck. "There is a festival going on outside." she pointed out with a smirk.

Sephiroth snapped out of his misery to look at her. The 'Are you stupid?' that was barely hidden behind the dead eyed stare was quite honestly a thing of beauty that Genesis wished he could mimic himself. The deadpan reply to her statement was not much different. "You do know who we are, right? You didn't, perchance, lose anything, while you, "submerged"?"

Nadeshiko could be heard choking somewhere in the background while Bella just shot him an unimpressed glare. "Har-Har. You're hilarious, truly, too good for this world."

Sephiroth shot her back a look that was just so smug...

Angeal choked as he somehow managed to breathe wrong. Genesis himself was snickering as sedately as he could after his previous crisis of faith.

"So little faith for me. After all I've done for you, I am just so crushed!" Bella mock wailed, as much as she could anyway and to hell with her thoroughly abused trachea, throwing herself back on the couch and draping herself over the back of it in the most dramatic way she could manage. "I have it covered, you unbelieving children." she sighed as she pop out of sight in a swirl of white.

"Children." Genesis hissed displeased.

"You are to us." came the Shaman's monotone reply.

Before he could snap back at her Bella popped back in existence holding three simple chains holding a simple charm each. "Voila!" she presented them to each of the three SOLDIERs. "I just finished them yesterday. They hold those very useful charms I used back the first time we met. Remember?" Oh did they? Genesis knew that the wonderment he felt was reflected on his friends' faces as well. Sephiroth had already worn his own and him and Angeal were not far behind.

"Good, give me and Shiko ten minutes to get changed and we can all go."

Much later that night, after the Festival and after they all retreated to their own beds, Bella laid down on her sheets and waited.

The night, after the initial kerfuffle, had been a very successful one. She may not have managed to put her boys in yukatas but it's not like anyone other than them knew or noticed. She herself put on a glamour slight enough to look like her and Nadeshiko's were related and enjoyed the festival as an unknown, ordinary girl out with her friends and family. Her and Shiko did that a lot when they were back in Japan with or without the rest of the team and she would apply the same glamour even when she was alone. Well, she'd always been good at Transfiguration.

It hadn't been as difficult as she had imagined to get her boys to have fun. There was somethiong childish in the way they had smiled this night. As strangers among strangers expectations were only as high as you made them and they had realized it pretty fast. At times like this she remembered that Angeal and Genesis were barely twenty, and Sephiroth a newly made eighteen. To her, a witch at twenty three years of age, they still looked so much younger, even if she knew it wasn't really all that much, especially considering the fact that they had fought a war.

It was the times like these, watching Sephiroth breeze through the dart throwing stall and be floored when he was presented with a very pretty doll he had no idea what to do with by a smiling stall owner, Angeal just curb-stomp the competition in the strength comparison, unknowingly too if the look he was shooting his hand was any indicatio, and then get so much praise he had no idea what to do with either, Genesis stealing fucking bites off of her dango and talking her ear off when he learned that the lanterns were an application of Thunder materia. Was it really any wonder she wanted to bundle them up and never let them out of her sight?

She heard the "War Hero" tucked after their names an cringed. Back home they wouldn't even be considered for a promotion due to the fact that they wouldn't be able to enlist until they were seventeen at the earliest with parental consent, and thus not have enough experience, no matter the qualifications. Even in WW2 you needed to be sixteen at the earliest, with parental consent again. Here all you needed was to be fucking fourteen and nothing fucking else. She fucking despised Shin-Ra. So fucking much. Shiko-chan had just leaned into her other side, still engaged in her conversation with Sephiroth and Angeal. The stable grip around their intertwined fingers told her she understood.

Genesis had pulled her to another food stall, declaring he wanted to try it and she had let her thought go, smiling just as genuinely as he was as she let him drag her where he wanted to. In her moment of inattentiveness. Sephiroth had swooped in to steal the rest of her dango, shooting her an imperious look when she complained.

"You should be more careful from now on."

Nadeshiko had kept her distance and just watched her suffer with Angeal next to her smiling slightly.

At the end of the night she had purchased five sake gourds, one for each of them. The five of them had ended in the central square, sitting, savoring the slight chill and drinking, as they waited for the sun to rise in the sky.

"Hey Bella I have a question." Genesis had asked as they drank their sake.

"Shoot." she absentmindedly answered, drinking from the gourd.

"What did Nadeshiko call you when you were not breathing?" Way to throw her to the wolves Gen. She could feel Angeal's and Sephiroth's looks burn holes into her back then.

She squinted her eyes trying to remember. "Bit foggy honestly, probably the suffocation. Shiko?" and the alcohol had not really been helping either.

"Your name."Shiko-chan answered muffled from where she was snuggling in her side.

"Oh. That. Right." she had snapped her fingers in remembrance. "Yeah. Bella is an abbreviation for Belladonna."

"Why would you hide it? It sounds very pretty." There had only been puzzlement in Angeal's voice and relief had flooded her.

Nadeshiko started snickering. "It's a poisonous plant."

Genesis's head snapped to her in surprise "Wait really?" She could understand why too. What parent named their child after a poisonous plant?

She chuckled before taking a good swig "Yeah. Mom's family had a thing about flower names. Her own name was Lily and I do believe she had meant to name me after the belladonna lily also known as Amaryllis, whose meaning in flower language is confidence and pride, but I legit don't know why she went with the name that is so widely recognizable as the name of Deadly Nightshade. Point is, people make assumptions about me based on my name and it gets really annoying at times, especially those who know flower language and are feeling just petty enough to take the pride from the lily and tack 'prideful' in there." her hand payed with one of the free strands escaping the hairdo.

"Well, Bella-donna does mean beautifull lady in Italian. Maybe that's why." Nadeshiko muttered, taking frequent but small sips. There was a permanently hot spot on her thigh where the Shaman was resting her gourd.

"And what does that make me Shiko-chan?" she whined "A beautifull, confident, pridefull woman who uses her wiles to hide her poisonous nature because nightshade's meaning is that of suspicion and artifice. It's not exactly nice feeling. I just shorten it, everyone assumes my name is either Bella or I shortened Isabella and I live much easier." she theatrically spread her arms as if to additionally demonstrate her point.

"If you put it that way it does sound bad." Genesis assented to her point with a tinge of sympathy.

"Can't you interpret it as 'Under the falsehood of pride and poison exists a beautiful and confident soul?'" Angeal asked, sounding surprisingly annoyed.

She let out a startled laugh"Aw dear you are so sweet. If only there were more people out there that though like that."

"No offence Bella but your mother was sadistic enough for me to believe that she gave you that name as a way to turn away those that would be shallow enough to be deterred by a name." Shiko-chan giggled like loon and Bella couldn't really fault her.

"You know I can believe that too." she scoffed behind the rim, just shy of drinking. "If the stories I hear from Sirius about my parents' school years are true then Mom was hella sadistic and with a vindictive streak to match too."

"Your poor father." Sephiroth had finally spoken up, an impulse probably, as he had already finished his own gourd and had taken the latter half of Angeal's, that had wisely decided to try and stay somber.

"Oh he knew what he was getting into after asking for that date for five consecutive years. And Dad was a douchebag back then too so really, he got what he deserved." She scoffed tipping her sake to his direction as she addressed him.

"Oh yeah, there was that Professor that hated you because of that." Genesis recalled almost absentmindedly.

"The height of stupidity truly." Sephiroth's drawl made her giggle behind the mouth of the gourd.

"Not gonna argue with you there."

"I still think Belladonna is a very pretty name." Angeal commented lightly.

"Flatterer." she smiled, her gourd still up to her lips.

"Anything else that was too much of a hassle?" Genesis snarked, the alcohol taking the edge she'd usually expect from the readhead.

But oh was there.

Maybe the alcohol was taking it's toll or maybe she just felt like it was the right time but she let a mischievous smirk paint her features. "My full name is Belladonna Melania Potter, Lady of the most Ancient and Noble house of Potter, Lady of the most Ancient and Noble house of Potter and if I petition for it I can reinstate house Peverel whose title I think would be Baroness? And I was also Knighted by the Queen of England following the defeat of Voldemort."

"You are royalty." Genesis stated sounding unnaturally blank, probably questioning himself about even asking in the first place.

"Nah, just nobility. You don't hit royalty until you reach the rank of Duke, or Duchess in my case. I think it's pretty self-explanatory." she shrugged uncaringly.

"You've met a lot of disingenuous people, haven't you." Angeal reached over Nadeshiko to clap her comfortingly in the shoulder.

"You have no idea Geal." she took a hearty swig.

The bed dipped next to her and Bella let the memories of the night fade. Shiko-chan was laid next to her, eyes on the ceiling as well.

"It's been a bit, huh?" the other asked rhetorically.

"Two years. We would have gone but then I disappeared."

"I missed you Bella." Shiko-chan's voice was pained and Bella's matched her.

"I did too. All of you." she answered honestly."Are you leaving tomorrow?" that came out more dejected, more desperate than she had intended on.

"No. I'm staying to help. I don't care what Zelretch says." that took her completely aback."You'll need someone to pull the attention from you."

She turned to look as the other woman fumbled with her phone and offered her an earbud. "Glad to see you haven't changed." she giggled, relieved and happy and selfish, as the familiar music blasted into her ear.

"All hail Shiro Sagisu." was all Shiko-chan dignified her comment with.

Bella let out a fond chuckle as they both stayed silent, letting the orchestral notes of Lucifer's Dance wash over them.

Omake

The Saga of Visitations, as it would come to be called later on as they all looked back on the past fondly, would, as was unsurprising, with a slew of people desperate to come in contact with the witch experiencing her how-many-times-now-near-death-experience. That particular Saga had mixed results however. Probably bacause the people calling from a whole world away were the ones more willing to call her out on her shit.

For example, what Gakusei Of The Heinous Manipulations actually pulled.

"Well, good morning Sei-chan."

"I don't know, is it good Bella?"

"Sei." she rubbed the bridge of her nose "Look, I know I fucked up. I know, believe me I do. And you should know yourshelf, that as much as I hate the consequences, you should know, I do not regret what I did." and she was honest in her words. Because in the end, she had saved lives and if she could sacrifice a little part of herself, if that meant that she could save even one innocent person, then she would gladly grab the hatchet and chop it off herself.

Gakusei for his part just sighed. "Yeah, I know." the had been partners for almost five years now, were forced to spend at least sixty percent of that joined at the hip. He knew her very, very well. "I know all too well." he let a bitter little smile grace his lips and looked down sadly.

There was a comfortable silence before Sei took a deep breath, and a very foreboding look came upon his face. Bella felt something inside her shudder.

"Which is why I took a few liberties this time." And up pops a window, showcasing a chubby, childish face, eyes a dazzling emerald and hair currently changing from a fetching shade of pastel pink to a matching mint.

Oh no you fucker, You. Did. Not!

Gakusei The Fucker, had of course neglected to mention to the little boy why she looked so wrecked. That was not fun. Also, apparently, while she was gallivanting around in her own real life isekai manga, Britain was going through another Half-Blood-Meltdown. Halfway through Andromeda marched into the room, saw her, got Teddy to bed and then proceeded to mercilessly tan her hide for the following two hours.

As said. Not. Fun.

Yuka Kazama's 'social call' was just about terrifying, full of foreboding words and dark promises should she ever manage to worry the Flower Woman like that again.

"You should know by now Belladonna-san, I do appreciate your company. It would be greatly...displeasing should I have to be deprived from one of my few decent intellectually stimulating associates, and from a reason so daft at that." The green haired woman's ruby red eyes stared her down, somehow still being able to deliver the full effect even through the screen. Considering that Bella had dimmed the image quality to as low as it go, that was a veritable feat.

Still left Bella with the scarred witless version of the warm and fuzzies Yuka was such an expert at inducing.

So she just smiled at the woman, currently living in the gardens of her estate in Japan. "I will take care Yuka-san. Rest assured."

"As you should." she huffed "I would be admittedly very troubled if I were to receive another such message." the woman's voice dipped an octave, he tone becoming softer and Bella felt her heart swell. Yuka was not one to express affection and she kept her emotions tight to her chest. "It would be inconvenient to have to pay you a visit to make sure you're are well taken care of." she said carelessly.

Nopenopenopenope.

"After all, everyone who truly knows you is aware of your inability to take care of your own well being." Yuka commented sinisterly, causing an arctic cascade to race down Bella's spine.

She took that back. Half the time she was weary of inflicting Yuka on herself, and they were friends. She was not going to subject her boys or Vince, or Sirius or anyone for that matter, to the walking trauma personified that was Yuka-Your-Breathing-Displeases-Me-So-Die-Kazama.

Then Yuri's protege, a Chinese, prodigious doctor named Feng Yu Heng, really Yuri's daughter in all but blood, graced her with a truly memorable tirade. If Sei was good at manipulation, and he was, Yu Heng's performance blew his right out of the water.

"You do know that this shit is making everybody miserable, right?" She just plowed in.

It hurt.

"Yu Heng-"

"No. Your actions do not affect only you." Bella knew Yu Heng would not let her speak, it was the look in the older woman's eyes "If you refuse to appropriately take care, for yourself, at least have the basic human decency to do it for the rest of us." her tone was kept professionally stoic and cold.

It really hurt.

"Heng-Heng-"

"Shut up, I'm not finished." she was pacing, the clicking of her heels resonating in Bella's head. "I've lost my brother, I've lost my mother and I've recently lost my grandfather. I will not lose my sister and then have to pick up the pieces that will be my Master. You will not have me experience that loss twofold!" Feng Yu Heng turned to face her fully, her voice hitched.

Bella swallowed, the saliva going down thick and acidic. There was blood, she had bit her cheek, gnashing down so hard her gums hurt.

"And while Master is too soft to point this out, I refuse." she took a bracing breath "Master has lost three teams already Deng Zhao. Three." Her voice hitched again and Yu Heng struggled valiantly to push the emotions down. "Every time, just as she opens up thinking it wouldn't be so bad to forge those bonds again, something happens and somebody dies." By that point however, all stoicism was gone, she stopped trying to keep calm. "Don't you fucking dare make her go through that again!"

What could even be said to that. Bella looked at the tears gathering at the Chinese woman's eyes, her brown eyes suddenly looking far more soulfull that what she allowed to be seen in public.

She swallowed again, and in the silence that ensued she struggled to string a coherent sentence together. She could not. Yu Heng was a hardened woman, one who took no one's shit, and she was included.

Honestly Bella loved her for it. If there was one person that knew that Belladonna Melania Potter had problems, it was Belladonna Melania Potter. She knew there had never been one person in her developing years to treat her fairly, take her accountable for all her stupidity, and now that there were people in her life that actually cared enough to do it, Bella was flagging.

That was why, the one thing she asked from everyone she knew that cared enough, was keep her accountable.

In the end, she took a breath and nodded. "I make no promises as far as that goes Yu Heng. But I do promise that I will try."

Stella's call was late to come but it did come. And it hit her with all the suddenness and force of a speeding train. Stella had tried to act stern when she called but two sentences in and she was crying horribly.

That made Bella feel like scum and she was getting slapped the moment she was withing reach of the other woman, she just knew it.

Instead they talked about Stella's University and her studies.

"Well I'm getting sworn in for Magical Law next week."

"Excuse me? For real? When did this happen?" she was really surprised, last she checked Stella had been pursuing a mundane Psychology Degree.

"Yep. Was a surprise really, since you and your team do tiptoe around the law a lot."

"Congratulations Stellitsa μου! I am so fucking proud!" she exclaimed. The Univercity of Magical Law in Greece was notoriously one of the hardest schools to get into when it came to law. Greece generally had a large creature population and it was on of the fairest countries in their treatment, coming second only to Japan. Probably because respect for Magical Creatures was integral in their culture by the mythology for more than a thousand years.

"Well duh. Οι κασκαρίκες σου ειναι ιδιαιτερα...how to say it...inspiring."

"Low blow Stella, low blow..."

The most gut wrenching however, was Bazzet's call.

"Belladonna." Not 'Bella', as she would usually call her. Her heart dropped to her stomach

"Hi Bazett" Telling, was that this was a normal call, not a video chat. Her other hand moved to to the phone she was holding to her ear. There was a mounting pressure on her shoulders as her mind started running around in circles. "Are you angry with me?"

There was a sigh and she tensed in anticipation. "No Bella, I am not angry with you."

That was worse than just admitting to it. 'But you are. You are! Please don't lie to me...'

"I am not angry with you, Bella. I'm not lying" The words come out in a restrained hiss and Bella's heart dropped to her gut.

Had she said it out loud? How long has it been since she'd done that with Bazett? It hurt and it burnt. She felt sick in her stomach.

She was about to apologize when Bazett spoke again. "Bella, I'm not even angry right now. I...I just feel...I'm sorry."

'Why? why would you be sorry? Why would you be sorry for something stupid that I did?' The knuckles around her lifeline turned paler and paler as they kept clenching .The world wavered at the edges as moisture gathered in her eyes. Because Bazett was angry, no matter how hard she tried to hide it her voice always betrayed her.

"Bella, Im not angry with you. I'm furious, yes, but not at you. It is a different story however for the fuckers responsible for you reaching this condition." The older woman's voice came strained.

Bazzet was the one person that would not always hold Bella responsible for the shit she did. Oh, Bella had gotten her fair share of guilt-trips from her, but sometimes, sometimes, Bazzet would get this mournful expression and look at her with a deep sadness. If she looked that is. Sometimes Bazett would avert her eyes, casually enough and face devoid of all expression, but Bella knew. She had known Bazett since seventeen, she could tell. And that hurt. It hurt the most. Bazett had her own issues and she didn't need Bella to pile her's on top of that. She deserved better than this.

"Oh Bella..." Just like that her voice became bereft of all judgement and she didn't want that. Her eyes shut tightly, setting the scalding hot droplets to trickle down her cheeks. She choked back a sob and one of her hands came to clamp on top of her mouth to drown the infernal sound.

Fuck. Why couldn't she keep he mouth shut?!

Bella took a shuddering breath, trying to string along a coherent series of words. She swallowed saliva feeling thick and acidic. She had bitten the inside of her cheek hard enough to bleed...

"Bazy-" the sound came out choked and throaty and Bella forced herself to breathe. "Bazy I know, I know I fucked up. I know. And I am rueing the consequences, and I am sorry, because I will not apologize for my fuck up because I do not regret what I did. I'm so sorry!" the tears were running down her face and she did nothing to stop them. Bazett on the other end sounded a bit choked up as well.

"Bella if I didn't know you so well you wouldn't be making any sense." Bazzet said softly in an attempt at humor.

The sounds that came out of Bella's throat could be classified as neither laughter not crying

By the end of it both Bazzet and Bella were crying.

.

Οι κασκαρίκες σου ειναι ιδιαιτερα... - Your fuckups are rather...

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Whoooo boy it's been a hot minute. Parts of these were just so hard to get out, especially the emotional bits. But good news. After this, the next chapter finally is finally where we get into Before Crisis. Can I get a cheer!

Thank you all for getting the time to read my rumblings, if I got something wrong feel free to shoot me review. Legit, sometimes I sit back and reread all your reviews because they just make me feel so happy that there are other people out there that enjoy my work.

Have a wonderful day

~Sil