Disclaimer: Any and all characters and/or properties of the Final Fantasy series do not belong to me. I am using them in this work of fiction which is mine, but I hold no legal rights to them and make no pretense to.

Wow, I was really stuffy back then, to write such a bold and legal-sounding disclaimer.

If you're here for the first time, welcome. My name is Mengde, and this is my story, Schism. It's a crossover between Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy X, my two favorites of the franchise.

If you're here because you've read this story before, then welcome back! I wouldn't call this Schism 2.0, I would just call it Schism 1.5. I've given it a facelift – edited or rewritten parts that irked me, had pacing or character problems, etc. The writing is also going through the gauntlet of VulcanElf's expert betaing. Everyone give her a round of applause. It's practically like new! I'll put up a new chapter every Wednesday, along with a chapter from my other ongoing fic featuring Auron and Sephiroth, A Clash of Heroes. (shameless plug)

One small note: this is in the FFVII section because that's where it was born and that's where I want it to stay. It is technically a crossover, but in my mind this is very firmly a Final Fantasy VII story. Just to clear up any confusion.

So, regardless if you're a newcomer or someone who's familiar with the story but just wants to reread it, I invite you to sit back and enjoy.

Schism

A Final Fantasy VII/X Fan Fiction

Written by Mengde

Auron realized that he was realizing something.

This was, of course, a vast improvement over his previous state of being, namely nonbeing. He was cognizant, so something had changed.

Opening his one good eye, Auron confirmed that he was still in the Farplane, but something about it was different than before. It was no longer so much a place as it was a consciousness, though he still stood in the endless field of flowers visible from the entry in Guadosalam. Auron had no idea how much time had passed since he had last felt anything. His last memory was watching Yuna and her friends topple the menace in the Farplane, and the thought: Go to her, Tidus.

Why am I back? he wondered.

At the time, the fayth had approached Auron and offered to try to bring him back, as well. He could return to Spira as a living man, not as an unsent.

But Auron had simply replied, "This is their story, now."

Perhaps my own story isn't over yet.

There was a shift in what passed for the wind, and before Auron stood a young man.

He was almost Auron's height, and while he was not as strongly built, he wore a very dangerous aura of power. He had long, grey hair with upswept bangs, beautiful features, and a poisonous, penetrating stare. He was dressed almost entirely in black, with steel shoulder spaulders.

Most impressive of all, he grasped in his left hand an enormous sword, what might have been a katana if it hadn't been as long as he was tall.

Without seeming to expend any effort, the young man leveled the massive sword at Auron's head with one hand, blade parallel to the ground.

"Who are you?" Auron demanded.

The young man sprang forward with incredible agility. Auron unslung the Masamune from across his back and brought it into the path of the enormous sword. In an instant it was no longer there, angling in from another direction in a slash instead of a thrust. With an oath, Auron pushed back, whirling, and slammed the considerable weight of his weapon into that of his foe's. His opponent's swing was stopped dead, but so was Auron's, and the two of them dug their heels into the ground. Even while applying pressure across more than six feet of blade, the young man was monstrously strong.

That enormous blade means he has equally enormous blind spots.

With a heave, Auron disengaged their blades and rushed forward. Immediately he had to fend off another horizontal strike; marveling at his enemy's speed, he leaped into the air, dodging a low blow in the process. He twisted as he jumped, bringing the Masamune's broad side around to bash off his opponent's head.

The young man brought up his right hand, open-palmed, the arm bent at the elbow a bit, and took the attack right there. Auron's strike came within an inch of his opponent's head, but it was ground to a halt. A demonic grin lit the young man's face.

One black, feathered wing sprang up from behind his right shoulder. Quick as a snake, the young man's hand darted from Auron's blade into a punch that took him under his ribs. He went flying, incredible pain shooting through his chest. When he hit the ground, the impact blew all the breath out of him.

Heaving himself back onto his feet, Auron freed his left arm from his jacket in the same motion. The thought crossed his mind that he was probably in trouble.

His opponent was above him, slicing down. Auron sidestepped, jumped back to give himself distance. He swung the Masamune about himself, gathering power, and coalesced the energy into a tornado, which he hurled at his foe. The young man was swept into it; Auron reached for his flask and chucked it into the wind, which spontaneously combusted into a whirling firestorm.

Much to his surprise and dismay, his tornado exploded. It was torn apart from the inside by massive pillars of flame that surrounded the young man, insulating him from the firestorm's heat. The pillars collapsed as Auron's foe lowered an upraised hand and charged again.

Auron made ready to withstand the charge. An oncoming front of air hit him, and he braced himself.

And continued to brace himself.

After another moment, Auron relaxed his stance and surveyed his enemy.

The grey-haired young man stood there, a look of anticipation on his face. The wing vanished and Auron's foe spoke for the first time, sounding deliriously happy.

"Cloud."

He vanished, dissolving into a dark mist.

Auron let his guard down and collapsed into a sitting position.

He had the upper hand.

Distantly, he heard a roaring sound. He turned about to see thousands of tons of water, pouring from the great Farplane Waterfalls, bearing down on him.

Not a pleasant way to wake up.

Auron woke face-down in a deep pool of what seemed to be water. He coughed as he pulled himself out of the stuff, which smelled sweet and tasted faintly of nectar. Memories of his childhood rose in his mind's eye, unbidden. He realized that he was thirsty, so he cupped his hands and carried some of the water to his mouth. It only dawned on him after he had swallowed it that he hadn't felt thirst in more than ten years.

I'm alive?

He heard the scrape of boot on stone to his right and immediately swung the Masamune without thinking. There was a yell of surprise, followed by an indignant, "What the hell?"

Auron realized he'd swung at a petite young woman with oriental features, short black hair, and an outfit that suggested she had an overly optimistic body-image. She held an enormous boomerang-shuriken but did not look as though she was about to use it, even though Auron had taken a swing at her.

Looking beyond her for a moment, Auron saw that he was most definitely no longer in the Farplane. Large buildings towered above him, and even the ground beneath his feet was composed of an unfamiliar, grey substance.

"I said, what's the big idea?"

Auron refocused on the girl. "Sorry. I thought you were someone else." At that, it also occurred to him that his unknown assailant might have come to or been taken to this place as well.

He shouldered the Masamune. "Listen. Have you seen a young man with grey hair dressed in black wielding an enormous sword? He ambushed me… somehow."

"You know Sephiroth?" the young woman asked, surprise evident on her features. "You must've been hallucinating or something. Cloud beat him yesterday."

Cloud. For a moment Auron had to concentrate, but then he remembered. "I don't know who Cloud is, or this Sephiroth, or you, or where I am. What I do know is that I appear to be alive again, which is an improvement on my state of being. Now, perhaps you can tell me what's going on."

The young woman was silent for a moment. Then she slung her weapon across her back and cocked her head at him. "You're not from around here, are you?"

Auron, with the young woman trailing behind him, entered the bar she'd indicated. Above the door was a sign saying Seventh Heaven. The young woman had told him her name was Yuffie Kisaragi.

He opened the door and entered to be confronted with the most motley crew he'd laid eyes on since he had become Yuna's guardian.

Seated at the bar were three men, their backs to him, though they all turned to look when Auron entered. One of them was dressed in black, with bare arms and what appeared to be a leather harness for at least six swords on his back. He had spiky blond hair and blue eyes with a peculiar glow to them. Seated to his left was a large dark-skinned man with imposing features, an extremely muscular build, and a right forearm and hand that looked like they were composed entirely of silver. To the blond man's right was a sandy-haired, rough-looking man. He was smoking some kind of foul-smelling weed and sported a five o'clock shadow.

Standing behind the bar was a striking woman, with black hair and delicate features. She wore a black leather vest that left her arms bare – Auron noted the similarity between her garb and the center man's and filed it away for future reference. Next to her was a small girl with brown hair and round features. She stood barely above the height of the bar, and Auron estimated she could not be much older than six.

In the darkest corner of the room, sitting in a chair with his back against the wall, was an extremely pale, black-haired man. He wore a ragged red cloak over black garments. On his left hand was an armored gauntlet ending in a formidable set of claws. Auron also made note of his footwear – golden greaves narrowing to a sharp point at their ends. The man returned his scrutiny with unblinking ruby eyes.

Lying next to the bar, seemingly asleep, was a long, lanky, canine creature covered in bright red fur. It bore a tattoo of the number XIII, as well as an elaborate headdress and several visible battle scars, the most prominent of which stretched across its right eye. At the end of its slowly lashing tail was a flame that burned brightly yet seemed not to sear anything it touched. Next to it was what appeared to be a small black cat moogle. Auron frowned slightly to himself; the thing reminded him of one of Lulu's dolls.

In another, more brightly lit corner were two men, both of whom seemed to match the most out of the entire group. One was bald and wore sunglasses and a slight goatee, as well as an impeccably kept uniform of some sort. The man next to him was shorter and lankier, with fiery red hair and similarly colored, symmetrical marks on his cheekbones. His uniform was unkempt, the white shirt beneath the jacket creased and unbuttoned in some places.

"Who the hell're you?"

It was the sandy-haired man wearing the blue shirt. Upon closer inspection, Auron noticed that a dogtag hung around the man's neck, though the significance of it was lost on him.

Yuffie shouldered past Auron into the bar. "Guys, this is Auron. I found him in the crater Bahamut left." She started pointing out people to Auron. Center blond man – "Cloud Strife." Sandy hair – "Cid Highwind." Silver arm – "Barrett Wallace." Woman behind the bar – "Tifa Lockhart." The girl next to her – "Marlene, Barrett's daughter." Red-eyed man – "Vincent Valentine." Red mammal – "Red XIII." The moogle sitting next to him – "Cait Sith, though it's really just a puppet being controlled by Reeve Tuesti." The two men in uniforms – "Reno, the red-haired one, and Rude, sunglasses guy. But nobody likes them."

"We love you too, sugar," Reno drawled. "Don't hate us 'cause we're beautiful."

His partner said nothing.

"That's not why we hate you, Cupcake," Cid snorted, then turned his attention back to Auron. "So, you were here when the Sephiroth brothers an' the big man himself came to make trouble? Sorry if we dropped Kadaj's little toy on your head."

"I just got here, wherever here happens to be, this morning, if I have local time right," Auron replied. "Let me first make something clear: I've traveled the entire world and I've never seen a city like this. Where are we?"

"Edge City, Eastern Continent," Barrett said. "Y'know, where Midgar used t'be."

"Midgar?"

"You don't look like you're from Wutai," Yuffie said, taking a seat at one of the tables scattered about the bar. "How can you not know about Midgar?"

"I don't know about any Wutai, either."

The group before him exchanged glances, speaking volumes without words. Auron had a sudden flash back to the same thing happening between himself, Jecht, and Braska, and a pang of regret shot through him.

Cloud straightened on his barstool. "Rocket Town?"

"No."

"Nibelheim?"

"No."

"Mideel?"

"No."

"Junon?"

"No."

"Costa del Sol?"

"No."

"Gongaga?"

"No."

"Icicle Inn?"

"No."

"Don't tell me that you're from Kalm and you don't know about Midgar."

"Unless you're speaking of the Eternal Calm I don't know about that, either."

Another series of glances. The woman behind the bar, Tifa, spoke up. "Perhaps you could tell us where you're from, then."

"Can't really say. I don't remember my hometown."

"Where are some places you've been to, then?"

"Bevelle, Luca, Kilika, Besaid, Djose, the Calm Lands, Gagazet… Zanarkand, too, I suppose."

More glances. "None of us have ever heard of any of those places," Vincent spoke up from the corner he was sitting in.

Auron frowned. "I can't imagine where in Spira we are, then."

"Spira?" Reno asked. "Some kind of spear?"

It dawned on Auron that he was more than simply lost in an unfamiliar environment. "It appears that this isn't Spira."

"Is Spira where you hail from?" Red XIII asked.

"You can speak?" Auron exclaimed. A moment later he got control of himself. "My apologies. I thought you were…"

"…a pet. A common misconception. Now, could you elaborate on Spira's location?"

"Spira is the world I come from."

A sort of odd silence descended upon the room.

"Let's take this one step at a time," the moogle sitting next to Red XIII said abruptly. "Where were you before you appeared in our… world?"

"The Farplane."

"The what?"

"It's where the dead go after they have been sent, or if they've accepted death prior to its visiting them."

Cid turned halfway around in his barstool, pulled out another with his foot, and reached under the bar. He retrieved a large bottle, twisted the cap off, motioned to the empty stool. "Have a sitdown an' tell us the whole story, because from the sound of it we're gonna be here a while."

With a small shrug, Auron did just that.

Nearly two hours later, Auron finished, "And that was when the young, grey-haired man appeared, fought with me, and I ended up here."

Aside from the odd question here and there, the group – including the two uniformed men who struck Auron as not being a part of the group proper – were completely silent. They remained so for about half a minute after Auron finished, then Cloud finally spoke.

"Seems like he attacked you just as Kadaj and I were dueling. Kadaj maneuvered things so I sliced open the container with JENOVA's head… Not that you know who JENOVA is," he added hastily, "but anyway, after that, Sephiroth used the cells to make Kadaj his avatar so he could fight me. When you saw him disappear, he probably showed up to attack me."

"A sound theory," Vincent said to him. Turning his attention to Auron, he continued, "But how did you get from your Farplane to our world? Yuffie says she found you in a pool of the Lifestream. Perhaps our Lifestream and your Farplane are connected."

"I've had enough of the Lifestream to last me quite a while," Tifa murmured, apparently to herself. Only Cloud seemed to grasp what she meant; everyone else gave nods and murmured assent. He, however, favored her with a small, knowing smile.

"How does one access your Farplane?" Red XIII asked. "Our Lifestream is effectively the realm of our dead, but accessing it is not impossible for the living."

"There was a portal of sorts in the subterranean city of Guadosalam," Auron replied.

"Was this city of yours built into a huge, multi-storied cave?" Cloud asked.

Auron stared at him. "How did you know that?"

Cloud looked like he regretted putting himself on the spot, but he explained. "A year ago, Tifa and I had just started Strife Delivery Services. There was an archaeological team that said they'd discovered what appeared to be an ancient sunken city in this huge cave complex. The only two entrances, however, were blocked up by thousands of tons of rock, and they couldn't get through normally. We delivered them some explosives, then never heard from them again."

"Could we go and see this underwater city?" Auron asked.

The group exchanged another one of their glances, then the collective gaze turned to Yuffie. "Cough 'em up," Barrett said.

Yuffie, though she tried to look calm, was betrayed by a blush coloring her face. "Cough what up?"

"Our underwater materia," Cid said. "We had four of 'em."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Yuffie insisted, but her voice cracked.

Without further preamble, Vincent got to his feet, crossed the room to Yuffie, swirled his cape about her, and then removed it. In his gauntleted hand he held four glowing orbs. "Here they are."

Auron stared at them, fascinated. "They look like spheres from my world. More luminescent, however. What are they?"

"It's a long story," Cid said. "We'll explain on the trip over. Yer comin' with us to this sunken city of yours, so take one." He took one of the materia from Vincent and tossed it to Auron, who caught it with his free hand. "It'll let you breathe an' speak underwater, and it'll let you stand up to huge changes in pressure."

"That's nice. How do I use it?"

"For ordinary materia you need slots on your weapon to install 'em in, but underwater materia just works," Cid explained. "Keep it on you and you'll be fine."

"Count Tifa and me in for visiting this underwater city," Cloud said, and Cid tossed him two of the remaining three. Cloud caught them, handed one to Tifa, stuck his in a pocket. "Good to go."

"An' that just leaves me," Cid said. He moved to pocket the orb, then realized he was no longer holding it. A low snickering from behind him caused him to spin around and see Yuffie secreting the materia away.

"You stupid broad, that's –"

"My materia, thanks," she said. "Wanna try and take it?"

"You wanna try swimmin' to this place?" Cid threatened.

"Calm down," Cloud said. "Yuffie will just have to come with us, then." He turned to the cat moogle. "Reeve, do us a favor and see if you can come up with more underwater materia. We may all want to investigate the city together at some point."

"Can do," the cat replied.

Auron stared at the materia he held in his gloved hand. It was an odd feeling – like holding a bit of magic. He'd never bothered to learn any magic beyond what was helpful in lighting a fire to keep one warm at night. He certainly knew nothing powerful enough to bring into battle. In this world, he felt even that bit of magic power denied him, as though the vast currents and eddies of energy that were present in Spira had dried up and died here. The materia was a survivor of something that had come before, that much Auron could feel.

He shrugged and put it in his coat where he knew it wouldn't fall out or otherwise come loose.

"Cid, call the Shera," Cloud said. The grizzled pilot nodded and pulled out a small device which he began to bark orders into. Auron shook his head; this world was full of unfamiliar wonders.

Tifa vaulted over the bar and told Marlene to get Denzel and go to Elmyra's place for the time being. She nodded and began to close up the bar.

"Elmyra is a friend?" Auron asked.

Barrett nodded. "Yeah. Elmyra's an old friend of ours. She looked after Marlene back when we were fightin' the Shin-Ra. I bet she won't mind watching the kids for a couple days." He adjusted his silver forearm and hand a bit.

Auron didn't ask who the Shin-Ra were; he assumed he'd find out later, if it was important. A thought occurred to him, and he looked over at Reno and Rude. "You two aren't coming?"

"Who d'you think's going to get the underwater materia Reeve's looking for when he finds it?" Reno sneered, his derision obviously directed at the black cat and not at Auron. "Reeve would lose his own pants if they weren't strapped on with a belt." He turned to Rude. "Let's go get some R and R while we can, partner."

Rude nodded and followed Reno to the exit. At the last moment he looked over his shoulder and said, "Nice to meet you."

"Likewise," Auron said, noting that these were the first words the man had spoken all afternoon.

There was a thundering sound from the roof, and Cloud motioned for Auron to follow. The party ascended to the roof to see a massive airship making a landing. Auron had been impressed by the airship Cid had salvaged from the ocean floor – he wasn't even going to ruminate on the parallels between the Cid he knew and the one of this world – but this one put the one he knew to shame.

"Let's go," Cloud said.