Final Fantasy VII 100 Word Challenge

Title: Glint of Light
Author: jlsigman
Team: Avalanche
Word count: 100

“Cloud!”

“Stop it!!”

The horrified shouts of his friends broke through Cloud's mental fog. “Ugh... what are you making me do?” He looked down at Aerith, who was still smiling at him. He couldn't kill her!

A glint of light reflected into his eyes, and without thinking he reacted, diving forward and moving Aerith out of the spot she had been praying in for so long. A heartbeat later Sephiroth's sword sank halfway to the hilt in the floor.

“SEPHIROTH!” Cloud roared, and quickly moved to finish what he started in Nibelheim, all those years ago.

Title: Hidey-hole
Author: jlsigman
Team: SOLDIER
Word count: 100

There had been a moment when Zack was really worried, right after he had grabbed Cloud and jumped from the truck. But the wasteland outside of Midgar was full of canyons and pocketed with crevices, and he found a nice deep hidey-hole before the copters got close enough to see anything.

As much as Zack wanted Cloud to wake up, he was glad that the young man was silent when the troops marched by.

After nightfall, Zack waited hours after he last heard any sounds of pursuit. When he was convinced there was none, they continued on. Aerith was waiting.

Title: Walked In On
Author: jlsigman
Rating: R
Team: Avalanche
Word count: 100

( Walked In On )

Title: Small, Breakable Pieces
Author: jlsigman
Team: SOLDIER
Word count: 100
A/N: The book is Software Project Management for Small to Medium Sized Projects.


To plan and control anything, you must break it up into small, manageable pieces. Hojo was fond of the genetic pieces that made up a living specimen. He would tinker with each one until it was perfect, or at least much more interesting than it had been before. He was allowed to push the specimens to their limits, and then over them, all in the name of progress.

He stopped in front of tank six and checked the dials. He peered through the glass, ignoring the contortions of agony, making notes, shaking his head. So powerful, but so easily broken.

Title: Pilgrimage
Author: jlsigman
Team: Avalanche
Word count: 100

“Aerith shouldn't have to die!” Yuffie yelled.

“I'm not gonna let her die,” Cloud yelled back. “I'll save her, and we'll defeat Sephiroth without the Final Summoning.”

“Uh, how we gon' do that, ya?” Barrett asked.

Yuffie turned to Vincent, who was leaning against the wall and hiding his face behind his collar. “You know something, tell us!”

“Some things you have to discover for yourselves,” he intoned.

“Fine!” Cloud turned to the older pilot. “Cid, take us to where Aerith is.”

The old Al Behd grinned and smoked the whole way.

Title: Separation
Author: jlsigman
Team: SOLDIER
Word count: 100
Prompt: Alternate Universes
A/N: Sequel to More Than One

The last time Sephiroth saw his sister was when they were seven years old. The two were in a lab somewhere, being tested and watched continuously as they learned Wutian history. At the end of their lesson that say, a new technician walked in and coldly commanded Geneva to follow her. The twins silently looked at each other, then the girl calmly walked away.

His demands to be reunited were ignored until Hojo himself returned to collect him.

“You do not need her,” he snapped. “She is your weakness.”

Stung, the boy fell silent, and in time forgot.

Title: There Will Be No Obstacles
Team: SOLDIER
Word count: 100
Prompt: Alternate Universes
A/N: Follows Starting Revenge

Rosso bowed low. “The engineers report they should break through in another three weeks.”

The Silver Queen's green eyes narrowed, and Rosso had to hide her fear. Their leader's temperament was mercurial at best, and her rages were violence incarnate. The moment stretched out until the unearthly woman said, “Tell them if we do not see sky in two weeks I will personally find out why.”

Rosso bowed low again, thankful to be spared from immediate harm but hearing the threat for the future. “Yes, my Queen,” she said, and planned to drive the engineers to exhaustion.

Title: Starting Revenge
Team: SOLDIER
Word count: 100
Prompt: Alternate Universes
A/N: Sequal to More Than One, takes place as Advent Children ends.  There may be more...


A scream of anguish and rage echoed through the heart of Deepground.

The four generals gathered quickly. They waited with the one who never left the Silver Queen's side for her commands. They did not attempt to console or otherwise touch her, for she was inviolate. She was worth waiting for.

Finally she stood from her crouch, naked and thin, silver hair streaming to the floor. Her green eyes fell on little Shelke. “I need to know everything about Cloud Strife,” she commanded. Shelke nodded, and dived into the 'Net.

To the rest she said, “Prepare for conquest.”

Title: Mother's Blood
Author: jlsigman
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: some horrific imagery
Word count: 100
Team: SOLDIER
Note: If y'all think I need to put it behind a cut, let me know.

She didn't bleed like a human when he took off her head. Perhaps because of the scientific soup that she'd been kept in, there was no fountain of red as the blade sliced though the delicate neck. There was very little at all: a few drops of something black and tarry oozed out as he pulled her to him. The body fell away and it was ignored, as it was unnecessary to her survival.

Another black drop fell into his wound.

“Mother,” Sephiroth whispered, fully mad and completely in JENOVA's thrall. “Let's go to the Promised Land together...”

Title: Head of the Class
Author: jlsigman
Team: Turks
Word count: 100
Prompt: Self Inclusion

Tseng silently approved her calm face, eyes and voice as she answered his questions. Almost on cue (he was late), Reno barged in, with Rude his silent shadow. “What's this about a new partner?” Reno practically screamed (he was overdoing it).

“All new recruits will be partnered with experienced personnel.”

There was a flash of a smile as the meaning sunk in that didn't quite leave her face when they glanced at her. Reno glared, shrugged, then turned to leave. “I'm Reno, that's Rude. You better be as good as your grades.”

“I am,” Jenn said confidently, following them out.

Title: Get Away
Author: jlsigman
Rating: G
Team: Turks
Word count: 100

Hojo handed the squalling infant to the nurse. “Take care of him,” he said.

Nurse Sigman nodded. “Yes, sir,” she murmured, carefully cradling the child and leaving the birthing room. She exchanged a quick glance with the dark-haired Turk on duty, then briskly walked towards one of the least-used labs.

She soothed the fretful child until he fell asleep. Vincent Valentine entered a moment later, haunted but determined. “Follow me,” he said, and she did. They hoped to get halfway to Cosmo Canyon before Hojo noticed Sephiroth was missing.

It was his only chance for a normal life.

Title: Teaching
Team: AVALANCHE
Word count: 100
Prompt: Letter

His children looked on with awed wonder at the things he showed them as he carefully taught them things he thought they needed to know.

“You can make sounds stay still?” one asked, incredulous.

He nodded. “Here's a simple one you can copy,” he said, scratching three lines into the dirt in front of him. They copied him clumsily, frowning at how poor their attempts looked compared to his.

“This makes the sound en. Do you know a word that starts with that sound?”

The two thought hard, then the girl's eyes suddenly lit up. “NANAKI!”

Nanaki purred his approval.

Title: Do I Look Like Your Secretary?
Author: jlsigman
Rating: G
Word count: 100
Team: Turks
A/N: Title is a quote from Mortal Kombat

Rufus was a hard man to keep up with in the Reconstruction times. He jetted from meeting to meeting, determined to have a part in everything. In between these meetings, he scribbled, jotted, and filled up reams of paper with his ideas.

The meetings had to be planned, the travel had to be arranged, and the papers had to be filed. His best Turk worked day and night and still couldn't keep up.

Tseng sighed as another notebook was tossed onto the pile. He didn't think this was the best use of his abilities, but he couldn't tell Rufus that.

Title: Can't Wait to See the Report on That One
Author: jlsigman
Character: anonymous SOLDIER
Team: SOLDIER
Word count: 100
A/N: Yeah, I went there... ;-)

The SOLDIER cadets were given a one-day course on sexual diseases and the ways to prevent them. While it was assumed internally that they probably couldn't catch anything, some prude in education insisted. So the young men were shown how to wear a condom, what signs to look for, and sent off to the big city with the pretty (cheap) women.

One lucky fellow managed to tempt a young slum girl, and while they were getting naked he put on the latex covering and got ready to score.

Fifteen minute later he was screaming, but for the wrong reason.

Title: Issues
Team: SOLDIER
Rating: G
Characters: Sephiroth, Dante
Word count:100
Prompt: Crossovers
A/N: Pure crack. May not make sense if you're not a DMC fan, sorry.

Two white-haired sword-carrying men walked into a bar located where Hell and the Lifestream touch. They sat with an empty stool between them at the bar, the short-haired one drinking whiskey, the long-haired one peeling the labels from his bottles of Bud.

Conversation was a bit hesitant at first, until they realized they had a lot in common, then stories flowed, and next thing he knew Dante was spilling his life story.

Sephiroth's eyes were wide and his eyebrows were levitating above his forehead as he muttered, “And I thought I had mother issues...”

Title: Lost and Found
Team: Avalanche
Rating:G
Character: Tifa, surprise
Word count:100
Prompt: Alternate Universe
A/N: Something I couldn't quite get to work when the prompt came up.

He was so confused.

His friend had gotten him to the edge of the city before being cut down, and his last words were still bright in his mind. It was everything else that was dark.

He kept hearing two names, two very different names, and he didn't know which one was right.

“Hey, are you alright?”

He could hear her thought. He looks like...

“What's your name?”

He looked up from under white bangs. She was thinking of a name. It matched one of the ones in his head, so it must be the right one.

“...Cloud.”

Title: Just Because You Can't See the Cage Doesn't Mean It's Not There
Team: SOLDIER
Rating:G
Character: Sephiroth
Word count:100
Prompt: Trapped
A/N:

He should've known it wouldn't matter. He had deliberately done his worst, and the acceptance message was delivered all the same. His path was predetermined: by genetics, by ability, by Hojo. His entry into the SOLDIER program emphasized that he had no control over anything.

For all the accolades, all of the meaningless medals and promotions, he was never happy where he was. What he wanted most – to be left alone – was an impossibility out of his reach. He spent the rest of his life trapped, looking for a way out of the cage that had been crafted for him.

Title: Avoiding the Flames
Team: Avalanche
Rating:G
Character: Cloud
Word count:100
Prompt: Fire
A/N: ... I should be working, or something...

Fire made him nervous, which was stupid, he knew, but he couldn't help it. Something primitive started jumping up and down and screamed it's head off when anything bigger than a match was lit. He would take the first watches of the night and then go sit on the very edge of the camp, so that he didn't have to watch the fire. The first time Aerith had cast a medium level Fire spell on a monster, he barely managed to not scream like a frightened child.

But when you've watched your home town burn, you tend to have issues.

Title: Last Bounty Hunter Standing
Team: Turk
Rating: R
Warnings: Language, violence
Characters: Turks, Riddick, off-screen Cid
Word count:100
Prompt: Crossovers
A/N: So I'm driving back from lunch, musing on things, going over movies I've watched recently... Riddick, bald – Rude. “Oh, GODS, yes.”

( Cut for Riddick's mouth )

Title: A New Subject
Team: SOLDIER
Rating: PG
Characters: Hojo, Lucy
Word count:100
Prompt: Crossovers
A/N: From the list of things I didn't get to the first time... ;-)

With Sephiroth gone, he needed a new experiment. Now that he had no limits on his research capabilities, he could do whatever he wanted, cross pollinate with whatever he pleased. Hojo worked day and night with JENOVA cells, monster cells, leftover from that damn Turk cells, splicing and joining until he was satisfied.

It grew in it's tank, bone structure just inhuman enough to be noticeable. Especially the skull, he thought the horns were a nice touch. A female subject should be more docile and easier to control.

When she was decanted, she opened red eyes. He called her, “Diclonius.”