Rating: PG
Genre: Comedy
Setting: Who knows?
Main Characters: Sephiroth (Duh)

Note from the Authoress: Um, yeah, I haven’t completed FF7, as you probably realise, so I don’t know what happened to Reno, but if he died, he has been resurrected for the purposes of the fic.

Sephiroth curled in his corner whimpering. He had no idea how long he huddled there, but eventually he drifted into sleep, wishing he had brought some of his brandy bottles along. He had no idea how long he slept, or when the storm finally abated. He finally regained consciousness, and, with a start, realised that the ship was no longer tossing around like a jugglers ball. Slowly he stood, immediately falling over. He cursed, rubbing his legs, which had become numb by the way he had been lying. Slowly some feeling crept back into his legs, but almost immediately pins and needles followed. He banged his head against the ships wall, causing a dull ache to spring up in his head.

“Why me” he moaned softly, relaxing as the pins and needles died down. He slowly and gingerly stood. His legs managed to hold him up his time. Slowly, clinging to the wall, he staggered to the door, pulling it open. Even as the door opened a smell of fish hit him, like a tonne of bricks. He gagged slightly, and held his breath. This was not his idea of fun. He pulled his shirt up over his mouth, breathing through the cloth. It didn’t work spectacularly, but it blocked out the worst of the smell. He peered along the corridor. Drips of water fell from the ceiling, giving the dark corridors the impression of a cave. The ominous tone of dripping was eerie, and Sephiroth found himself wondering if the slaves had survived. He shuddered, stepping into the corridor. His foot slipped out from under him, causing him to fall and land straight in a puddle of water. He snarled to himself, looking for what he slipped on. Flopping uselessly on the floor, clearly dying, was a large fish. He lowly became aware that this fish wasn’t the only one. Further down the corridor, more fish flopped. Several had already stopped moving. Scowling in the darkness, Sephiroth staggered back up onto his feet and staggered towards the deck. He opened the door and stared in surprise.

The deck was covered in water. But, perhaps even more surprising, sloshing their way over the deck were three slaves, making their way towards the stern of the ship where a fourth stood numbly by the helm, water still cascading from his hair. Sephiroth thought he would creep up on them to see what they were saying. He stepped onto the deck, and then proceeded to splash noisily over to where they were standing. He cursed the water swilling around on the deck as he approached. One of the slaves turned to him.

“Greetings. We thought you had been washed overboard.” Sephiroth stared at the speaker. The speaker looked like he may have a defiant nature. He figured he had better think up a lie fast.

“No, I was, er, below deck…” The slave who had spoken narrowed his eyes a bit. “I was blocking up some holes in the hull. Otherwise we would have sunk” two of the other slaves gave Sephiroth admiring glances; the one at the helm seemed to be paying little attention. However, the speaker still had a disbelieving look in his eyes. Yes, Sephiroth thought, this ones going to be trouble. The slave spoke again.

“Well, you should know we are the only survivors.” Sephiroth groaned inwardly. So, he only had four slaves for his plan. Well, he reasoned, three if this one causes too much trouble. The slave continued speaking.

“Since there are so few of us, perhaps we should give you our names. I am Cid, my two friends are Ella and Reno, and the guy at the helm is Boris.” Reno, thought Sephiroth, why does that name sound so familiar? He gazed at the slave known as Reno for a moment, and then it hit him. This guy used to be part of Shinra. He wondered what had happened to make him a slave, and decided he would ask him later. But Cid had continued speaking.

“Of course, with so few of us, you no longer need us to help you.” Sephiroth was jolted out of his thoughts.

“Not so fast….Cid, was it? You aren’t weaselling out of my plans that easily. You’re still going to help me create my cheese empire.” Cid narrowed his eyes again, and Sephiroth was sure he saw signs of anger. Well, he was the leader here, and if Cid tried to oppose him, he was going to learn a nasty lesson. He flipped his hair back and continued to speak, somewhat haughtily.

“Now, we need to head back to port. But first, I’m starving. What food have we got?” Cid gave a menacing smile

“The storm brought in lots of fish. That’s about all we have now.” Great, thought Sephiroth. Fish. I hate fish.

“Fine, go and prepare it or something,” he muttered. Cid nodded at Ella, who headed below decks to prepare some food. Reno took over the helm from Boris, and Cid, glaring at Sephiroth, led Boris below decks again. Well, thought Sephiroth, at least it doesn’t reek of fish up here. He set out in search of a drink.

END OF PART 6