::The Last Avatar::

Gamer Edition

BOOK ONE
LEVIATHAN

1.23

Epilogue

In an unknown, darkened and rather indistinct space a dark haired woman swore loudly as she put out a fire on her console with an extinguisher, all the while a perturbed you man with blue hair and eyes watched on. He seemed a little afraid of the short and fuming woman as she kicked at the hardware she was trying to salvage. The woman turned to the young man, seemingly demanding he help her try to fix the problem. The connection was lousy though and only a few sounds filtered through with the bad quality video.

The young man hesitantly moved forward to help his companion, his shoulders slumped as she yelled at him, but he got to work trying to get the two sided console working again with little argument. The Viewer didn't blame the boy, she could be quite difficult at the best of times, get the blasted woman angry and all you could really do was keep your head down if you didn't want to get shot at.

The Viewer noted that some of the parts for the console they used to keep an eye on that girl for him were being tossed aside, meaning he would likely get a message soon demanding replacements so they could get back to work as soon as possible. Really the child just had to go and get injured to the extent that the console was damaged, how frustrating. He would have to warn the girl about that, or rather, have them warn her about it. He eyed the pair on the grainy screen as they fixed and salvaged what they could, this would take some time.

Another woman entered the dark room where the pair worked, her clothes belied a military background and her walk demanded respect, the Viewer did not like this one, she was worse than her mechanic to deal with. The two women seemed to argue for a short while, letting the young man work peacefully for a bit, something likely considered a small mercy. The Viewer watched as both females left the room, leaving the boy behind as he continued his work. They were probably going to contact him now, for the needed parts.

They needed to get that console fixed, who knew how long it would be before the girl woke, and she needed the supervision more than anyone. They needed to be ready before then.

A message popped up on The Viewer's console, from them, as he had suspected, to ask for replacements for the damaged parts. With a tired sigh he responded to the message promptly, and then turned to the transport pod to send through the requested items, shuffling around his small workshop while muttering to himself about irritating humans. Because, really, couldn't they take better care of the things he gave them? They were supposed to make sure things like this didn't happen, that the girl didn't get so badly injured it effected them. Typically they had failed at this. Perhaps he should have assigned someone more reliable for the job, not that there was anyone else that could do the job he required.

The Viewer settled back in his overly padded seat to watch as the console he'd installed for them was put together with unexpected speed. It seemed the mechanic had earned her fame after all, small wonders. He just wished they'd move a little faster, every moment counted when they were dealing with her.

If only she hadn't died in the first place.

!*~*~*BONUS SCENE*~*~*!

She'd been asleep for two months now, the doctors weren't sure when Rue would wake, only that she would when her mind was healed from the Mako Poisoning. Sephiroth had been taking turns watching over her with Genesis and Angeal, with Tseng taking over when they were unable to. Hojo had not been subtle in his interest in Rue since the incident in the Science Department and he had made a number of attempts to abduct her from out under their noses. Thankfully none of them trusted doctors or scientists.

"We need to get her out of here, with Hojo practically stalking the place it's only a matter of time before she's taken-" Angeal began.

"Rue-napped," Genesis corrected automatically. He'd been doing that more and more frequently as Rue slept on and that could only mean that he was bored.

"Yes, okay, Rue-napped, fine, the point is we need to get Rue out of Midgar, and soon," Sephiroth let out a ghost of a sigh. Angeal was right, of course, but that meant that they would likely be saying good bye to the odd girl while she slept on unaware. He suspected that neither of the others wanted to do so, but it wasn't likely they would have much choice.

"Fine, where do we hide her then? And when?" Genesis pushed off the wall, pocketing his favourite book as he did so. A miracle in itself in Sephiroth's opinion. He'd heard more of LOVELESS in the last new weeks than he had during his entire friendship with Genesis. When asked why he kept reciting it the red head had only said he thought Rue liked the work. Neither Sephiroth and Angeal hadn't had the heart to say anything otherwise after that.

"Soon, before we head back to Wutai next week," Sephiroth submitted quietly. Angeal nodded with a sigh, while Genesis grimaced at the thought of sending Rue away so soon. "I also suggest Cosmo Canyon for a sanctuary, Rue will be safe there and I wouldn't be surprised if she'd familiar with the area," he added as an after thought. He'd noticed Rue's views on the Planet early on and they'd had a few small discussions on her thoughts about Mako Power verses other alternatives. To say it had been interesting was an understatement.

"Cosmo? Hrm, I suppose that would be adequate, they'll take care of her there," Angeal rubbed his forehead as he glanced over at Rue. She looked peaceful, despite the bandages covering her arms, neck and torso, and sickly pallor to her skin. The doctors said Rue's healing was steady and her normal colouring would return soon. The doctors said a lot of things though and Sephiroth had learnt to take what they said with a grain of sugar. Or was it salt? He could never get it right according to Angeal, not that Sephiroth really saw the difference. "We can't all go with her, it'll be too obvious," Angeal pointed out after a moment. The irritated huff from Genesis said it all.

"Then who goes?" the red head demanded as he collapsed into one of the three uncomfortable chairs in the room. Sephiroth glanced at Rue, he wanted to go, but he knew that if he were to go to Cosmo Canyon it would be seen like an act of war on Shinra's behalf. He would be saying goodbye while Rue slept on, as much as he didn't want to.

"I cannot, it would be to suspicious were I to accompany Rue to Cosmo, nor would I like to create an incident or misunderstanding with the locals," he told the others hesitantly. Though he had no idea why he felt so saddened by the fact that he very likely wouldn't be talking to Rue for quite a while, if ever again, Sephiroth found he honestly didn't care, Rue had been an interesting companion and, on occasion, intellectually challenging. She was a friend, one of the few he had.

"Shit, alright, I'll go, Rue is my responsibility after all," Angeal sighed again. Both of them looked to Genesis for his say on the matter, watching curiously as he began to say something, but seemed to think better of it and shook his head.

"Fine, whatever, just make sure she's alright before you leave her there with a bunch of strangers. You know what she's like, her damn foot ends up in her mouth more often than not and she still manages to talk around the thing," Genesis huffed again and sank lower in the chair. Sephiroth frowned, was Genesis sulking?

"I'll have to take a trooper to drive and Tera will have to come with us as well," Angeal sat heavily onto the only remaining chair. Another problem presented to his friends.

"Take the one she left alive during the Barclay Incident, from what you told me Rue made an impression on the boy," Sephiroth suggested. He wondered briefly if this plan they were making would even work, but then shook off the doubt. It had to work. Hojo could not be allowed to get his hands on Rue, not ever. Tseng had agreed on that quickly, though he had been tight lipped on the why. Again.

"Good idea, he'll probably appreciate the change of scenery," Angeal nodded absent-mindedly. His thoughts were likely already on the journey he would be going on within the next few days.

"What about your young impressionable protege?" Genesis asked suddenly. Sephiroth looked up, this was the first he was hearing about a protege. When on earth had that happened?

"Zack will be fine for a week or two, I'll have one of the Thirds or Seconds watch him while I'm escorting our resident trouble maker to Cosmo. He hasn't had his injections yet so it's not like he can get into too much trouble, and the paper work isn't even finalised yet, I'm waiting on Lezard to okay the mentor-ship," Angeal looked uncertain even as the words came out of his mouth. Sephiroth raised an eyebrow, just what kind of person was Angeal taking under his wing now?

"When did you-?" Sephiroth wasn't sure how to finish that question. Thankfully Angeal seemed to understand and smiled, looking over to the girl sleeping int the hospital bed fondly.

"I took Rue down to watch the cadets before the accident, she told me to keep an eye on him," the smile grew softer as he spoke. "Turns out Zack hasn't been doing well with the regular modes of teaching despite his promise, I kept an eye on him like she asked and after the accident I needed something to distract me. Teaching Zack was helped," the shrug at the end spoke volumes. Angeal had no idea why he was doing what he was, but it seemed right so he was following through. Sephiroth had a feeling Rue would have approved were she conscious.

!*~*~*~*~*!

AN: OKAY. So. I decided to give you guys an epilogue, of a fashion, and a peek behind the scenes at the same time. As to who The Viewer is and the people he is watching/helping, well, that would be telling.

The Bonus scene is one I initially wrote for the first chapter of Book Two, but it didn't really fit in anywhere and everything that happened was going to be explained and talked about in the chapter anyway. So I thought I'd put it here for a little teaser. Yes, by the way, there are red herrings concerning the romance already in play in previous chapter, even in that bonus scene up there.

I've had a few questions as to why I'm breaking up the 'Books' and the reason is simple. It's easier to keep track of things this way. It is in no way about views or faves or whatever. I never even considered that when I decided to break the story up, it just made sense to me to do it this way.

And so, without any further ado, we can now bid farewell to LEVIATHAN and hello, to TITAN.

Book Two is now up!

I hope to see you all over there~

RLK