Final Fantasy Crystal Wars

[Snow]

It’s a normal day in Ivalice. Nothing too out of the ordinary. In fact, today things are rather quiet. Clans are going on about their day with little to no trouble with other clans. The weather is usual in their respective climates and everyone is preparing for the coronation ceremony of the new Empress.


The banners and crest of the new queen were light pink with a glowing green orb in the middle. It looked odd to anyone who had not seen materia. The pink banners were lined with gold, silver, and white. The young Empress sat quietly upon the throne. Her brunette hair was pulled back neatly with a large red ribbon, on her right stood a boy a few years older than her. His brunette hair was messy but with his armor and position no one would say anything of it. On her left a knight dressed in a similar manner to the right, his hair was much longer and darker. He looked like he had more of an idea about how to use a sword than the other boy did.

“My lady,” the right Paladin spoke, “It looks like the judges enlisted the help of two clans.”

“We still have a few judges ourselves.” The left mused, “Gabranth is loyal. Drace as well…otherwise you needn’t worry about them.” Unlike his younger brother, he had two swords at his waist.

She gave a slow nod, “Which Gabranth, Sir Larsa?” she asked, “Noah? Or Basch?”

Larsa looked at her and gave a smile, “Both. Does that please you my lady Marlene?”

“Yes, thank you. Sir Denzel, are you still worried about the clans joining in?” Marlene’s hands shifted and half trembled in her lap. “I’m not too worried about the clans, I have a different goal.”

Denzel closed his eyes and gave a slow understanding nod. “If my lady Marlene and my brother, Larsa are not worried about it, than neither am I.”

Marlene paused to think, “Are the clans still at war?”

“Yes,” Denzel answered, “Centurio and Eternity have been stopping the wars, but it looks like they might be at war with each other. The ex-judgemaster has sided with Centurio and Eternity has a lot of very odd warriors among them.”

Marlene looked at her lap. She gave a sigh and mumbled to herself. Odd warriors was Denzel’s way of saying ‘people we know’.

“I do not see how they could ever get in our way.” Larsa chimed in, “So there is little cause to worry.”

Denzel agreed, “Sir Larsa is right. No one knows what your goal is, so there is no way they could plan to stop you.”

Marlene gave a content, relieved sigh. With companions like Larsa and Denzel reassuring her she was positive she could not fail.


=-=-=-=-=Clan Eternity-=-=-=-=
The house was silent as it often was when everyone was out on missions. The only thing was was that everyone should be in. Everyone should have reported in with their rewards. Rae’s hand raised in exasperation to her forehead. Despite the emptiness of her clan house she spoke aloud.

“Where is everyone?” she looked around hoping that someone would randomly pop up, Artemicion, Vincent, Bibo, Reno…Naia even.

She scrolled through her memory. If it served her correctly (which was debatable) Vincent and Artemicion should have returned this morning. Now, at noon she was all alone. At least that was how it felt.

And once she stopped to consider that she knew something was probably going to go wrong.


The three cool barrels of the Cerberus rested on the nameless thief. Vincent’s crimson eyes showed less concern and humanity than most monsters the thief would argue. If not for the judge standing next to him, Vincent would have pulled the trigger.

He reholstered the gun with a sigh and looked at the judge. “You saw what happened.”

After another half an hour arguing with the judge Vincent’s reward was returned to him and the thief was taken to prison. Irritably he opened the door and Artemicion raced in with the bag of loot, plopped it at Rae’s feet and climbed into her lap.

Rae patted Artemicion and read over the mission receipt. She picked up the bag and counted through their take. “Looks like its all here.” Her eyes glanced up at Vincent. “Another run in with the judges?”

“What else,” Vincent half fumed, “would I have to be this angry about?”

“Laws are laws Vincent, it’s for the safety of the people.”

“But not for the sanity of the Clans!” He sat down at the table and took a deep breath as he rested his head in his hands.

“Okay, you don’t have to follow them. But you know how I feel about Sprhom.” Rae looked over with a glance that seemed to remind him that she hated going there.

“No, no.” Vincent retorted without looking up, “I’d rather have to pull missions with Reno than spend a day in Sphrom.”

[CrAze]

Three shadows lurked outside the prison. A young man with dark hair, a moogle and a larger man with a muscular build.

Zarxce, the dark haired man let out a groan. "Why do we have to break this loser out of prison anyways? In broad daylight no less!"

"Because the boss told us to!" Marcelino the moogle replied. "For our operation tonight. We need all the man power we can get."

"Then why doesn't she come down here and do it herself!"

"What? 3 people isn't enough as it is?"

"It should be two, but you're the one who insisted on going just to keep an eye on me!"

"I wouldn't have to keep on eye on you if you didn't get in so much trouble!"

"Enough!" The muscular man finally said. "....keep your voices down. You'll get us caught."

"Even if we're both here, why did Amarant come along" Zarxce continued to complain.

Amarant said nothing and just gave him a long, hard stare. He looked rather menacing and intimidating.

"...Oh yeah. That's why." And Zarxce said nothing more.

They had waited for the gaurd shift to change as planned. It was roughly just after noon. The theif had just been transferred and most of the gaurds, except for two were out having a late lunch break. Zarxce, Marcelino and Amarant crept in through a back window. They crept along quietly, sneaking behind the two gaurds. Silently and swiftly, Zarxce pulled out his blade and used the hilt to bash one of the guards in the back of the skull, while Amarant did the same to the other guard with his fist. Both guards collapsed unconscious. Marcelino lifted they keys and opened the cell.

"I-I-I'm so sorry, th-there was this vampire and-" the thief began to whimper.

Zarxce rolled his eyes. "Yeah yeah, vampires, whatever, lets just get out of here." and they all crept back out the back window together.

[Cherri]

"I'm so sorry we are late!" Naia ran in screaming. "It totally wasn't my fault." she added in a frantic fit.

"For once." a tall silver haired man retorted to the spazy red-head.

"I was provoked!" she yelled back sticking her tongue out. Before she could put it back in her mouth Sephiroth had grabbed it. "Wet me go!"

"I told you that if you stuck your tongue out at me I was going to grab it." he stated still holding on to her tongue with no intention of letting go. "Plus, is this anyway to treat your savior?"

Naia glared and Sephiroth let go. "Quit throwing that around." she commanded as she waved one arm frantically and pointed with the other.

"They've been like that all day boss." Bibo came in with a bag of stripped apples. "Fightin' like a married couple. Anyway, these are for you, boss." he added setting the bag on the table shortly before losing balance and falling off the table.

"Hey!" the two humes called in unison. "For ninjas they aren't too quite either." Bibo joked and hid behind Rae. He had a wide grin plastered on his face while Sephiroth glared and Naia made angry faces.

[CrAze]

Zarxce, Marcelino, Amarant and the thief walked through the city slums. They had to take a few alleys and city back roads to get there, but they had managed to avoid detection by any guards that happened to be patrolling the city. They eventually came to a particularly decrepit looking building. A single Bangaa Defender was at the door, sprawled out on a bench to the side. He looked as though he were sleeping.

Marcelino hopped up to the bench and leaned in to whisper something into the bangaa's ear. The Bangaa looked up and studied the group in front of him. He nodded and rapped on the wall behind him with his knuckles. Another bangaa opened the door and let them in. "Welcome back" he muttered with a breif nod.

Inside the building was far more expansive than one would have guessed. Various expensive looking tapestries were hung on the wall and half a dozen or so clan members lounged off in one corner of the building.

A bright young girl stood up and waved frantically at Zarxce and co. "Hey, welcome back guys!" She said with a big grin, "Did you get the shiny Materia??"

Zarxce sighed. "For the last time, what the hell is this 'mah-tear-ee-ah' stuff you keep going on about?"

"No Yuffie, no materia. You sent us to retrieve a clan member from prison, remember?" Marcelino explained, ignoring Zarxces impatience.

Yuffie paused, looking up to the ceiling, deep in thought. "Ooooh yeah, that's right! Why settle for a few lousy materia when you can get MILLIONS of gil and buy MANY awesome materia! I see you've finally caught on. Good job Marcy, I'm proud of you!" she said while nodding.

Marcelino muttered something about not wanting to be called Marcy, but he was drowned out by more of Zarxce's complaining "Tell me again, why do we follow her?"

A female viera, with a long horn adorned her forehead and glimmering green robes walked in the door behind them."Because in spite of her overzealousness, she is the most skilled and experienced one here." She said cooly.

"Huh? Oh, hey Roslyn." Zarxce greeted as he turned around. He had a rather indifferent expression on his face. He never cared much for Roslyn.

"Heehee glad to see SOMEONE here appreciates all I've done for this group!" Yuffie chimed in.

Roslyn ignored her. "Now that everyones here, shall we go over the plan?"

"Right!" Yuffie lead everyone to a table in the center of the room. "Did you get the treasure map?" she asked, looking to Roslyn.

"It was nothing my 'scouts' couldn't handle" Roslyn replied and spread out a blueprint across the table. It was a blueprint of the Empress' castle, including various possible routes to the royal vault.

"Tonight, we'll be robbing the Empress of Ivalice!" Yuffie exclaimed with a devious smile. "And here's how..."

[Mikari]

"We should probably return to the clan now..." Labit and Cookie had long since finished their mission and were looking for anything interesting around town. "I wonder if everyone is back at the clan house by now..."

"Don't worry we're still early," Cookie was sure of it. "Reno will be super late and we'll be early by comparison."

Labit shrugged, "point, I guess."

"Who's going to be super late?" The girl and the viera turned to face the red head who had heard them talking about him.

"You are!" Cookie ran ahead in the general direction of the clan house.

"Fine, I don't mind being the last one to arrive once in a while," Labit was used to Cookie's cheerful and energetic personality by now.

"What you're not even going to try to get there first?" Reno asked. "That's no fun."

"Enjoying your new job I see," He seemed to be in a god mood, Labit noted.

"I used to get too much overtime at Shinra, but you know, once a Turk always a Turk."

[Snow]

As the fresh scent of striped apples filled her nose, Rae gave a content giggle. Her favorite fruit. She opened hte bag and looked through them, they all looked so tasty. She seemed to ignore Sephiroth and Naia's arguing, perhaps because she had grown used to it.

"Thank you Bibo!" she just a bout squealed in glee. Her face became serious remembering she had business to attend too. And with a good stare she looked at Naia, "And the loot from the job?" She noticed the glares and angry faces being made in her general direction, which she assumed were meant for the moogle taking refuge behind her. "Come on guys you know how I feel about the attitudes." she lightly scolded. "We're family here."

"Where is Labit's group?" Vincent inquired as he finally looked up. The chaos of the clan house was always relaxing thought he did not like to admit it. In the long run it was much better than being alone.

The Palace was busy with preparations for a large party in celebration of the new empress. Marlene felt uneasy about throwing a party so soon, but with a small talk from Drace (that was prompted by Larsa and Denzel) she was feeling a little better about it.

"Lady Drace," Marlene said as the judge did her hair, "what invitations have been sent out?"

"It is an open festivity my lady. Anyone and everyone is invited and encouraged to come."

"So then...everyone." She gave a slow nod, "Okay, but, what if something bad happens?" The dark gem shifted between her fingers, she drew comfort from it but also felt a little apprehension.

Drace gave a small chuckle, "You're too young to worry this much, my lady. We will take care of everything. Lord Larsa and Lord Denzel are very keen on your protection and have tightened the Palace guard."

"Why is she so worried, brother?" Larsa inquired.

Denzel stopped to think for a moment. He let his guard down and he put his sword in the training hall ground. "I think its because not a lot of people listen to her. She might be worried it will all be taken from her."

Larsa gave a quick nod. "I see, well, she's the empress who would oppose her now?"

"Who, yeah," Denzel scoffed. He was much less formal than Larsa, "I wonder too, but bet some jerk will ruin everything. what we're doing isn't wrong, right?"

"Of course not." Larsa agreed, "We are only dreamers, and life is made of dreams."

Noah and Basch watched as their students trained and spoke. The two brothers noted the children's concern.

"Do you think it will be enough?" Noah asked.

"I hope so." Basch answered, "For the citizenry's sake. From what I understand a pirate brought in something Her Majesty was looking for."

"I bet he collected a rather large sum." Noah mused.

"Indeed, but what's more. He seemed rather willing to help our cause should there be profit in it for him."

[Cherri]

"Right, right." Naia replied to the boss. "Quit giving the boss attitude." she told the silver haired man who growled in reply.

"Oh, boss ain't gonna be happy 'bout the loot." Bibo said remembering the mission and forgetting that the boss was three inches from him.

"Naia lost it." Sephiroth stated, his expression was stoic and he didn't seem to care much.

"Did not. I said it wasn't my fault and I was provoked." she snapped back.

"Before or after you decided to gamble?" Bibo asked teaming up with Sephiroth.

"After, of course." Naia reminded them. Her eyes widen as she realized that Rae was right there and not looking to happy at them. "Anyway, these two dudes just can't keep up." she added itching her head. She pulled something out of her pocket, it was shiny. "The loot is...." she continued to pull random shiny objects from her pockets and bag. "right here." she finished placing shiny orbs in front of the boss.

"Don't know what that is, but we got that since we know ya like shinies." the little mechanic bounced.

Sephiroth grabbed something from his jacket and placed it on the table, "There's the rest of it."

"Oh I thought I lost it." Naia said sarcastically.

"You did. I found it." he replied as she glared at him. "We were given a lot of random odds and ends."

Bibo continued to bounce, "And we were attacked by another clan and we took their loot as well. That's where the shinies came from."

"That clan totally didn't stand a chance." Naia crossed her arms and nodded her head. The older man just rolled his eyes. "Okay this is what happened. They we were doing our job and we got the loot, right? Of course. Then some rag-tag clan comes up and starts provoking then they say 'Who ever wins gets all the loot.' So, of course we agreed. It was like 20 against 3." she explained.

"Then Naia was like 'You should bring more friends.' We laughed. Then they actually got more people from their clan." Bibo continued.

"We won, got the loot and came back." Sephiroth finished getting to the point. Some days the explanations had no point unless he said it.

"That too." Naia commented with a sigh.

[CrAze]

"..so, does everyone understand the plan? Great!" Yuffie said, not giving anyone a chance to properly answer. "We'll all meet up here later tonight, 30 minutes before the celebration party starts. Until then, you're free to do whatever. Just don't get caught! I don't want to have to send Zarxce, Marcy and Amarant to save your asses again!"

Once again, Marcelino muttered his distaste for his nickname, and once again no one seemed to notice.

Several of the clan members went back to lounging lazily in the corner. Amarant was among them, laying on a couch and closing his eyes for a quick nap. Roslyn took a hidden staircase behind some crates to the lower level of the clan house. There was a small library of rare tomes and books the clan had acquired. Zarxce went back out the door and onto the street.

"What are you up to?" Marcelino asked, following him.

"I'm starved. I was so busy with our prison break that I didn't get a chance to eat lunch earlier. There's a cafe in midtown that has really good grub." He replied.

"Are you sure that's a good idea? What if someone spots you? If you get caught, the whole mission tonight will fall apart!"

"You worry too much"

And before Marcelino could protest anymore, Zarxce was already walking away. With a sigh, Marcelino could do nothing more than follow him, as usual. Eventually they found themselves at Cactaur's Oasis, the cafe Zarxce was talking about. They sat down and waited for a waitress to serve them. After a few minutes of waiting, one finally appeared. "What can I get for you?" She asked.

"I'll have some fried chocobo wings, extra spicy and a pint of ale"

The waitress nodded and scribbled the order down on her notepad. "And for you?" she asked the moogle.

"Just a coffee, please." Marcelino replied.

Zarxce looked rather concerned. "Eh..coffee? Are you sure? No offense, but moogles and caffiene don't mix very well..." he objected.

"Ah shut it. If I'm not going to complain about you drinking before a mission, then you don't whine about me having some coffee!"

The waitress walked away to go prepare their order. She walked right past a group of castle guards who had entered the cafe. There were 4 of them, all on their break most likely. Among them were the two guards Zarxce and Amarant knocked out earlier. Marcelino took notice and poked Zarxce.

"Hey, maybe we should get out of here..." he suggested.

"Hm? Why? I hit them from behind..they didn't see us. We'll be fine." Zarxce said calmly, waving off the nervous moogle.

"Ok, maybe they didn't see you that time, but what about during the other 50 felonies you've committed?"

"...oh ri-"

But before Zarxce could finish his sentence, he was cut off by a "Hey, you!" as one of the guards began approaching the table.

[Mikari]

Cookie ran to the Etenity clan house and was the first to arrive. She opened the door and stopped to look back. "Slow pokes!"

Reno heard her loud and clear and started running towards the clan house. "Nobody calls Reno of the Turk- I mean Eternity a slow poke." He chased after Cookie, they were both very carefree and relaxed, the troublemakers of the clan.

Labit didn't speed up her pace. She crossed her arms and threw her head back as if she didn't care she was being left behind. She had the loot and the tips, tips earned by Cookie by looking all cute and asking for a little extra. The clients had no idea the little viera 'child' was actually in her late teens and trying to trick them. Well too bad, it was Labit's tip now.

When she finally arrived at the clan house, Labit was the on to close the door left open by Cookie and Reno. She walked over to Rae and gave her the reward promised by the client, keeping Cookie's tip to herself. "Here you go, mission accomplished."

[Snow]

Rae stood up, she set the two moogles on the table and looked over the loot she had received from Naia and Labit. She looked at Labit for a moment, and opened her mouth to speak but thought better of it in the long run. She counted everything and made a mental note, then had Artemicion place the bags into the safe.

She looked at her clan most of them looked bored out of their minds. "Well, at any rate, since everyone's back. There's this big party at the palace for the new Empress." She paused, "Everyone's invited."

"But?" Vincent inquired.

"Eh," She offered a shrug, "parties mean people. People means chaos and chaos means thieves."

"Not always." the purple moogle argued.

Rae shrugged again. "I don't care to argue, Artemicion. People and personal preference aside, it is free entry, free food, that whole thing. So if anyone wants to go..." she trailed off her hand absently rubbing the crystal necklace around her neck. "Should probably present ourselves ot the empress. So everyone make sure you're ready within the next hour."

"I thought you didn't want to go?"

"I don't Vincent, but, eh." She looked out the window, "There is no better price than free, right?...That aside, there's a strange, unsettling energy coming from the palace, almost that of a monster." She gave a sigh, "I have to find out what it is.."

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The palace bustled with activity and in just an hour everything would be ready for the grand party.

[Mikari]

"A party..." and it was one where Reno didn't have to babysit Rufus, that was a plus. "It could be fun if something happens." He had lost count of the times he wished something went wrong in one of those Shinra parties, just so he could go fight the intruders or look for a bomb, or do something other than stand guard.

"I'll go, I like free things," Cookie remembered the free gil she got at the mission and looked at Labit. "You have my tip right?"

Labit grinned. "I lost it, or rather you lost it. Since everyone else is going I might as well go too, I'm not too fond of crowded places though." Labit went off to get ready for the party.

Cookie followed her, "not fair! Gimme gil!"

"Not happening."

"It's not too formal is it?" and even if it was, dressin formal simply wasn't Reno's deal.

[Snow]

The hour came quickly as all types of people shuffled into the palace for the party. It was come as you are and so no one made note of a person or two dressed in less than their best. Marlene was not yet there, she was waiting to be announced but was currently battling with cold feet and fear that she might recognize someone out there and that they may try and stop her.

Larsa offered a shoulder for her to lean on as she tried not to cry. Denzel gave her a reassuring speech. She shook her head, she was just not ready.

Clan Eternity entered quietly. Artemicion was with Rae and Vincent trailed in the back. He scanned group looking for anyone he might recognize. No initial luck and he gave a sigh before joining up with the main group again.

[CrAze]

"Hey, you!" The guard repeated as he approached Zarxce and Marcelino.

Zarxce gripped the hilt of his sword tightly under the table and out of view. He was ready to slash through the table and the gaurd in one swift motion, should the situation call for it, but he did not let his face betray his plan. He smiled politely and looked the guard right in the eye. "What can I do for you, sir?" he asked.

"That table. That's where my buddies and I always sit." The guard said sternly.

"And?" Zarxce inquired, still smiling.

"And....get out." the guard retorted.

"What if I don't want to?" And with that Zarxce felt a small moogle leg kick his shin under the table. He flinched ever so slightly, but the guard didn't seem to notice either way.

"Would you rather spend this lovely evening in the dungeon?" The guard was getting more irritated now.

Finally, Marcelino spoke up. "My friend just likes to joke around" he said with a nervous laugh. "We were just on our way out anyways. Sorry for the trouble!" and with that, Marcelino got up and dragged Zarxce away.

"H-hey, I didn't even get to eat yet!" Zarxce protested, as he was already half way out the door.

"I swear, one of these days, you're going to get us BOTH killed..." Marcelino grumbled at Zarxce, only when he was sure he was out of earshot from the guards. "Now shut up and stop your whining. There'll be free food at the party we can snag and-...OH CRAP, what time is it?? We better head over there right now!"

Famished and beyond caring, Zarxce allowed himself to be dragged off to the palace.

[Mikari]

"Crowded places are odd..." Labit randomly commented, to no one in particular. She felt out of place, maybe she spent a lot of time by herself in her forgotten past and had come to enjoy the peace of being alone, but she did not truly remember, it was just a possibility.

"More people to think I'm adorable," Cookie made her best chibi face, which was in fact very cute. "And... maybe there will be music..."

"And no babysitting grown men..." Reno added.

"And free food," The red head hume and the viera echoed.

"If they have free desserts maybe it's worth it," Labit mussed.

[CrAze]

The party was just starting to get under way as Zarxce and Marcelino arrived. They had quickly changed into a semi-formal coat-and-tie-like get up along the way so that they would blend in the crowd easier.

Yuffie was chatting with Roslyn when she noticed the two come up. They were both wearing rather beautiful dresses (most likely stolen, knowing Yuffie). She stomped over and knocked them both over the head with her fist. "Where the hell were you two? what part of 'show up half an hour before the party' was so difficult to understand? If you screw this up for me, you're both out of the guild!" she said angrily.

Zarxce and Marcelino both apologized, even though they knew she didn't really mean it.

"Hurry into your positions. Amarant is already there waiting for you." Roslyn said calmly. She didn't seem to care quite as much. Or if she did, she had a very good way of hiding it.

Zarxce and Marcelino headed towards the entrance to the main corrider of the palace, still staying close to the general crowd so they didn't stick out too much.

"Great, thanks to you the boss is mad at me.." Zarxce muttered.

"M-me??.." Marcelino was at lost for words.

[Mikari]

Labit walked around until she spotted some sweets and went over there. She thought Reno and Cookie were near by, but the next thin she knew they were gone, disappeared somewhere in the crowds.

Reno was reminded of the Shinra parties, except this time he didn't need to babysit Rufus, or spend his time looking for anyone suspicious, which was ironically what he was doing out of habit. He stopped himself and noticed that Labit and Cookie were gone, not that they were hard to find if he needed to know where they were for whatever reason. Labit would be near the sugar and Cookie would be showing off somewhere.

Labit walked around the crowds looking for anyone interesting to annoy, that should be fun.

[Cherri]

"Cookie and I are pretty much the cutest here." Naia informed the silver haired hume and bouncy moogle. They didn't reply instead they looked at each other and shrugged. It was a losing argument and they knew it.

Sephiroth quickly scanned the room with his mako green eyes, the only people he recognized were from his clan. Which was probably for the best. Bibo bounced around, "Oh! Food! Later!" Next thing the two knew was that Bibo bounced off to the sweet table by Labit.

"So, what do you think the Empress is like?" Naia asked the much taller hume.

"Like a woman." he replied plainly and got the 'no duh' look. He sighed, "I haven't stopped to think about it."

Naia nodded, she could understand that. After all she hardly gave him or Bibo time to think about other people. They always had to bail her out when she got in over her head. The two continued to walk around to get a feel of the place before they robbed it blind when mass chaos struck...at least that's what Naia hoped for.
---------------

(By the way, who was it that messaged me about posting in the RP? Sorry, it's just that the number didn't look familiar.)

[CrAze]

OOC: (erm, that was me ^^; You still don't have my number saved or something? ._. I sent it to both you and Snow. And in it I said "Cherri and Pengtwin." Just how many pengtwins does snow have? T__T

I-is she cheating on meee? Does she have another shiny penguin that she is twins wiiith? *flails and cries*)

[Snow]

OOC: Don't be dramatic pengtwin. D: I said it was you if you used pengtwin. </3 *hasn't checked messages*

IC:
Rae lazily watched the crowd, she hated them and could not quite figure out why she had urged the clan to go. The monstrous howl had died down and she was curious if it was actually people or beasts as sometimes people were more treacherous.

Vincent stuck close to her if only to offer support. He was also not one for crowds and did not know how to "mingle". He hovered about, but there were so many people he was not sure who he did or didn't know.

Trumpets basted a welcome for the empress, Basch and Noah stepped out first with Denzel and Larsa. Draith was next and the announcer, proclaimed the entrance of the empress.

"All Hail Holy Empress Marlene!"

Vincent's head shot up quickly upon the name. It couldn't be. But next to the young girl stood Denzel. He tried to work his way through the crowd to get a better look - because his eyes may have been playing tricks on him. But no, it was her. And suddenly Vincent felt very sick to his stomach. Marlene and Denzel were trapped as well.

Being just a child Marlene was nervous about meeting all of these people. She was to make a small greeting speech but instead just fiddled with her skirt. Thankfully, Larsa was more adept at these kinds of things.

"Greetings Citizens, I welcome you all to this joyous occasion. We are blessed and overjoyed to have you with us to celebrate the ceremony of our new empress." He paused to smile, "We hope everything is to your liking and we encourage you to enjoy yourselves."

Rae thought this boy must have been in politics. Her eyes fixated on the young girl on the throne. She did not seem familiar but the coin in her hand did. Marlene held in her hands her fingers gliding over it for support.

She turned to find Vincent, only to see had he had left her side. A sigh escaping her lips she went to find someone in her clan to warn about trouble. She knew the screams of fiends. She walked passed a hume and viera that were elegantly dressed. She stopped to look at the dark haired girl for a moment. Something about this girl struck her as familiar.

Gray eyes looked over Yuffie for several seconds, then Rae took a deep breath and looked at Roslyn. Her head titled and she dismissed her thoughts as she spotted Reno. She quickly made her way to him without saying anything to the two women.

"Reno," she whispered, "I think there is going to be trouble."

[Cherri]

The name of the Empress rung in Sephiroth's head, he didn't know her. Yet she seemed familiar as if he had met her at least once. With the way Larsa spoke he knew for sure that the boy had previous dealings in politics. Denzel looked familiar too, but like with Marlene he couldn't place it.

"Isn't she kinda young to be an empress?" Naia whispered to him, he just shrugged. "Some help you are."

"We need to find the rest of Eternity." He spoke quickly but it was understandable.

"That sounds like something Rae would say." Naia commented. "Do you two share a brain or something?"

A low growl was her response. They made their way over to Bibo and Labit.
------

(I said the number didn't look familiar. I have you in my phone, but not with that number. Calm down, you're Snow's only pengtwin. I'm using the fact that Yazoo, Loz, and Kadaj all saw Marlene and Denzel. Since those three are parts of Sephiroth that he would feel a small deja vu but not know them.)