FINAL FANTASYVII

LAST ORDER

Chapter Six

Dark Secrets

They finally reached the reactor at mid-noon. "Phew we made it. We certainly took the long way though!" Tifa said wiping a trickle of sweat from her brow.

Sephiroth looked at the reactor with confusion evident on his face. Zack noticed first and asked "Hey, Sephiroth you okay?"

Sephiroth turned abruptly towards him and said "Fine, Zack come with me." Tifa frowned before saying "Hey, i wanna come too." "I can't allow that. This place is full of industrial

secrets." Sephiroth said without turning. "I'm the one who brought you here, can't i just peek?" Tifa asked.

"Stay with the girl." Sephiroth ordered giving Cloud a stern look. Cloud moved to block the entrance as Zack and Sephiroth went inside. Tifa tried to follow but

Cloud held up his hand and shook his head. Tifa stomped childishly before saying "You'd better be real nice to me then."

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The inside of the reactor was a simple square room. Directly passes the door was a small walkway with a chain that could be used as a ladder to get to the main floor.

Sephiroth carried himself purposely to the chain befor climbing down to the main level. From there he marched through the door into an even larger room,

Zack following closely.

The nest room was not what Zack had expected. The room had a soft red light as the only illumination, yet it managed to expose the whole room.

On either side of the room were three rows of large oval like pods, three pods to a row spaced abou three feet apart.

In the middle of the room was a metal staircase leading up to a door with the word JENOVA written above it. Sephiroth stood before this door, studying it intensely.

Zack walked up as well. Sephiroth tried to open the door, but it remained firmly shut.

"The lock won't open..." Zack noted.

Sephiroth silently turned and walked back down to the fist row of pods. The first one on the right seemed to catch his eye. "That valve is loose, Zack seal it down.

Though, i wonder why it failed..."

While Sephiroth moved to his left Zack quickly located the valve, and tightened it. "Well, mission acomplished." Zack declared. He looked over to see Sephiroth

was looking through a viewhole on one of the pods. After a moment he stepped away from it and said, "I see, but even this won't put you on the same level as Gast..."

Sephiroth spoke very queitly, so quietly that Zack barely heard him.

"What is it?" He asked. Sephiroth turned to him and said "When you condense mako enrgy what happens?" Zack puzzled over this a second a little unsure of why Sephiroth

had decided to quiz him now.

"Uhm...Oh, it becomes mako, right?" Zack finally said. Sephiroth stepped away from the pod as he said "Normally thats right, but Hojo added something else take a look."

Zack tooka forward step before asking "What does Hojo have to do with it?" Sephiroth did'nt reply, instead he gestured for Zack to look into the pod.

Sighin, still not understanding Zack stood on his tip-toes and looked into the pod. Inside was a snarling face that could have been human, if not for the fact

that several horns were protruding from it's head. It's skin was of the wrong texture and color as well. Zack gasped and fell backwards landing on his butt.

"Wha...what is that thing?" Zack asked pulling himself to his feet. "Normal members of SOLDIER are exposed to a limited amount of mako, you're different from

everyone else but still human. These people were exposed to a much higher dose, thus they mutated into the creature before you." Sephiroth explained.

Zack knew Hojo as a person, and he would'nt put something like this past him.

"You said normal SOLDIERS, are you saying you're different?" The second he said it he regretted it. Sephiroth's composed features seemed to melt away as he raised his

hands to his head. "N...NO. Was i...was i made like this!?" Suddenly Sephiroths hand flew to the Masamune and jerked it away from his side

before swinging it into the nearest pod hard enough to leave a dent. Zack jumped backwards barely avoiding the Masamune as Sephiroth swung it around his head

battering the pods relentlessly. "Stop!" Zack said holding out a hand. Sephiroth stumbled backwards away from the pods. He turned towards Zack and said "Ever

since i was young i've felt like i was different from the others. Special in some way...but not like this." Sephiroth marched from the room and all the way back

to town.