Welcome to Adventu, your final fantasy rp haven. adventu focuses on both canon and original characters from different worlds and timelines that have all been pulled to the world of zephon: a familiar final fantasy-styled land where all adventurers will fight, explore, and make new personal connections.
at adventu, we believe that colorful story and plots far outweigh the need for a battle system. rp should be about the writing, the fun, and the creativity. you will see that the only system on our site is the encouragement to create amazing adventures with other members. welcome to adventu... how will you arrive?
year 5, quarter 3
Welcome one and all to our beautiful new skin! This marks the visual era of Adventu 4.0, our 4th and by far best design we've had. 3.0 suited our needs for a very long time, but as things are evolving around the site (and all for the better thanks to all of you), it was time for a new, sleek change. The Resource Site celebrity Pharaoh Leep was the amazing mastermind behind this with minor collaborations from your resident moogle. It's one-of-a-kind and suited specifically for Adventu. Click the image for a super easy new skin guide for a visual tour!
Final Fantasy Adventu is a roleplaying forum inspired by the Final Fantasy series. Images on the site are edited by KUPO of FF:A with all source material belonging to their respective artists (i.e. Square Enix, Pixiv Fantasia, etc). The board lyrics are from the Final Fantasy song "Otherworld" composed by Nobuo Uematsu and arranged by The Black Mages II.
The current skin was made by Pharaoh Leap of Pixel Perfect. Outside of that, individual posts and characters belong to their creators, and we claim no ownership to what which is not ours. Thank you for stopping by.
Sephiroth had managed to smother his emotions. Zack, it seemed, had not.
At the mention of Angeal, he broke in a way that Sephiroth would have found touching if the sight of it hadn’t left him so painfully uncertain. Was this how the rest of the world mourned? It seemed...appealing in its own way. To let his emotions take hold, to allow himself to feel them to their fullest, to be so nearly overwhelmed in a way that felt hot and vivid. But even alone, he knew he wouldn’t. Even without the greater threat at hand, the sheer thought of losing control…
No. For now, there could be only reason and anger.
”You might be right.” Zack’s voice had steadied. His emotions cooled. This was an old wound it seemed, and perhaps it was to Sephiroth as well in some remote, closed-off way. Even leaning the truth, there was little shock in it. The blunt trauma had faded to mere grief, and perhaps acceptance. There had been that one horrible moment, and then…
Sephiroth’s fist clenched tighter. Angeal deserved better from him than this.
Zack’s words came more careful than Sephiroth had ever heard them. And for good reason. As he spoke of other worlds, Sephiroth’s eyes shot to him, narrowing in pinpoint focus. He felt his anger channel into Zack, felt his confusion color it in cool waves.
Was this some kind of joke? If it was, Zack seemed to believe it at least. And Sephiroth doubted the soldier knew how to lie.
Zack moved past him even farther from the coastline. Sephiroth watched him sharply, mind already racing. If Zack didn’t believe his claims false then was he deluded? Confused by whatever had corroded their memories? What he said was impossible -- absurd even -- and Sephiroth refused to entertain the notion.
Still, it was the only explanation so far that fit with the current evidence. Shinra had surveyed every mile of Gaia in its expansions. This place...No. It was simply too massive to miss. Too isolated. Shinra would have had to purposefully kept it from their maps. They would have had to purposefully masked their presence here. And Sephiroth knew Shinra better than anyone.
The conspiracy sounded plausible. The lack of conquest did not.
Zack crossed his arms. ”I’ve been here for months.” He brought up a nervous hand to touch the hair that he’d so clearly modeled after Angeal’s. ”And I’ve met people here that are from other worlds, and they have no idea how they got here either.”
”Other worlds.” If it was a delusion, it was a shared one it seemed. He trusted Zack’s experiences though given the circumstances, he could not trust Zack’s rationality. He likely wouldn’t have in the best of times. Zack had never had a reputation for his skills in deduction.
Zack fell quiet, a new experience and one that filled the air between them with unease. Sephiroth’s gaze never wavered, but even he couldn’t help a prickle of tension at his neck. He resisted the urge to scratch it just as Zack had done, keeping his stance as cool and ready as ever. He tilted his head instead, eyebrows furrowed incredulously. Somehow, he doubted that anything Zack said to him would reveal a matter of substance.
”The last thing I remember, before I woke up here.” Zack glanced back at him with an uncharacteristic frown. ”I was dead, man.”
”What?” Sephiroth eyebrows shot up in surprise. Whatever he’d expected, it hadn’t been that.
”How could I be dead and then…?” The soldier trailed off, His eyes fixed on a point in front of him, and Sephiroth’s naturally followed. The city’s towers rose in the distance -- a city like something out of a children’s picture book he’d glanced in passing but never read. Nowhere like this could possibly exist on Gaia -- not Shinra’s Gaia at least. His lips twinged with a frown of his own. ”I end up here, alive, barely remembering anything. It doesn’t make any sense.”
”Dead.” He repeated bluntly as though the word would gain some meaning spoken aloud. ”People don’t come back from the dead.” But that much was obvious, wasn’t it? This wasn’t some science fiction melodrama, not some pulpy soft-cover that Genesis would have scoffed at. Yet why did the sentiment feel so…?
His wing shifted uneasily beneath his shoulder blade. He bit his tongue. The feathers itched as though in answer, and after a moment of thought, Sephiroth couldn’t help a short sigh.
”While we’re consolidating information.” Sephiroth paused, uncertainty stilling his hand for the first time in years. ”Perhaps there is something you could...shed light on.” He closed his eyes and took a steadying breath, lips pursed in steely resolution. And then he unfolded his wing.
”I awoke with…” He shot it a disgusted look. ”This.” New bones stetched out in a vague arc. His muscles tensed over them, as controlled and natural as any other limb. The feathers glinted a black-blue in the glare of the sunlight. They spanned across the aberrant addition in soft layers, the downy giving way to the long and rigid like the back of a crow. A feather loosed itself in his movement, swaying quietly in the wind before touching at the water, pulsing there where the current met sand.
The sight of it rolled in his stomach. This was not natural. Not human. This was…
His hand passed over his eyes. ”Do you have any explanation?”
Zack swallowed hard, suddenly grateful for the fact that he was facing away, toward the city. Even having had the status of his death confirmed by Rude and Cloud, even he sometimes doubted it, for the same reason that Sephiroth did. People truly didn’t come back from the dead. Fair had wished it many times, and even strongly believed it at points after Angeal’s death. He spent years chasing and praying that Angeal was still alive -- it was the entire reason he was finally able to break out of Hojo’s lab. But, the fact had been there all along, hadn’t it? Angeal was dead, because Zack had killed him. He never came back to life.
But … Zack had. The memory of the roaring gunfire and the weight of bodies against his blade was too vivid not to be real. He remembered the pain, and every morning, his fingers danced over scars on his chest that certainly didn’t used to exist there. The remnants of bullet holes and long, deep gashes from sharp swords. He’d tried to doubt the possibility of dying every day. Tried to forget what had happened. But, it was the first memory to come back to him when he awoke on Zephon.
Sephiroth’s bluntness hung heavy on his shoulders nonetheless, and the Soldier fought to think of a way to explain it in a way that wouldn’t sound completely insane. Hey, I met Rude and Cloud -- nevermind you have no idea who Cloud is -- but they’re from the future way past me being dead and they totally remember it and stuff. Yeah, no, that wouldn’t work. At some point Sephiroth would just have him committed to the nearest mental facility.
But, even the General would have to admit -- Zack wasn’t creative enough to come up with a wild story like that on his own.
”While we’re consolidating information.” Zack turned to face Sephiroth once again, pulled from his impossible thoughts of how to explain what he knew. He tilted his head, noticing that the General seemed to pause with uncertainty in his words. Frowning, the Soldier wondered what Sephiroth had seen, or maybe remembered, ”Perhaps there is something you could...shed light on.”
“Sure, I can -- Hu--uh,” Fair’s eyes went wide, his mouth falling open in a confused gape as a large, black wing unfolded from Sephiroth’s shoulder. All activity in his mind suddenly ground to a halt as he stared at the dark feathers, managing to glance back to Sephiroth for a moment, ”I awoke with… This.”
Holy shit, Zack shook his head, ruffling his dark locks as he attempted to shake away the initial shock. Sephiroth had a wing, just like Genesis and Angeal had. But, wait … He didn’t remember the silver-haired General having a wing. In fact, he specifically remembered that Sephiroth didn’t have one. It was a strange thing that Angeal and Genesis had shared, because of what Hollander had done to them? Or something like that? Soldier is a den of monsters, those words Angeal had imparted onto him so long ago seemed to keep coming back up in his life these days.
But, he never really considered those wings as something from a monster. He never had with Angeal. Zack had always considered them angel’s wings, a symbol of freedom. Still, though, why did Sephiroth have one now? Were they all going to grow a wing eventually!?
Sephiroth seemed disturbed by this revelation, which made sense -- if the last thing he remembered was learning about their deployment to Wutai, he hadn’t seen Genesis with a wing yet, right? Zack scratched at his head, still a bit dazed by the sight, and slightly annoyed as well. How many people had the science department screwed with? Did all Soldiers have crazy wings in the future? And why, why did he feel like Sephiroth had more to do with the science department than he remembered? Something about Hojo?
”Do you have any explanation?”
Zack nodded and swallowed hard, his mouth dry, “Yeah, kind of. After Wutai, Genesis had a wing like that.” He took a few tentative steps forward, looking closely at the wing. His memories swam for a moment as he held a hand up to his dazed temple, remembering the feeling of white feathers between his fingers, and the feeling of flying, “Angeal had wings too, but they were white.”
He didn’t dare to raise a hand to the wing, but he knew if he felt the feathers, they’d feel real. Silky and smooth, but strong.
“Genesis and Angeal …,” Zack murmured, closing his eyes tightly as he tried to remember the details more clearly, “They were experimented on by the science department. Hollander, I think. It was because of him.”
Degredation. Copies. “Angels dream of being human.”
That didn’t feel right about Sephiroth, though. However, it hurt way too much to try and remember the details clearly at the moment. Exhaustion ghosted across the Soldier’s shoulders as the strangeness of their conversation really began to settle within his gut. Things were getting more confusing and unbelievable by the minute. At some point, Zack knew, he was going to have to try and piece together some of his memories -- for both their sakes. But, doing that always left him exhausted and dazed for a while … He’d been avoiding doing it for a long time already.
Zack looked back to Sephiroth and forced a smile onto his face. He gave the man a quick squeeze on the shoulder, before realizing that this Sephiroth didn’t recall their friendship, and he quickly retracted his hand, “Having that thing show up out of nowhere had to be pretty shocking, huh? But hey, Angeal rocked his crazy wings, if I remember right. I remember thinking he looked majestic when he was flying. Like an angel.”
It probably wasn’t as reassuring as Zack wanted it to be, but he knew that he needed to help Sephiroth not focus on what the wing was, or what it could mean, “The science department pulled all kinds of crazy stunts with all of us. I’m surprised I haven’t grown a wing or a tail yet, honestly.”
Whether or not his attempt at humor was working, the Soldier knew that they couldn’t simply remain by the beach to keep talking about the bizarreness of their situation. Soon, the sun would be setting, and monsters would become plentiful. Not that that would be much of a concern for two 1st Class Soldiers, but Zack still didn’t want to push the issue. He felt a need to make sure Sephiroth was going to be okay. He’d always felt that way, ever since they’d become closer friends, but the need felt stronger for whatever reason. Like, if he didn’t keep an eye on the man next to him, he wasn’t sure what would happen.
Maybe Angeal rubbed off on him even more than he gave him credit for.
“Why don’t we head up to the city?” Zack offered, his shoulders feeling heavier by the second with the overwhelming mess of their conversation so far, “I work at a small inn in Torensten for a place to sleep. We can keep trying to figure out some of this mess and come up with a plan of what to do next.” Surely, that much would get Sephiroth’s attention. He knew how much the General hated winging it (oh my god), and he could only imagine that Sephiroth hadn’t had a decent night’s rest since he’d shown up there.
If it was up to me, I'd rewrite history, and change my destiny. One last time.
Wow this bodes well! Let me tell you how well this bodes!
I knew mine was a special existence
Zack was horrified.
Sephiroth should have expected that reaction, should have anticipated the widened eyes, the trailing voice that lost its focus. He should have expected it all, and yet his anticipation did nothing to dull the blow. Because it said that while Sephiroth might have expected this, Zack certainly had not.
Their eyes met for a fleeting moment, and in that moment Sephiroth felt his own vulnerability suffocate him like floodwater. Something passed between them, something that Sephiroth couldn’t understand, and he wanted to flinch away -- to retract that abomination and wish it out of existence with nothing but sheer willpower. But Zack’s reaction was only human, while Sephiroth was…
’a monster’
Sephiroth recoiled. His fingers tightened on his head, into his hair, digging into his palm at his forehead. Where had that come? Those painful two words that wrenched in his chest and took his breath away? Surely, he wasn’t-? Couldn’t be-?
Zack attempted to clear his expression though it didn’t go well. His thoughts etched into him with a childish honesty that the soldier couldn’t shake. ”After Wutai, Genesis had a wing like that.”
Sephiroth’s eyes widened. ”What?”
“Angeal had wings too, but they were white.”
”Angeal?” Sephiroth felt his gaze turn incredulous, felt the tinge of panic there that sparked hot in his throat. Angeal and Genesis, they had nothing to do with this. That Sephiroth himself should fall victim to some bodily anomaly, that almost made sense in its own twisted way, but them? Sephiroth’s eyes sharpened as Zack approached to examine the damned thing. Was he lying? He had to be because Angeal and Genesis were nothing but skilled soldiers, nothing but natives to that nebulous and incomprehensible crowd born outside of Shinra’s walls. And if they weren’t…
If Shinra had done something to them…
If either of them had experienced anything (like he had) then…
“Genesis and Angeal …” The names shocked him back to that rocky cliffside even as quietly as they came. Zack’s eyebrow furrowed in thought. ”They were experimented on by the science department. Hollander, I think. It was because of him.”
Sephiroth stilled. The confirmation chilled him. Genesis and Angeal. They’d been taken. They’d been taken and…
Sephiroth grit his teeth against the noise that rose there. His fingers dug deep into the black leather of his gloves, and he clutched at his temple even harder. Something pulsed there. Something cold and pounding and nameless. Shinra. He’d served their will at every battle, at every rebellion, at every slick of blood flicked from his sword. He’d followed their word unquestioningly, and all this time they’d been…
Zack’s continued. Sephiroth only vaguely recognized it as speech. Zack had not lied. He was too simple to lie, too earnest, and too kind. There was nothing to be gained by inventing that story, nothing but to pain him and there was no honor in that. Whatever he said, Zack at least believed it.
But for how long? How long had Shinra twisted his them all with one hand and used him in the other? Was this why Genesis had rebelled against them? Had he known? At Shinra’s command, Sephiroth had been ready to stop him, to drag him back without questioning his motives. Why had he ever believed them over his friend? Why hadn’t Genesis told him...?
Sephiroth’s gaze caught on the tip of Zack’s sword. Angeal’s sword. Perhaps it wasn’t too late. If Zack had found his way here, perhaps Genesis had as well. Sephiroth would find his answers. He would ask Genesis for himself, and maybe then…
Maybe when all of this had reached its conclusion, maybe then they would stand together.
”Why don’t we head up to the city?”
Zack’s voice came to him unfocused and slow, the first worthwhile words he’d spoken since he’d revealed the truth. Sephiroth let out a final breath as though focusing at the edge of battle. Without Shinra, Sephiroth knew nothing. No purpose, no meaning, not even how to survive. Zack’s offer came from a place of kindness -- the same as Angeal’s. Angeal, who still lived in some way inside him. Refusing would be an injustice to his name.
Sephiroth lowered his hand, forced his focus on the space around him, and then finally met the soldier’s glowing eyes. ”Fine.” There was nothing else to say, nothing useful at least. He needed time to think, but he would find nothing here. If nothing else, he needed someone who knew how to live in the world outside of Midgar.
