Valkyria

by rrenvy

Summary: In death, she found herself in a world she had only known as fiction, tied into a red orb as a being thought less than human by many and with power she had never dreamt of. Without him, this could have had the ingredients of a nightmare, but as long as she was his, she wouldn't mind. She wouldn't mind at all. OFC as a summon. SephirothOFC.

Based on Final Fantasy VII, centered on Crisis Core but possible spoilers for the whole Compilation of Final Fantasy VII.

English is not my first language and so corrections are very welcome as is all other reasonable feedback, reviews etc.

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Genre: Romance/Adventure

Rated: M

This will be a fairly long one, definitely over 40k words, probably a lot longer than that.

Chapter 1

If this is afterlife, then it's not too bad, I thought as I floated in a haze of not quite asleep nor quite awake. It was pleasant. Perhaps a little dull, but it could have been worse, I knew. I had hardly been the saintliest of people, so Heaven and Hell had never had much appeal to me.

My death had been far from glorious. It was at the end of a night of heavy drinking at a nightclub when I was stumbling my way over to the bus stop hoping I might still be able to catch the last bus of the night when I was run over. A drunk driver, no doubt. A bloody end for a woman in her early twenties. Far from glorious, like I said.

This is peaceful, I was musing as I floated in the nothingness, and then suddenly it wasn't. Something was yanking at me. I had no form, I was a nothing in a nowhere and something was fucking yanking at me. The sensation stopped for a moment. And then in a disorienting and almost painful swirl of nothing I was suddenly somewhere.

And there was blindingly bright light stabbing at my eyes even through my closed eyelids. The seconds felt like hours before I could blink my eyes open, and look around.

I was in the middle of a large white cubical room. By my estimate, the room had to be at least forty meters wide and just as tall, with a door to my left and some kind of an observation window high in the wall before me. There were people behind the glass, a handful of men wearing white lab coats, all their eyes glued on me, even though I wasn't the only thing in the room. No, while the room lacked furniture of any sort, there were two… beings there with me. A man wearing blue standing a dozen meters away in front of me… and something I could only call a monster near the back wall behind me.

The man had a rather sharp looking sword. The monster some rather wicked teeth. Can you guess which one I decided was the bigger threat?

I locked my eyes with the helmet covered eyes of the sword-wielding man, and tilted my head in question, blinking lazily at him, expression carefully blank. I had questions – oh did I have those – but I had long learned that one should never be too hasty to speak. Words had power. Names, even more so.

The man stared at me for a moment, obviously tense, wary, and then his hand rose to touch the side of his helmet to press the button of a communicator of some sort, I quickly deduced, as he spoke: "The summon isn't doing anything. Your orders, sir?"

'Summon?' Fighting the urge to lose my blank mask and frown, I tilted my head again instead.

I couldn't hear what was said to him, but I could his short reply of 'Yes, sir' which was soon followed by a second 'Yes, sir', and then his hand dropped to grip the sword with both hands and… my attention was drawn to the blood red orb that adorned the wide metal cuff on his left forearm. It was glowing, the glow of it slowly getting brighter and brighter. With some effort, I tore my eyes from it, and directed my attention back to the man. The helmet was a hindrance, but the man looked rather expectant to me. Again, his hand rose to his helmet, and he said: "No effect, sir." A pause as he listened, and then replied: "Yes, sir."

His hand dropped, and full attention returned to me again, and this time he spoke to me. "Slay the Hedgehog Pie behind you." He ordered me. Slay the spiky fat red thing? Me, the unarmed, untrained woman? When he is wielding a sword and obviously has the muscularity to wield it properly?

I chose not to react. Curious, about how this would play out. Among other things. Like where the fuck I was and what was going on exactly. Because while I was hardly the expert, this didn't look like afterlife to me, no matter your religion.

What was he expecting me to do anyway? Not only was I lacking a weapon of any kind, I was also wearing five inch heels. I could barely dance in them. Fighting – or whatever he was after – was entirely out of question even if I did know how.

He switched his communicator on again and said: "Professor Hojo?"

This caught my attention, and it didn't go unnoticed. The moment my eyes sharpened, his hand shot down to grip the hilt of the sword with the other as he readied himself for attack.

Hojo. That rang a bell. Especially when preceded by 'Professor'. Suddenly the clothes the man before me wore weren't just clothes. It was a uniform. The red ball in the metal cuff wasn't just a bauble. It was a materia. The word 'summon' suddenly made sense.

Suddenly nothing made sense.

For a moment, I entertained the thought that perhaps I had been more drunk than I had thought when I had died, and the effects of alcohol had carried over to my afterlife.

For a moment, I wondered if it wasn't just alcohol, perhaps some son of a bitch had slipped me something and I was high and not just drunk off my ass.

And then I decided it didn't matter. Reality is whatever you perceive, and this was my reality for the moment.

"Sir, I think it understands human language", the SOLDIER – because that's what he was, if I wasn't too badly mistaken – said when he finally dared to loosen his grip on the sword again after my lack of aggression.

There was a tremor running though his body, I noticed, and first chalked it up to fear. But his voice was strong, unwavering. A closer look revealed that he was breathing heavy. Exhaustion, I decided, and spoke the first words since my untimely death: "You look weary."

He regarded me in silence for a moment, and then to his communicator he said: "Sir, running out of MP, asking for permission to abort." A brief silence. And then a sigh of relief. "Thank you, sir."

The glow of the red materia dimmed and just as it went out, everything went dark.

O O O

In the state of being a formless nothing in a nowhere I pondered on what had happened. I was curious to see if it would happen again. I was sure it would, because if my deductions on my new situation were correct, it meant I was a summon in the – fictional, or what I had thought fictional – reality of Final Fantasy VII, a video game I had played and adored.

It sounded beyond impossible, but I had never been one to tolerate denial on my own part. Analyze, accept and adapt. That was the key to getting through the changing circumstances that was life. And apparently, afterlife, at least in my case.

It was utterly impossible to say how much time had passed when I suddenly found myself under the bright artificial lights of the vast empty room. This time there was no monster, but two blue-uniformed men instead. One behind me, one in front of me, neither the one that had summoned me before, judging by their builds – which were impressive, but I was good at details, and the details differed. The one in front of me wore the red orb in a slot in his sword this time. Blank faced, I tilted my head at him, waiting for him to make the first move.

But it wasn't him who did.

I hadn't even realized I was moving when I found myself half turned around, hand raised, fingers splayed towards the other SOLDIER, a glimmering translucent shield floating in the air before my raised hand. The moment I realized I had moved at all was when I felt the incredible rush that resulted of a sword striking the shield. The rush flowed through my veins like a wave of pleasant heat, and suddenly I felt strong. Stronger than I had ever felt. It was euphoric. I was filled to the brim with it, and before I had the chance to even process what was happening, I let my hand drop – and the shield with it – and my right hand rose in a sharp arc sending a wave of pure energy back at my attacker. The wave struck fast like lightning, and the SOLDIER staggered back a few steps. I wasn't feeling hot anymore, nor full. I felt normal, and my analytical brain was quick to theorize: The shield had somehow allowed me to absorb the physical energy of the attack into myself and then use the energy to attack. It had been a heady feeling.

I didn't have the chance to indulge in proper analyzation though before I noticed my attacker ready himself for another attack. This time the sword was held horizontally before him and the green materia in the hilt slot of the sword was glowing. My hand, and the shield with it was up before the flames had the chance to engulf me. The sheer energy of it… It was magnificent.

There was fire in my veins, and it was good, so fucking good that I never wanted it to stop, but at the same time I felt like I was bursting. I knew I couldn't hold it in, and so I dropped the shield again and swinging both my hands in downward gesture, I released the energy in a fiery circle that spread along the floor from me until several meters away, forcing both the SOLDIER attacking me and the one holding me here to jump further away from me to dodge the flames.

I expected another attack to follow the first two, but when none did, I tilted my head at my attacker in wordless question while keeping my expression blank.

The door behind my summoner slid open, and I turned my attention to the man that entered. I needed no introduction to recognize the man. Greasy black hair tied back. Glasses, white lab coat, a face that no one could call pleasing to the eye. Hojo.

"What do you call yourself, Summon?" He asked me. I could see it in his eyes, he saw me as less than human. Though to be fair, I was sure he saw even his fellow humans as less than himself.

I was in no hurry to reply, so I took a moment to weigh my options, and then smoothly asked back: "What do you call yourself, Human?" A part of me wanted to tell him and his fellows that I too was human, no matter what they thought. I had been born human, to human parents. That was something I still had, no matter the current circumstance.

His lips stretched into a smile. It was an ugly thing. "You may call me Professor Hojo, Summon."

I regarded him in stony silence for a moment, and then told him: "And you may call me Valkyria, Professor."

When he walked closer and proceeded to circle around me, blatantly ogling me like the specimen I so obviously was to him, I refused to react. I held my head high, and focused my gaze on the SOLDIER in front of me instead, until Hojo had finished his circle and was in my field of vision again and I could comfortably meet his eye.

"Fascinating!" The man exclaimed. "I must say, I have surprised even myself with this level of success. The first manmade summon, capable of human speech!"

I noticed my summoner downing a potion of some sort. If I had to hazard a guess, I would have placed my bet on an ether to replenish his MP levels. Clearly keeping me summoned was taxing on a SOLDIER.

Hojo's attention was no longer on me. Instead he was muttering to himself: " – and I must get some blood work done. And some tissue samples. Then perhaps a set of tests to check reaction to stimuli."

I decided I had had enough of listening to him plan my future as his lab rat and calmly told him: "I'm afraid I will have to decline."

His eyes snapped back to meet mine again. "Oh?"

"As interesting as this has been, I have now had enough of entertaining both your curiosity and mine, Professor", I elaborated. "If you will allow me to return now, I would be most obliged."

"Well that just won't do!" He almost good-naturedly said. I was not fooled. "I have barely begun!"

Allowing my blank mask to crack for the first time since getting here, I shot him a bland smile and said: "That's just too bad." And then with an instinctual push I broke the hold my summoner had on me and returned to the nowhere that I was quickly becoming accustomed to.

O O O

It had become a tiresome cycle very quickly. The Professor would have a SOLDIER summon me, proceed to either interrogate me or try and perform tests on me only for me to completely stone-wall his questions and block his attempts to tie me down and stick needles, sensors and scalpels into me by either raising my shield or breaking my summoner's hold.

I had quickly come to notice that the less MP my summoner had, the less effort it took to break their hold. It wasn't a direct correlation – their natural talent with materia seemed to play a part as well, and perhaps the strength of their will – but it always held true that the longer they kept me summoned, the easier it was to break their hold.

My appreciation for my shield had grown with Hojo's every attempt. As had my smugness at his growing frustration at his failures to find a way to get data out of me. I was lounging on a small examination table in one of his labs when the SOLDIER currently tasked with keeping me summoned – and the only person present aside from the good Professor – suddenly jumped into a salute. I followed his gaze towards the door, and I saw him.

O O O

Sephiroth could admit it, though only to himself, that his personal dislike for Hojo – the man who had raised him, if you could call it that – and the labs was the reason why he had allowed this to go on as long as he had. Normally, he would have demanded an explanation for the series of in-house missions long before now, especially when his men returned from the missions with their MP depleted to unhealthy levels and with orders to keep silent about what they had been asked to do.

Alas, he couldn't in good conscience let it go on any longer, not when he had too few men in good enough condition to be sent on other missions that needed to be completed. That's what brought him here, to confront Hojo about the matter, and to get a good look at the situation himself when he knew one of his men was in the labs.

One of Hojo's assistants had tried to tell him Hojo had given orders not to be disturbed, but he was not above using his fearsome reputation to intimidate the fidgety woman into stepping out of his way. The assistant left his mind entirely as he entered the lab he was more than familiar with – Hojo's personal favorite. His full attention was on the woman sitting on the cold metal examination table from the very moment he laid eyes on her in exclusion of everything else. He knew, he could feel it to his very bones, that this woman wasn't human, no matter how human she might have looked. Her presence surrounded her like an aura of power. He stepped closer and for a second he thought the feeling was lessening only to realize she was exuding it on a constant level, he was simply acclimating to it very quickly, his senses starting to dismiss it as background noise.

Unashamed of his interest, he eyed the woman intently.

She was tall for a woman, he noted. Not out of the normal range, but perhaps as tall as the average man, and taller still with the high-heeled black leather shoes she was wearing. Her figure was slender, almost fragile with her narrow wrists and ankles. She wore tight fitting dark gray trousers that showed the inviting shape of her long legs well, and a form fitting leather top with a zipper in the front that showed her curves without displaying her – moderate sized – breasts in the kind of desperate cry for attention he had seen on many women. A bronze pendant hung from around her neck, the pendant the shape of the spread wings of a bird. Long, messy curls of black and purple hair were draped over bare shoulders – her skin was like porcelain, he noted, flawless and pale in color – the hair adorned with bronze beads and black feathers here and there. Her lips were painted a rich red, he noted, and then he met her eyes.

They were a color he imagined would shift between gold and bronze depending on the lighting. More cold gold in the stark white light of the lab, but doubtlessly more warm bronze in the natural light.

But it wasn't just the golden color or the lighting of the lab that left her gaze cold. It was the lack of warmth in her expression. No, it was the lack of expression entirely. It was a little like looking into the mirror, he knew that look so well. He wore it himself, most of the time.

She tilted her head. A bird like gesture, he thought. And he realized they weren't alone.

"At ease, SOLDIER", he said, and the SOLDIER 3rd class was quick to obey.

"Sir!"

"Perhaps some introductions are in order", he prompted, eager to take advantage of the surprising absence of Hojo. An absence he was sure would be short-lived.

"She identified herself as 'Valkyria', General Sephiroth, sir!" Came the quick reply. "She is an artificial summon created by Professor Hojo, sir!"

'An artificial summon?' He hadn't heard Hojo looking into summons before. Suppose it was only a matter of time. Her being a summon explained the aura of power that she exuded. Still, it was… bizarre, seeing a summon so still, so peaceful. Normally, summons were only used when striking a blow at an adversary. They weren't exactly something anyone would like to try and spend time with. They were volatile, not to mention the heavy drain they were on the MP reserves of the one summoning them. Also, 'she identified herself'?

"Valkyria", he tasted the name, light green slit-pupiled eyes calmly meeting the cool gaze of the golden eyes.

"General Sephiroth", she replied, her voice smooth and velvety, tone as unreadable as the expression on her face. It was a pleasant voice, he decided. He wouldn't mind listening longer to it. It was easy on the ears, unlike the high-pitched squealing and screeching most of the female gender had a tendency towards.

"I suppose you are the reason behind the mysterious cases of exhaustion that my men return with from their time here", he said.

A hint of a smile teased her lips as she replied: "You suppose correctly." The way the slight smile softened her face made him realize she was beautiful. Funny, how he hadn't even noticed until the ice she had surrounded herself with shattered a little. "Professor Hojo seems most insistent on keeping me – and by extension your men – here despite his lack of progress in whatever it is he is trying to achieve with me."

Sephiroth nodded slowly, "He is an exceptionally stubborn man." A lack of progress was unlike Hojo. As was the way his chosen specimen seemed to be in good health and unrestrained. He opened his mouth to ask about it, but was cut off by the door opening and Hojo entering.

"Sephiroth!" Hojo shrieked in irritation, "You should know better than to enter a lab with restricted access!"

Hojo, one of the very few people who dared to speak to him like he was… less.

"And you should know better than to borrow my men without a detailed report on their assigned tasks." His tone was freezing. He didn't bother with being polite either, not when Hojo had been the one to neglect proper form of address first.

Hojo waved his hand dismissively. "Your precious SOLDIERs have all returned no worse for wear, with no injuries to report."

"Excepting the cases of exhaustion that has left them unfit for active duty for the days that have followed their missions here", he argued. "This will not be allowed to go on."

"Excuse me!?" Hojo shrieked. "How do you expect me to conduct my research without someone to keep the summon present!?"

Sephiroth fought the urge to sneer, as he pointedly asked: "The research you are making no progress with?"

Immediately, Hojo's accusing eyes honed on the SOLDIER 3rd, who hastily shook his head and waved his hands in front of him like he could block the accusations and then pointed shakily at the woman watching the proceedings impassively.

Hojo's gaze followed the pointed finger to her and then shot to Sephiroth as he sharply asked: "She spoke to you?"

Sephiroth's eyebrow shot up in confusion, "Yes?"

Hojo turned to regard the woman again, irritation visible in every inch of him. "You speak to him!?" He looked like he was this close to stomping his foot like a child. "You refuse to speak to everyone else and then you suddenly decide to speak to him!?"

The smile, the tiny one, spread to her lips again. There was a twinkle in her eye, and it was obvious she was enjoying Hojo's irritation.

"He spoke to me with the kind of respect you and your minions decidedly lack, Professor."

"Those SOLDIERs, they have been plenty respectful", he argued.

"Yes… You would be one to mistake fear for respect."

"In any case", Hojo said dismissively, "Now that you are in a talking mood, I have some questions – "

She cut him off, "Which I feel no inclination to answer."

"You are trampling on my last nerve", Hojo hissed warningly.

"I'm shaking in my boots."

"I created you!" The Professor screeched.

"I want out of these labs."

"This refusal to cooperate will not be tolerated any longer!"

She pointed her finger at Sephiroth, and he noticed something he had missed until now: Her nails were long and painted deep glossy purple. "He will be summoning me from now on, and no one else, unless otherwise agreed."

"Or what!?" Hojo sneered.

She whipped her hand towards one of the delicate machines by the back wall and a wave of golden light crashed into the machine smashing it into tiny unsalvageable little pieces. Hojo screeched in outrage, but was expertly ignored as she calmly answered: "Or I will have to get difficult." And then she vanished.

Posted on December 11th, 2016.