Disclaimer: I don't own final fantasy or any other game, reference, etc. I shove in here. I only own the characters and other stuff I make up!

Ch. 7 The Calamity Speaks

I heard a voice in the wind
Calamity of the sky
It spoke to me softly
Growing with the wind
Words of horror and despair
I shout in the wind my voice lost
Lost in the wind
Quieted by the calamity

The next day we woke up early. When I first woke up I noticed a feeling of pressure in the back of my head and I could have sworn that I heard a growl. It was very quiet making me wonder if it were real. Neither of us had moved. Even when Sheila came in to give us breakfast, we had not moved. Sephiroth did not seem bothered by the fact that I was leaning against him, or that Sheila was giving us weird looks. She said nothing, but I could see the wheels turning. I was a little sad that we had to move. It was a nice feeling and here it was something that I knew I would have little of.

Sheila had given us a little wink before she left. I guess that means she won't say anything? I was hoping that was true. I had a feeling that Hojo knowing was not going to be good. I did not want him, or anyone, jumping to conclusions over it. Hojo did seem pretty preoccupied. He was mumbling about what happened yesterday. I was still a little shaken by it, but he would not see that. Sephiroth went out as usual and I was left alone with him.

I am a little surprised that they have not started teaching me a few things. If nothing else, it will make me stronger. It seemed like something they would want, but so far there is no indication that this will happen, at least anytime soon. I suppose a part of me is a bit jealous of him being able to leave here and do something else. Anything else would be a welcome distraction.

The day goes by with me unconscious most of the time. At one point, I heard Hojo talking to someone, but I could not see anything and I could barely make out any words. I heard Hojo mention me and the other person laughed at some point, but then I drifted off again. I woke up later still in the same place with Sephiroth staring down at me. He was smiling slightly, but that could be my imagination. He carefully helps me up and I notice that the lab is pretty much empty. "Where is everyone?" He shrugs. We were alone save for some aids and a couple of Turks watching us.

"No one was here when I got back." He had turned away from me. I was naked and could not find my clothes. He pointed them out to me and I quickly went and put them on. How long was he standing there staring at me? "I guess we'll just have to wait."

"That's boring." I sigh and sit down on the table. He joins me and puts an arm around me. I ignore it and start daydreaming just letting my mind wander. A few things came to mind. The most prevalent was something I expected, but it was not what I thought it to be. Sometimes you do not think you will miss certain things once they are gone. I have to admit that I miss watching TV and playing games, and listening to music. There were people I missed too, but the things I did to relax were things I could use here.

After a few minutes, I realize that he is rubbing my side. I do nothing at first enjoying the feeling, but then I move away feeling strange. Instantly he stops and puts both hands in his lap. I saw the look on his face. He looked a little sad, but apologetic too. "I'm sorry." He whispered it as he got off the table and faced away from me. One hand still rested on the table and he removed it after a small twitch.

Now I feel bad. "You don't have to apologize." I told him. "You didn't do anything wrong." He stands there for a while and then sits back down well away from me. We sit there letting the silence grow between us. Where is everyone? I started kicking my feet frustrated, and Sephiroth was doing the same. We stop when we hear a noise. Both of us look around for the source, but find that we are alone in the room.

The noise sounded like wood clanking together. Hearing that is odd enough when everything is made of metal. Sephiroth is looking intently up at the ceiling. I look too, but I cannot see anything up there except a few hundred tiles. We do not hear anything else and I decide that it was nothing. My mind says the opposite.

Finally, Hojo returned. He was fuming and did not even look at us. He went over to his desk and slammed down his clipboard. There was an aid there with him, whom he ordered to take us downstairs. I was curious about what happened and where he had been, but the aids quickly ushered us downstairs into our chamber.

It was still a little awkward between us. Neither of us could seem to look at the other. I glanced at him from time to time and he never seemed to move. Both of us sat in silence for hours before he finally said something. "I hadn't realized what I was doing." He looked up at me briefly. "I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."

"Don't worry about it." I knew that what I had felt was not discomfort. How can I explain it to him? Can I even explain it to myself? I am glad when he does not press the matter further and we go to sleep. I honestly had no idea what I would have said to him.

Once again my dreams bring me to the familiar white expanse. I have so many question for the man I have been seeing here, but this time I am alone. It seemed pretty strange that he would not be present as usual, but I quickly understood why. I heard a woman's voice. It was a harsh and menacing laugh that echoed around me. I became apprehensive suddenly feeling like I would be attacked.

"Who are you?" I asked glancing around. The laughing stopped and it was silent for a moment.

They call me Jenova…. I feel my whole body jump. Why is she in my dream? As if to answer, she speaks again. I am a part of you and you are very interesting my dear. You know some interesting things. You cannot hide that from me. Her voice was soft. She sounded far away, but her voice was powerful. I could feel the malice in it, but it was somewhat subdued.

"Shut-up! Leave me alone!" She laughs and it echoes in my ears. I am fighting with the air trying to somehow push her away from me. I run, but in the endless white, it is hard to tell if I am really going anywhere. Her laughter follows me wherever I go and I stop running knowing that I cannot get away from her. So instead, I turn and I can feel hands holding my arms. I struggle, but they hold strong.

Sephiroth is shaking me in an attempt to wake me. I am screaming and fighting him, but he is so strong that I find myself straining against him. I stop once I am awake and realize he is the only one there. I had started sweating and I was crying.

"Having a nightmare?" I nod and he helps me sit up. I cannot stop shaking. This is bad! She'll know everything! I cry as he sits down beside me. He puts his arm around me loosely. I hug him tightly and I feel his hesitation. He probably had no idea what to do here. I was shaking and crying and all I wanted at that moment was to feel safe. My mind was racing, thinking about what might happen now. She's a part of me…so that is what he was doing! But why? What is it all for?

Eventually I push that aside and think about what I do know. I have no idea if any of it is true or not. Being here in this situation has not exactly given me the chance to find out. Part of me thought that there was no way it could be true. This world exists, they exist and on my world both of those things are false. It is just a game. If she knows everything then she can use it to benefit her, or maybe she might make it happen that way. What should I do? I don't think she should know those things.

"It will be a few hours before she comes in to wake us." I hear him say. I nod and bury my face in his chest. I don't think I will be going to sleep again right now. Without even noticing it he had laid down and I was half lying on top of him. There was only a second where I thought I should move, but at the moment I could barely manage to function so I stayed put.

Hours later and we have not moved. Sheila comes in and finds us already awake. I have not stopped shaking no matter how hard he tries to comfort me. By now, the shaking has been reduced to only my hands and a twitch every now and then. She sits our breakfast down and sits on the other bed, which Sephiroth still has not used.

"Are you ok?" When I do not answer, she asks him, which gets her the same thing with a shrug. She sighs and quietly watches us eat with a concerned look. She made several attempts to find out what was wrong, but I knew that she would never understand. Sephiroth had to coax me into eating and I am not sure if I finished it or not. After she leaves, I finally decide to ask him about her.

"Sephiroth, I want to ask you something." He simply nods. "Have you ever heard a woman speaking to you?" He stares for a moment and then nods. "She spoke to me in my dream."

"That frightened you?" He said it as if it were nothing. I understood, but then again I knew we experienced it very differently so I could not hold that against him.

"It was the things she said. I don't like her." I was worried about this. There were a lot of bad things that could happen because of it. I was not sure how I should handle it. Aside from him I was alone in this experience and I was not sure what comfort he would be.

"Ignore her then." It sounds so simple, but doing it is hard. Sounds like he has that covered. I on the other hand find it hard to ignore people, especially someone like her.She was threatening and I knew for certain that nothing good could come of this. She was a monster.

"Is that what you do?" He nods slightly, but does not look at me. "I don't know if I can." I frown and lean against the glass. He gets up and moves to the other side of the chamber to wait for Hojo to come and get us. So far, I think Sheila has kept our secret. Though she seems reliable and likeable I would never forgive her if Hojo found out how close we were. Although I was not really sure how close we actually were.

I feel a little better by the time Hojo comes in. I try hard not to show him that anything is wrong. Sephiroth's face is unreadable. I wish I could do that. Hojo does not seem to notice or he just does not care. We go through the normal routine and just as we are about to return to our chamber Rufus comes in. He came bearing presents this time, most of them for me. Hojo was not really getting a present, just a lot of paperwork.

He gave me a dress that is too low cut for my taste, jewelry, and shoes to go with the dress. I already know that he is wasting his time. What am I going to do with it all? When would I even have the chance to wear any of it? The way things are, things like that are pretty much useless. He stood there glaring at Sephiroth as he handed them all to me.

"I thought that you might…." He started, but Hojo came over and interrupted him. Sephiroth was glaring and had moved slightly in front of me. He probably should not have brought the gifts in here. I was still not sure about him. He acted nice enough, but the few times we had met was not enough for me to decide.

"Get out of here boy!" Hojo shouted at him. Rufus had placed the presents on the table next to me and Hojo was tossing them on the floor at his feet. "She won't need those things. You're wasting your time." I was a little surprised by the tone of voice Hojo used. For some reason it made me want to accept the gift just to get on his nerves.

"You forget whom you are speaking to, Hojo! When my Father…." Hojo gave him a hard slap. It was enough to knock him down and he sat there in shock. I was a little shocked by it too. It did not seem like something he should be doing, but Hojo looked pleased with himself. "Father will..."

"I am sure that he will see just what a spoiled brat you are. You are interfering with my research. Research that he asked for!" Rufus sat on the floor dumbstruck. It looked like this was the first time something like this had happened to him. I understood why, but at the same time I felt a little bad for him. "Why don't you go run to your father like a good boy?"

He slowly got up and started to say something before shakily leaving the room. Shortly after that, Hojo disposed of all the presents and sent us downstairs. I felt a little sad that I could not take them, but at the same time I did not really want them. I just wanted to annoy Hojo, but I felt like Sephiroth would not like it either.

I think it would be better if Rufus just left me alone. It seems like it will only get him in trouble anyway. I can't even say I like him either.

"Hojo's right. He's wasting his time on me. He should just stop." Sephiroth gave me an odd look. It made me realize that I had said it a certain way.

"Do you like him?" He asked eying me. I was surprised and reacted instantly.

"I barely know him."

"The way you said it…."

"I can't have things like that." I said cutting him off. "Neither of us can. We can't do normal things."

"Normal things?"

"Yeah. Get dressed in normal clothes and do normal things that other people do." He looked lost. I could tell that he did not understand what I meant. "You have no idea what I mean…." I said frowning.

He remained silent, but had a strange look on his face. I knew that he did not understand. There were a lot of things that I said and did that seemed to confuse him a little. He did make an effort sometimes and asked, but not a lot. "You're right. I don't. Normal for you is different for me."

"I know that. I guess I'm jealous that he gets to do that." I said not really sure if that were right.

"Would you have taken them?"

"Maybe, I don't know." I said wondering if I would. "I don't think it would have suited me."

In my dreams, Jenova was there. I could hear her laughing at me, taunting me, saying all kinds of vile things. It was obvious how she felt about me. She was not the only voice there. I could hear that man too. He was trying to help me and silence her, but it did not seem to have much effect. I could hear it all, but see nothing. I felt trapped between them and could not wait for the dream to end.

I hope this is not going to be how things are. I was thinking as finally her voice faded away. He tried to reassure me and let me know that he would do what he could to help me deal with her, but I knew this would be an ongoing problem and I had no idea what to do. Is there anything that I can do?

A month later, after a physical I found myself in the mako chamber. I was finally to the point where it did not make me pass out. I was not sure if that were a good or bad thing. I never realized just how long we spent in there. Hours went by and all I could do was watch Hojo doing paperwork and whatever else he needed to do. I looked over to see Sephiroth in a mako chamber as well. He was staring at me and I have become accustomed to that. At this point it did not seem to matter much. I had made an effort not to stare at him. It felt kind of odd and I guess part of me wanted to fight the normalcy that it had become. This time I found myself unable to look away.

I know that he is around thirteen or fourteen. He is already almost six feet tall and I am sure that he will only get taller. His eyes glow brightly most of the time, but in the mako, they look dull. My eyes move on down to his chest and abs thinking for a moment that he was nice to look at before another thought came to mind. He was only fourteen and looked like that. It seemed unnatural to me. If a normal fourteen year old worked out I wondered if they could look that way. Before I knew it my eyes were wandering lower, but I closed my eyes and looked away.

I should not look!

I can hear her voice in the back of my mind commenting on him. He is perfection and soon he will be invincible. She said in a somewhat loving tone.

No one is perfect or invincible. That is my answer to her. I am right. The events of the game prove that. Just being here with him and seeing how he is I can tell that living like this has skewed his view of the world and left him somewhat ignorant of things, but I am honestly no different here.

Hmph! What would you know about it? You are a waste of flesh! Even though I could hardly feel her there, her anger flared up making me feel as though I had been hit. Seconds later my brain clicks back on and I realize that I have been staring at him.

I glance at his face and saw a small smile there. I blush and look away doing my best to cover myself feeling embarrassed. Hojo seems completely unaware of this making me feel a little better. After leaving the mako bath I thought he might say something, but he sat on the floor and remained silent as if nothing had happened. I tried to do the same, but I felt awkward about it. I just laid down and tried to sleep.

I could hear Jenova saying little things here and there. I was not asleep so it made me wonder if maybe she was getting stronger. I was not really sure what was happening to me, but it definitely made me unhappy. Perfect, now I get to hear you all the time? I hope you don't plan on bothering me all the time.

It could be beneficial for the both of us. However, I already know that neither one of us is willing to get along with the other. But if you decide I may oblige with some interesting information you may want to know.

As if. You are the only one who would benefit.

That's not true. If you cooperate, then freedom might even be in your reach. Don't you want that?

Not with your help. Leave me alone! Her only response was to laugh. I knew that she was just trying to see what I would do and if she could coerce me into doing what she wants. I sigh feeling relieved that she is gone for now. She has started sounding clearer and louder lately. It worried me, but it seemed like there was nothing I could do about it.

I notice that Sephiroth has not moved. He is still staring at the floor. I wondered if she were talking to him and what she might be saying. I could not imaging that she said many good things about me and I was also wondering if she could convey our conversations to him. It was all still a mystery to me. I leave him alone thinking that we should sleep. He seemed a little annoyed, but he never moved.

After a while I sit up unable to sleep. I look around suddenly feeling that we are being watched. I almost missed it, but one of the ceiling tiles is moved slightly. That strikes me as odd so I stand up and move as close to it as I can. Sephiroth had gotten up to see what I was looking at and I jump when I notice him, but we both continue looking at the tiles.

After examining it for a few minutes, it does not appear that anyone is there now. Someone was watching us. I stand there for a while longer still thinking about it while Sephiroth goes and lies down on the floor. Mostly, I am wondering who it could be and why they would be spying on us. After I cannot come up with a good answer, I go to bed finally able to sleep.

Author: This chapter has been edited.