My Sanctuary Now
"…my sanctuary, my sanctuary now;
Where fears and lies melt away… what's left of me now?"
"Again? You think he will help? Alright."
Cloud Strife woke with a start.
"Aeris?" He whispered. Had it been Aeris? Cloud knew it wasn't really his fault that he dreamt about the flower girl, but he felt guilty. It wasn't fair to Tifa. Cloud rubbed his eyes and slowly rolled on to his side, to look at the clock. "Four…," he muttered. His wife stirred and touched his shoulder.
"Cloud, what is it?"
"Nothing Tifa, just a dream; let's go back to sleep." She looked slightly concerned, but relaxed in her husband's embrace.
"Goodnight Cloud."
In the heart of Midgar, an old truck rumbled past a narrow alley. Dirty water from the evening rain flew from the wheels and struck a man, lying in the alley, on the face. He groaned as he came to, blinking the water from his eyes. What? How did I get here? He wondered. The man slowly raised a long fingered hand up to his face and brushed the water from his pale green eyes. The movement hurt. What doesn't hurt? I haven't ached this bad since…
"Cloud." His breath came out as a hiss. Now he remembered. "I hate temporary amnesia," Sephiroth growled. Mother usually pulls me out of it… Mother? MOTHER!
There was no answer. He swore softly. Well, at least it puts off being chewed out; I barely lasted ten minutes… Stupid clones. Sephiroth rolled carefully onto his side and began to inspect his wounds. He was surprised to find the Omni-slash gashes were mostly healed. SOLDIER healing isn't that strong, I was dying, I did die… Something brought me back then; not Mother? Where could she be…? He ran his fingers over the wounds gently. The deepest one, right in the middle of his stomach, was still slightly raw. As he shifted something soft bumped into the side of his head and a black feather floated down in front of him. Wing's still here? Small wonder… Sephiroth tried to stretch his wing around, but was stopped half way by blinding pain. "Broken?" Great. Bracing against the alley wall, Sephiroth carefully tried to stand. He leaned there and took a few deep breaths. No materia? No healing magic… He sighed and held the wing out as straight as he could before pulling it back into his shoulder. #&$! Bad idea, very bad! He fell back to the ground in pain. Not thinking too clearly.
After lying in the alley for a while longer, Sephiroth staggered out into the street. Central Midgar; ok. His old apartment building was on the outskirts, near Edge. The sky was fairly dark and cloudy, but not quite dark enough for the middle of the night. Sephiroth guessed it was sometime in the early morning. I wonder if there are any buses running. Not seeing much traffic on the streets yet, Sephiroth 'borrowed' a bicycle he found chained to a tree.
By the time his apartment building came into view, the sky was starting to lighten up and Sephiroth had had enough. The Omni-slash wounds were stinging fiercely and his stomach gash had begun to bleed. Sephiroth tossed the bike against the nearest building and approached the back door of the apartment offices.
"Hey you! What're you doing there?" Sephiroth stopped and looked behind him. One of Midgar's night policemen was standing on the corner. The man walked over, waving his nightstick threateningly. Sephiroth smirked. He was reminded of that fool Turk, Reno.
"Oh officer, I'm so glad to see you. I need to get in and see Mr. Hoshi." Sephiroth hoped he looked desperate enough. He offered the policeman the hand he had been keeping over his stomach and pretended to look shocked when it was bloody.
"Oh yer hurt! Let me help ya…" The officer approached and when he bent over to examine him, Sephiroth knocked him out. That was easy. He took the policeman's keys from his belt and kicked the nightstick across the street into a gutter. One of the cardkeys was an override for the outdoor locks on the buildings in the district. Useful. Sephiroth swiped the cardkey across the panel on Mr. Hoshi's door. It beeped and Sephiroth pushed the door open and let himself in.
Half of the office floor had been converted into a living area, and there was a plush leather couch in the corner. Sephiroth glanced at a clock on the desk which read 5:32am. Mr. Hoshi didn't used to open the office until around eight. I could use some rest. He went into the bathroom and washed his face and wounds, brushed out his hair, and then retired to the couch. Heh, won't he be surprised…