Authoress Notes: This chapter has excessive violence, so if you have a weak stomach or do not like violence, I suggest you stop reading now.
Thanks again to Tishannia!
What If -Chapter Two
Midgar Top Plate Shinra HQ
Aeris was horrified at the scene in front of her. The young receptionist, who had only stood up to tell her companion that there were no weapons permitted inside the building, was now dead, slumped over her desk, blood dripping to the marble floor.
"Wha... Why did you do that?!" She screamed as people started panicking around them. "SOLDIERs are going to come now!"
"Let them." the cloaked man said, towards the stairs. Aeris paused, having a hard time believing what he just said, but when SOLDIERs appeared as she predicted, she caught up with him. She was no match for the mako-enhanced fighters, but he was. At least, she hoped he was.
"Halt!" The lead SOLDIER commanded, "Put down your weapon!"
The cloaked man did not pay their words any attention, instead he charged at them, sweeping his sword in a horizontal arc, slicing through the small troop. Aeris and everyone else screamed, running for the elevators, desperately pounding on the call buttons. Aeris watched as he purposely strode over to the group of people, his sword ready. She closed her eyes and tried to block their screams by covering her ears. She opened one eye when their screams died away, foolishly hoping that they would all be fine. The sight that greeted her made her want to throw up.
She turned and ran a couple of steps before her wrist was grabbed tightly once more. This time she struggled against his grip, yelling "Let me go! Let me go!" She tried pounding and hitting him with her free arm, but instead of letting her go, she felt cold metal press against the side of her neck.
"Stop."
She did as he commanded, looking up at him with terrified eyes. "Why did you kill all of them?"
"They aren't worthy of living." He answered, "Now are you going to behave?"
For a wild moment, she realized his question was the same thing her mother sometimes asked the neighbors children when they acted up while she watched them, and was annoyed that he was treating her like a child. Then the seriousness of the situation came crashing down on her. "Yes."
"Good." He said, turning back to the elevators, which had finally arrived, and stepped over the bodies of those he murdered to get inside. He looked back at her, and she quickly followed him, not wanting to anger him any more now that she knew he was capable of horrible things.
"Hojo's lab is on the 67th floor." She stated quietly, "You'll need a key-card to get there." Shinra always boasted about that when newscasters interviewed them, asking if they were worried about the terrorist group AVALANCHE. Every floor above 60 needed to be unlocked with certain key-cards.
She thought nothing more could surprise her, not after she had seen this man murder innocent people in cold blood, but she was proven wrong when he pulled out a Shinra key-card. He swiped it into the slot, and then pressed the button labeled '67'.
"... Why were they unworthy to live?" She asked after a stressful silence as the elevator climbed towards its destination.
"They are human. They've betrayed our kind, and raped the planet of its resources." He answered, a tinge of anger in his voice. "Do you really think they should be allowed to live after all they have done?"
She was silent as she stared out the window of the elevator, thinking. She did not notice that the cloaked man was watching her intently, trying to figure out what was going on in her mind.
"Son."
"Mother?" The cloaked man looked away from the young girl.
"Did you find her? Did you find the Cetra?" The voice in his demanded, causing him pain from her impatience.
"Yes mother. She right here with me." He answered, ignoring the pain.
"Good, good. Hurry and come release me!"
Beneath his hood, the man smiled as the elevator chimed when they reached the 67th floor. "Soon mother, very soon."
Aeris was hesitant to leave the safety of the elevator, but decided she did not want to be alone in Shinra HQ, so she followed him off and into Hojo's laboratory. She made sure to stick close to him, just in case there was any SOLDIERS lurking around, or worse, Hojo himself.
The cloaked man was not paying any attention to her, too intent on finding his mother. "This way! Hurry! Hurry!" She was yelling in his mind, giddy for freedom.
"Yes mother. I know. Please, calm down." He could hardly blame her, after being stuck in Hojo's laboratory for five years. Nevertheless, her excitement was giving him a severe headache.
Moments later, he found a metal cell that looked almost like a container, with his mothers name spelled out in big, bold letters.
JENOVA
"Jenova?"
The question reminded him that the woman was still with him. He turned to look at her, and found her head tilted slightly to the side, thinking.
"That's Mother." He explained. She frowned as she looked over to him.
"Why is she in there? That looks more like a containment capsule than a cell like I..." Her frowned deepened as she shook her head slightly. He found himself wanting to ask her to finish her sentence, but his mother was growing impatient.
"LET ME OUT!"She screamed, making him wince and for a split second his body moved of its own will towards the cell "LET ME OUT! LET ME OUT! LET ME OUT!" She chanted repeatedly, getting more excited as his hand drew closer to the handle. Finally, when he thought the pain in his mind was too much to bear; his hand turned the handle, opening the door.
"Gah!" Aeris exclaimed when stuff that looked like raw mako spilled out onto the floor, washing past her boots. However, when she looked up to see the person they were rescuing, she shrieked louder. "What...!"
There was no way the woman was alive. For one thing, she had been cased in pure Mako; the second reason was her head was completely cut off. Nothing could live with its head severed, not even the monsters down in the slums.
However, the cloaked man stepped inside and wrapped his arms around the woman, pulling the body free from the tubes that had been plugged into her. "You're free mother." He said in a low tone.
Not able to take anymore of the insanity, Aeris ran out the door and into the hallway, ignoring the protest of the man behind her. A psychotic killer had kidnapped her! That was the only explanation! It was just chance that he knew her heritage! She ran down the deserted halls, not noticing that no one was around. Eventually she was worn out, and had to take a rest on the stairwell, not knowing where she was.
"Child?"
Aeris looked around before realizing that it was the Planet talking to her. "Why so scared?"
"I'm... I'm with an insane man who kills anything he doesn't like and thinks a dead body is his mother!"
"Need to stay with him."The planet said apologetically, "Not know what's true. Needs your guidance."
"You want me to go with him!" She shrieked, "Why!"
"Calamity from sky has her way, everything will be destroyed. Need you to help him to know what's right."
The Planet went back to quietly humming in the back of her head as she thought her situation over. She could continue fleeing for her life, or she could go back to where the psycho cloaked man was, and hope he would not kill her.
On the other hand, she could just wait here. If he found her, she would go with him. If he did not, well, she could go home and forget this ever happened.
It was not long before heavy steps echoed from the stairwell, and the now familiar cloak appeared at the top of the flight of stairs. Aqua eyes looked at her from underneath the cloak, silently asking what she was planning on doing.
"I'll come." She said, standing up and dusting the dust and dirt from her pink dress. "... I'm sorry I ran off." She walked up the stairs until she was only a few steps away from the cloaked man before tilting her head and saying, "You know... I don't even know your name, or even what you look like."
"I'll tell you once we leave." Was all the man said before turning around and leading her back upstairs where he had left Jenova. She was finally out, but wanted him to chase down the woman before they left. Why did Mother want her? Yes, she was a Cetra, but she obviously sided with the humans. She should suffer the same fate as them.
"She just needs to be re-educated." Mother said, sensing his thoughts, "Soon she will know and see the truth."
It was a much longer hike up the stairs than she remembered, and she was slightly out of breath when they finally reached where the cloaked man left the headless woman. Now that Aeris had a chance to look at the creature, she thought it looked... wrong. Its body was similar to a womans, but its flesh was too pink, and it had strange red things that slightly resembled wings sprouting from its back. "The Calamity from the Sky,"the planet whispered. "Take him away from her, make him see truth, he can defeat her."
"Mother," The cloaked man spoke in a soft voice. "I found her, the other Cetra."
Aeris jumped and partially hid behind the cloaked man when Jenova moved, its headless body turning to face her. "Don't worry; I am a Cetra, like you." Aeris heard it speak in her mind, but unlike the warmth the planet and her Ancestors brought when they spoke to her, Jenova's voice caused icy cold pain to bombard her mind. "I understand I do not look right, but that is the scientist's fault."
"We should leave." Aeris said, trying to change the subject so the creature would stop speaking.
"It's not safe here."
"She's right Mother." The cloaked man said, "We should find a safe place for you to heal."
"Take me to the top. I can leave on my own from there." Aeris winced as the pain came again. "I trust you can take care of yourself and her?"
"Yes Mother."The cloaked stranger said as he went over and put an arm around Jenova and helped the being over to the elevator that had a sign on the wall beside it saying 'for lab use only'. Aeris was hesitant before following them, Jenova was leaking blood, leaving a large red stain trailing behind her. "Planet help me." She whispered before running to catch up with them.
She followed the cloak man who carried Jenova through the second level of Hojo's lab, wary of the creature, but still keeping close to the pair. She would rather deal with the pain Jenova caused rather than face Hojo. When they came to the stairs, the man paused and hushed Aeris when she tried to ask what was wrong. After a moment, Aeris heard what made him stop.
"...don't let anyone through those doors!" The unmistakable voice of President Shinra echoed down the stairwell.
"Conceited Humans,"Jenova's voice burned in both their minds, "Take me to them so I may show them true power." The maliciousness in her tone easily frightened Aeris. The statement however, did not faze the man.
"Gladly."
Aeris trailed hesitantly and was glad she did when Jenova's arm transformed into a monstrous claw before swiping at the door, crushing it against the wall while sending shrapnel down the hall. That's when the screaming began. Aeris couldn't move except to shut her eyes and cover her ears, knowing what was coming. She couldn't watch as the man and Jenova gleefully killed the innocent people.
Jenova and the cloaked man didn't notice her disappearance until they finished slaughtering the humans. The man sighed when he saw that the woman was not with him, already feeling his mother's displeasure. "Will you be alright?" He asked as he set her down against the wall.
"Find her." Was all Jenova said.
He did not have to go far to find her. She was a few steps from the top, her eyes shut and her hands covering her ears. He opened his mouth to call out her name when he remembered he did not know her name. He closed his mouth, frowning as he walked down to her and put a hand on her shoulder. She looked up, terrified before recognizing the glowing aqua eyes.
"Do you truly believe Shinra and all those whose work for him are innocent?" The question might have been sympathetic if he did not have such a harsh tone. Nevertheless, she shook her head 'no'. "Then why are you so upset?"
"I just don't like seeing people die." she cried, tears threatening to spill. "Innocent or not, I just can't handle it!"
The man sighed as she covered face and sobbed. If he did not have such trust in his mother, he would have doubt that this girl was like them. Such naievety and innocence... "Mother and I will deal with President Shinra; then I'll come get you when we're done."
Aeris nodded and was surprised when he pulled a glowing red orb from the depths of his cloak. "This is a summon materia, use it if anyone comes." He instructed as she took the orb from him. The warmth of it surprised her; it was like a fire materia, but much, much, more powerful. She could faintly see a face with horns inside it, surrounded by fire.
He stood up, prepared to return to Mother, when he heard a quiet "thank you." He looked back, slightly confused. She was smiling now, when moments earlier she had been crying.
"...Stay here."