Leaving Sorrow Behind
Chapter 1
Death and Judgment
Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy 7, or anything else related to Square.
This is my first FanFic, so please keep that in mind when writing your review.
Sephiroth stared up at the black sky. For the first time in almost 5 years, he was completely free
from Jenova's control, and he was thinking on his own. It was like he was waking up from a very long sleep, realizing for the first time his actions and their consequences. Try to become a god...? He had been perfectly satisfied with his strength before. He had been the most powerful man alive, why had he needed anything more? He sighed, and glanced up. He was tired, exhausted from fighting Cloud and his friends. He hadn't wanted to. When Jenova died, he became free from her control. He realized what he had done, and planned to kill himself, as it was far too late for him to turn back now. But then, what was left of Jenova dropped down from higher up in the crater, right on top of him. He had tried to resist her, but she literally forced herself inside of him, causing him to mutate into Bizzaro Sephiroth. Even then, he was still in control of 'their' body. Then, she had seeped into his brain, slowly taking control, her siren call seducing him again, only this time he did not succumb to it. In that moment of weakness, her weakness, he had seen her entire plan. He wasn't her son. He wasn't even an ancient. He was just a twisted Shinra experiment. The only one that had succeeded. A freak of nature, just like he knew he always was. He was shocked. He realized how easily he'd been manipulated by her. He hadn't even realized Cloud and his friends were attacking. Even as they fought, Jenova explained to him what had happened to his body. Bizzaro Sephiroth was really just a staging area for a more powerful mutation, the One Winged Angel. All the damage that he took would be converted into power for the next form. He struggled and fought her, even as Bizzaro Sephiroth's body died about him. His mutated body disappeared in a flash of light, immediately replaced by the one winged angel. They were strong, he had honestly expected Jenova to win. It was a shock to both himself and her when she was defeated, even in that form. She had died, along with his body. For good, that time. He relished her screams, and death cries, as their minds split apart. Jenova's dissolved, along with his body, while his mind, or spectral form, was drawn into the lifestream, into this black, depressing, wasteland. Sephiroth laughed softly as he glanced up into the sky again. The light overhead had grown to the size of a basketball. Soon, Cloud would arrive to kill him. He wouldn't even fight back, he deserved to die, and it was fitting that Cloud would be his executioner. All of his sins...Sephiroth shut his eyes, his mind reeling, still not believing what he...no, Jenova, had made him do.
"Sephiroth!"
He glanced up. Cloud was only 50 feet away now. When he neared, he righted himself from the headfirst plummet, and landed gracefully on his feet. He glared at Sephiroth, and held the Ultima Weapon at the ready. Sephiroth raised his sword, the Masamune.
(One more battle is all you owe me...)
Then, Cloud struck, the blows raining down on Sephiroth, fast and furious. He didn't even try to defend himself. His left arm was taken off, followed by a vicious slash across his chest. Blood flew everywhere...his blood. Sephiroth didn't scream. He wouldn't give Cloud the pleasure. Cloud lept up high and brought his sword down right on his head, splitting his skull in two. His brains splattered out onto the ground as Cloud stood triumphantly over what was left of his body. Suddenly, Sephiroth was seeing everything from above. He saw his body, or what was left of it, and Cloud, as he slowly faded away, going back to his friends....friends.... Sephiroth's vision began to go white, as he died. He felt at peace, as if he had atoned for his sins, paying with his life.
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Sephiroth awoke with a start. He immediately became aware of his surroundings. He was floating, in a green, translucent liquid. It reminded him of something he had eaten back when he was a cadet in SOLDIER....what was it called...Jelli? Jella? Something like that. But that didn't matter. (So......this is the lifestream...), he thought. He examined himself quickly, finding he was wearing his usual black SOLDIER garb, minus his armband, materia, and more importantly, the Masamune. He looked around, frantically searching for it. Looking down, he saw it sinking fast. He cried out, and began swimming after it, not even noticing that he could hear himself perfectly in the strange liquid. He swam for several minutes before he realized he had not made any progress at all.
"Dammit!"
He cried out in frustration as his only worldly possession sank away , slowly fading from sight. He tried to swim some again, but with the same result.
(Why can I not move?!)
He was confused. It was like he was flying, or suspended in midair. He couldn't move at all in any direction. He could move his arms and legs without any resistance though. "Struggling will get you nowhere." The voice came suddenly, and from all around.
He was surprised that he WASN'T surprised.
"Who are you?"
he asked, sounding almost bored.
"It's not the right time for you to know who I am yet.......Sephiroth."
"What?"
he asked, sounding annoyed. He didn't like not knowing what was going on, or being spoken to like he was 5 years old.
"Do you know why you are here?"
"I have not the slightest idea."
he replied, sounding bored again.
"This is your punishment."
He looked around. It didn't seem much like a punishment to him.
"What are you going to do to me?" He still sounded quite bored.
"Haha.....you fear nothing do you?"
"I have no reason to."
"I have lived a sinful life, and I deserve to be punished for it."
He shut his eyes briefly, the faces of the people he had murdered playing across the inside of his eyelids.
"I have killed many innocent people without remorse. Even before Jenova took control of me."
It was a minute before the voice spoke again.
"Are you remorseful now, Sephiroth?"
He thought for a moment.
"....I was never taught to feel remorse for what I did. I was created.."
He spat out the word, Hojo's face appearing in his mind.
"....I was created to be the perfect soldier. I am now what I was from the moment I was born. A heartless murderer."
".....Then you feel no regret or remorse for what you have done?"
"........No, I do not. I am not capable of it"
The words he spoke were flat and untrue. He was simply speaking what Jenova had hammered into his brain while he was under her control.
"Sephiroth....can you honestly say you would know remorse, even if you felt it?"
"....No, I cannot."
"What you are feeling Sephiroth....is remorse. You regret your actions and want to change them."
"You read my mind?"
"Yes. And that is your punishment. Sephiroth, you will know remorse. You will know sadness. You will yearn for death as if it were true love, simply to escape the sadness.....such is the nature and intent of your punishment. You will never be able to change your actions. You will be hated and loathed by all for the rest of eternity."
He was not affected. He had been hated, feared, despised, loathed by everyone he had ever come in contact with.
"I'm afraid you will have to come up with something better than that, as I am immune to the idiocy of emotions."
The voice grew angry.
"We shall see, Sephiroth, how brave you are very soon."
"Let us begin my torment then."
"Hahaha...very well. You must sleep now for a little while. I will return for you soon."
"What?"
He got no answer. Suddenly, everything went black. He could not see a thing. Even before he had time to move, he fell into a deep sleep, as if touched by death.
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It probably didn't seem to angsty or much like a drama now, but it will get better. This is only an introduction. I'm not gonna ruin the story, so you'll just have to read and find out.