Characters / Us and Them

Crescent-Valentine Family

The main focus of most stories, the family gets started when Professor Gast and his wife Ifalna take in young Sephiroth after Vincent breaks him out of the Shinra labs soon after discovering they're expecting a child of their own, their daughter Aeris. Aeris and Sephiroth are then raised together, though as they get older, their feelings begin to turn into something deeper than sibling love.

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• Baby's First Words: Aeris' first word wound up being "Seph", quickly becoming "Sephy". When they have children, their kids have rather peculiar first words.
  • Keter's is "beef", though Aeris thinks it's actually "om-nom-nom".
  • Remi: "No"
  • Aleph: "Book"
  • Malkut: "Yuck"
  • Raziel: "Boom"
  • Samek: "Uh-oh"
  • Sera's first word is a minor subject of "Right Lesson, Wrong Time". Toward the end, Remi is trying to get her to say "Remi" while Aeris and Seph are dealing with potty-training Sam. Sera's first word winds up being "poop".
• Massive Numbered Siblings: Aeris and Sephiroth go on to have seven children. This leads to Sephiroth literally getting pounced on by his brood every time he comes home from a long mission.
  Aeris: They only mob you like that because they love you and miss you when you're gone.
  Sephiroth: Love hurts...
• Sibling Rivalry: Given the eventual size of their family, it should be no surprise that their kids have the occasional fight, sometimes teasing, sometimes physical.
• Theme Naming: Their names come from various aspects of Judaism, Keter and Malkut are named after aspects of Kabbalah, Remielle and Raziel are named after angels, and Aleph and Samek are letters in the Hebrew alphabet. Sera comes from the first part of "seraphim".
• Uneven Hybrid: The kids are human/Cetra/Seraph mixes, known as Nephilim, which leads to some interesting features; Keter has gills, Remielle has a small white wing (until she has it removed), Malkut has retractable claws, Raziel has fangs and Sera has a small horn on her forehead.

Aeris

• Adaptational Badass: Is quite proficient with the staff in this universe.
• Appearance Angst: Her ordeal with Id's Death had strange growths and scabs growing on her shoulder where the infection was festering. They die down when she recovers but leave discolored blotches on her skin that she is really self-consious about.
• Bad Liar: Aeris is never very good at telling them, either as a child or when she gets older.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Aeris is normally very sweet and friendly, but if you make her mad...
  Ingrid: And she seems so sweet and innocent too...
• Cheerful Child: Aeris was, up until Shinra finally tracked her family down again. Even then she still usually maintains a positive outlook.
• Dream Walker: To get back at the author of the erotic novel based on her and Seph's relationship, Aeris enters her dreams and basically gives her a "Reason You Suck" Speech.
• Half-Human Hybrid: She's half-human/half-Cetra.
• Hand on Womb: In "Nephilim", she announces to Seph that they have another child coming by putting her hand over her stomach.
• Last of Her Kind: Averted with Aeris when she discovers that the Cetra are actually part of a greater collective of spacefaring travelers who find planets to cultivate.
• Lonely Among People: Due to being the last Cetra on Gaia, she finds herself isolated from people because she has abilities no one else does. Once she goes through the gateway and finds herself in an entire empire of Cetra, instead of fitting in she manages to isolate herself completely by reacting to the Guild's hazing, which is compounded further by people who find out she had Id's Death avoiding her like the plague, even though she's recovered from it.
• Magic Staff: After her parents are abducted she starts training in the staff as a means of self-defense. She retains it as she joins the White Mages Guild and starts really increasing her magic.
• Martyr Without a Cause: Discussed during their heart-to-heart, when Aeris tells Seph that she's not just some tragic altruist waiting to go down in a blaze of glory.
• Morning Sickness: Downplayed example, the first indication she's pregnant is when she starts waking up with headaches.
• Precision F-Strike: After her first physical therapy workout with a staff, Aeris is flopped on a bed completely sore. When Seph offers to find her a pain killer, she vehemently declines since she can't stand any more of their damned medicine.
  Sephiroth: Hey-that's one gil.
  Aeris: Oh, shut up.
• Rage Breaking Point: After finding out that a botched rescue attempt wound up separating her from her parents for ten years, Aeris goes on a long and angry rant.
• She Is All Grown Up: Seph suddenly realizes this one day when when Aeris hugs him from behind, causing him to suddenly realize she has breasts now.
• Sleepwalking: Pregnant Cetra are apparently prone to sleepwalking episodes, among other things. Gets to the point that by her fourth pregnancy, Aeris thinks she's having a lucid dream when she sees a book apparently based on her and Seph's romance.
• Turning Into Your Parent: She laments at times that she's becoming like her father, "the Absent-Minded Professor's absent-minded daughter." Ifalna also notes it: "My husband, the Manchild, and my first-born daughter, following in her father's footsteps."
• White Mage: Naturally. While on Beud A'Evori she actually becomes an accredited white mage after joining the White Mages Guild.

Sephiroth

• A Man Is Always Eager: Is he ever! Fortunately, his wife is usually willing to reciprocate.
• Adaptational Heroism: Raised in a loving family with full knowledge of what Jenova is and his true parentage, Seph manages to resist going insane and becoming the monster he was in canon.
• Blood Knight: Even without going completely mental, battle still fires him up like nothing else. Well, probably second to sex with his wife.
• BFS: He wouldn't be Sephiroth without Masamune in hand.
• Deadpan Snarker: Usually has a dry comment or two.
• Half-Human Hybrid: Turns out to be half-human/half Seraph.
• Geeky Turn-On: Sephiroth gets very turned on when Aeris gets devious.
  Aeris: Honestly, the sexiest lingerie I could possibly wear doesn't compare to when I do something devious, does it?
• Master Swordsman: The only person who can wield Masamune.
• Pride: One of Sephiroth's flaws and the one that tends to get him in the most trouble, either actual physical danger, or hot water with his wife. The short story where Aeris recounts his first attempt to ride a bike, resulting in him getting a concussion is even called "Pride Goeth Before A Fall".
• Once Done, Never Forgotten: Aeris has a whole list of things he's done that she remembers for years and will break out and tell others about from tim to time.
  • His first time riding a bike, he insisted on doing it at night without wearing a helmet because the one Eleanor brought was embarrassing. After several falls, he manages to get it going down hill at a fairly fast rate, only to slam headlong into a tree because he hadn't figured out how to steer yet, knocking himself out with a concussion. Eleanor had to drag him back to the Gasts' house.
  • After leading his baseball team to victory, he got the ice cooler treatment, resulting him him running home without his shirt.
• Surrounded by Idiots: With the exception of his family and friends, Sephiroth often acts as though he's surrounded by morons.
• Trauma Button: Seeing Aeris strapped to a bed and screaming in the hospital takes him back to his time in the labs under Hojo's care. He doesn't even like to go to the doctor because of it.
• Power Incontinence: As a teenager, Sephiroth had a tendency to have his hands suddenly burst into flame when stressed out. He took to wearing fire-proof gloves to prevent himself from burning the town down. On the occasion he gets sick, he worries the same thing will happen.

Keter

• Big Eater: Has the biggest appetite in the family and able to pack more away than anyone else.
• The Ditz: Very sweet natured, but also prone to doing very dumb things.

Remielle (Remi)

• Daddy's Girl: Absolutely adores Sephiroth.
• Shared Family Quirks: She has demonstrated her mother's demanding look and looks uncannily like her father when she's trying to play innocent.
• Strong Family Resemblance: Looks like a female version of Sephiroth.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: The tomboyish one, contrasting with her more girly little sister.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Remi is strong enough at age three to actually cause Seph pain. This, combined with her ferocious temper, causes Aeris some serious worry about her hurting someone, accidentally or otherwise. Eventually, she and Seph decide to have her start training with the staff to both give her an outlet and teach her disicpline.
• Winged Humanoid: Has a tiny vestigal wing on her back. Since it's worthless as an appendage and is prone to infections, she has it removed when she's fifteen.

Aleph

• Little Bit Beastly: Has an animal-ish tail.

Malkut

• Absurdly Sharp Claws: Born with a set of naturally retractable claws.

Raziel

• Cute Little Fangs: Was born with fangs, but Aeris didn't think they were so cute when she had to breastfeed him.

Sera

• Cheerful Child: Shares her mother's natural disposition.
• Horned Humanoid: Has a small horn on her forehead, similar to a summoner's horn.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: More girly, in contrast to her tomboyish older sister.

Ifalna

• Almighty Mom: Doesn't take crap from anyone, not from her own children, not from people trying to stiff the pharmacy she works at, not from Shinra scientists trying to abduct her family.
• Death Glare: Has a look that can silence just about anyone.
• Mama Bear: Even when Hojo has her in his grips, she is more concerned with making sure the kids get away.
• Prematurely Grey-Haired: Has grey streaks despite being in her late thirties from all the stress Shinra has caused her.
• Stacy's Mom: Attractive enough while living in Corel that Dyne actually tries to put the moves on her. Right in front of the professor...and Sephiroth.
• Strong Family Resemblance: Gave her looks to her daughter. More than one notes that they look very similar.
• Tsundere: Normally patient and understanding, but her temper can cause some rather strong reactions. Rufus even calls her this when viewing the professor's tape of Aeris' birth.

Prof. Gast

• Absent-Minded Professor: No doubts about his intelligence, but he's still prone to bouts of absent-mindedness. Ifalna even refers to his forgetful head.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After his attempt to get Hojo fired fails, Shinra tells him to go on vacation, which he does...and never comes back.

AVALANCHE

Vincent

• The Atoner: Initially he was in self-imposed exile as a way to atone for his mistakes, but after Professor Gast finds him, decides actively fighting Shinra is a better way of doing that.
• Disappeared Dad: Vincent turns out to be Sephiroth's biological father, but given his mental state and desire to decimate Shinra, he chooses not to raise Sephiroth, but leave him with Professor Gast and Ifalna. However, after the Gasts are forced to flee Icicle Inn, it takes seven years for him to track the family down. By that time, Sephiroth wants nothing to do with him, thinking of Professor Gast as the only father he needs.
• Knight in Sour Armor: Vincent makes good on the extra time he has when freed from the Nibelheim mansion decades earlier. He finds and joins Avalanche, ascends the ranks quickly and becomes their leader. However, he is still a curmudgeon whose patience is constantly tried by the younger members of Avalanche.
• My Greatest Failure: Failing to protect Lucretia and Sephiroth, which he tries to make up for by leaving him to be raised by Gast and Ifalna.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: He inadvertently leads Hojo to the family where Gast and Ifalna are taken by Shinra. Hojo taunts him about, and Sephiroth is furious when he hears it.
• Rebel Leader: Becomes the leader of AVALANCHE after its founder dies.
• Supernaturally Young Parent: Vincent and Sephiroth look exactly the same age, and nobody in Avalanche says "boo" about it.

Jessie

• Adaptational Angst Upgrade: Due to the ripple effect, Jessie joined Avalanche much sooner after a traumatic event occurred when she was sixteen. She is still a friendly and easygoing person on the surface, but somewhat bitter and slightly paranoid, which Aeris almost immediately notices. Aeris' naivete often rubs her the wrong way, though the two still manage to become good friends. She lightens up a bit in "Welcome To The Machine", however.
• Ascended Extra: A relatively minor character in canon, being killed off fairly early in the game, but here she's a major character and Aeris' friend.
• Drowning My Sorrows: After the initial bombing mission, which seemingly gets a number of civilians killed, Jessie consoles herself with drinks.
• Gamer Chick: Jessie is really into video games, which she turns out to share with Rufus, much to her dismay.
• Sympathy for the Devil: Jessie starts to get this after spending time with Rufus, finding out they share some of the same interests, and getting hints about the abuse he suffered at the hands of his father.
• Techno Wizard: AVALANCHE's resident computer and technical expert.

Barret

• The Big Guy: Big and eager for a fight.
• Bruiser with a Soft Center: Big tough guy, always ready for a fight, but has a soft spot for old friends.

Elmyra Gainsborough

• Team Mom: Acts as a support for AVALANCHE, keeping track of information, giving a place to stay. They even refer to her as their "den mother".

Shinra, Inc.

• Adaptational Heroism: More of a practical nature, but without the Mako reactors and with Rufus shutting down many of their more questionable activites after Us and Them, they're going to be a lot less villanous going forward.

Rufus Shinra

• Heel–Face Turn: Rufus slowly starts to realize exactly what Shinra's been doing to the planet.
• Otaku: Into video games and anime, which helps bring him closer to Jessie.
• Pragmatic Villainy: As a Shinra, his primary motive is to make a profit, and he shows hints of being just as ruthless as his old man if he has to, but as an inhabitant of the planet he happens to depend on for his existence, he realizes the Mako reactors have got to go.
• You Need to Get Laid: A retroactive example, but Reno notes that since he started seeing Jessie, he's a lot more chill.

Reno

• Flipping the Bird: Has a habit of doing this whenever someone is taking his picture.
• The Stoner: Admits to smoking joints as a youth and when Aeris is hopped up on the Id's Death medication, he actually begs Medea for some.

Tseng

• The Confidant: Rufus actually values Tseng's opinion, and occasionally vents to him. Rufus is also able to trust him to keep his feelings for Jessie secret when Tseng figures it out for himself.

Cloud

• An Arm and a Leg: Loses a leg in the final stages of the fight against Jenova. Fortunately, with Medea's help (and cells) he is able to completely recover.
• Manchild: Zack decribes him as one in "99 Shades", though says Tifa still loves him.
• Shrinking Violet: Male example, he initially hides behind his trooper helmet so Tifa won't recognize him, due to being embarrassed over not getting into SOLDIER like he set out to do.

Zack

• Romantic False Lead: He's instantly taken with Aeris, much to Sephiroth's annoyance, and keeps trying to find ways to spend time with her. Given the situation and the fact that she's already head over heels for Seph, she barely notices.

President Shinra

• Asshole Victim: There is very little sorrow when one of the WEAPONs downs his chopper and drags him to his doom.
• President Evil: He's the president of a company that is slowly killing the Planet and conducts all sorts of inhumane experiments on kidnapped victims.

Prof. Hojo

• Asshole Victim: Had just had Ifalna rescued right from under his nose after injecting her with some kind of truth serum and preparing her for further experimentation when Vincent puts a bullet through his skull.
• Laughing Mad: When Vincent finds him after Gast and Ifalna vanish, he's in his lab in Nibelheim laughing crazily that he's just learned the true origin of Jenova and his supposed son.
• Mad Scientist: As crazy as ever.
• The Rival: The story starts off with Prof. Gast looking for a way to get Hojo ousted from Shinra. Unfortunately, they have no intention of getting rid of him, no matter what Gast presents.
• Villainous Breakdown: After Ifalna and Gast are rescued and Hojo learns the truth of Jenova's origin, he's left giggling to himself, but when he realizes Vincent had nothing to do with it, he full on demands to know what is going on before having a further breakdown. Vincent just shoots him.

Others

Tifa

• Buxom Beauty Standard: Wouldn't be Tifa if people didn't believe in this, and several male characters are openly appreciative.
• Tag Along Kid: She's basically roped into the adventure because Rufus insists on not letting her go back to Nibelheim and getting a panic started from the stories of a hysterical teenage girl.
  Tifa: I'm not hysterical!

Medea

• Dismemberment Is Cheap: When she first encounters Shinra, Rufus shoots several of her fingers off. She just grows new ones and says it'll take a lot more than that to stop her.
• Expert Consultant: After defeating Jenova, she works with Shinra as they reorganize in the aftermath. She doesn't actually work for the company, but she comes in now and then and donates samples of her cells so they can continue enhancing SOLDIE Rs.
• Strange Cop in a Strange Land: She's a cop from the Cetran Galactic Capital sent through the portal to Gaia after Shinra activates it, rescues a Cetra being held by them (Ifalna), then gets involved in a mission to track down and subdue one of her own people who is mad by an ancient deadly disease before she can consume the Lifestream and destroy the planet.
• Voluntary Shapeshifting: Seraphim can also assume other forms.
• Winged Humanoid: She's a Seraph, a winged race from the planet Beud A'Evori.

Reidmar

• Expert Consultant: As with his wife, he assists Shinra in monitoring the Planet's health as the mako reactors are dismantled.

Ingrid

• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Blonde and the one that takes pity on Aeris when the rest of the White Mage Guild start picking on her.
• Nice Girl: The only one from the White Mages Guild to not take part in tormenting Aeris and the only one who would talk to her after she blew up at them.

Gregor

• Black Mage: He even has the hat that gives him the dark face with glowing eyes.