Finally got around to updating this story! Ugh...then it's another loooong wait before I can focus on this again. But, still, a huge thanks to everyone who has read this! Moving on to the reviews:
Sephiroth'sGhost: Thanks! Well, hope you enjoy this chapter then!
Llonella(Guest): Thank you for your support! The answer lies in this chapter, (obviously XD) hope you enjoy~!
Dragon77: Thanks! Well, here's another one! Have fun reading! :)
Sephiroth gazed at his AWOL friends and their companions, the gears in his head turning quickly when he decided to make a split-second decision and get some answers.
"Why?"
Genesis looked infuriatingly amused, "Why I defected?" he stepped forward so that the others were behind him. "A lot of reasons, Sephiroth, reasons that I don't feel inclined to share with you. After all, infinite in mystery is the Gift of the Goddess, we seek it thus, and take to the sky. Ripples form on the water's surface, the wandering soul knows no rest."
Sephiroth fought back a sigh as Genesis smirked, "There is no point in telling you anything. You'd never understand; never have, never will. So why change now?"
Sephiroth remained silent, he was rather used to Genesis making all sorts of assumptions about him and he knew that the Red Commander would not stop until he was done, so he waited. But he was surprised at what his friend said next.
"Now, what I want most, is the Gift of the Goddess, and staying in Shin-Ra would not help me attain it at all."
"If that was truly the case, what does Angeal have to do with this? And the attacks on the company?"
Genesis only laughed, "You would not understand if I told you."
Sephiroth's eyes tightened, "Then make me understand."
"Gen, let's go already," From where she stood with the chocobos, Christina was anxious: the sooner they left, the better.
Genesis glanced at his sister and smiled, "In a moment, my friend," he turned to face Sephiroth once again, "Once you find out the truth behind the experiments that created us, Sephiroth, perhaps you would understand." With that, Genesis turned to leave, "I'd suggest asking Hollander or even Hojo about it. But I doubt that you would get the truth from the likes of them."
Up in Shin-Ra Headquarters, Surveillance Control Room...
Legend whistled with boredom as he swayed from side to side on his roller chair. He was supposed to be keeping an eye on the surveillance cameras before him but he was just too lazy to care. After all, the Great General Sephiroth was here, what could happen?
The Turk sighed, and allowed his eyes to slide across the monitors when he saw a commotion happening at the Northern gates.
He frowned, leaning forward to get a clearer look before his eyes widened slightly behind his shades.
"Shotgun, get Katana and inform the VP that we've got intruders in the city."
The sandy blonde Turk looked up, "Intruders?" she rose to her feet and reached for her handgun, eyes narrowed, "SOLDIER First Class Genesis?"
Legend kept his eyes fixed on screen, "Yes, now go."
"Got it,"
With Katana in tow, Shotgun moved with haste to Rufus's office.
Legend stood and searched for the other remaining Turks, "Gun, Rod, get down to the Northern gates and detain the intruders. Two Guns, be on standby, just in case the Vice-Prez needs something."
Gun made a face at having to be paired with Rod, who snapped a lazy salute, saying, "Ya got it, bro!" before heading down to their destination.
Rufus Shinra's Office...
The heir to Shin-Ra Company looked calmly at his computer, which had been linked to the surveillance channels, observing the confrontation between the SOLDIERs as Shotgun and Katana stood to attention behind him, awaiting his orders.
'A Copy, Commander Hewley's mother, and...?'
"Does any of you two know those girls? Or perhaps, even seen them before?"
The Turks moved closer to the screen to look, and Shotgun replied, "No sir, not at all." while Katana simply shook his head.
Rufus smiled, "Do not engage unless I say otherwise."
Taken aback by the strange order yet understanding Rufus's desire to overthrow his father by messing up company business, the Turks complied, leaving to inform Legend of the Vice-President's orders.
Sephiroth was beginning to feel slightly confused and suspicious: there was something that Genesis was not telling him and yet everything he said seemed to make sense.
Before he could say another word; however, two Turks showed up.
Genesis's eyes narrowed dangerously, alarm bells ringing in his head. There was no way in hell that he was going to let the Turks take them in, and possibly hurt his and Angeal's sister in the process. With that thought in mind, the materia master growled at Nico to get both Elain and her mother out of the city as he attacked the Turks, completely ignoring Sephiroth, who still did not raise Masamune against him.
Seeing a fight breaking out, Christina quickly swung herself onto Hyacinth's back and prepared to flee. She watched as her brother tackled the Turks while Angeal covered Nico's escape with his family. The Silver General did not fight at all, simply standing there with his sword drawn and observing the battle that took place.
Genesis lashed out viciously at the Turks, not giving them the chance to retaliate while pulling out a Summon materia from his pocket: Ifrit, the same one that he had used on Zack back in Wutai.
Having summoned the God of Hell Fire, Genesis made his getaway, all the while noticing that Sephiroth had not moved from his spot. Not bothering to think more about it, Genesis swung himself onto Sienna and fled with the others.
Moments later...
The chocobos' beaks were hanging open from how hard and fast they have been running. Genesis turned back to make sure that they were far enough from Junon, before signalling everyone to get off their steeds. Once they were free of their burden, the chocobos immediately sank onto the grassy ground, resting their weary legs.
"That was really close," Elain was panting slightly from the hasty ride, "How in the world did Sephiroth even...?"
"He must've followed Christina when she was buying supplies," Angeal said thoughtfully, "But he couldn't have—of course!"
Everyone blinked at Angeal's sudden exclamation, "It's the hair, Gen, your sister's hair tipped him off."
The Red Commander frowned, "There are other people with red hair too..."
Angeal shook his head, "C'mon, Gen, we both know how anti-social Sephiroth is. The only red head he knows is you, and all of a sudden, your sister shows up. That's bound to get his attention. Besides, red hair isn't exactly the most common hair colour in the world."
Genesis grimaced, "I suppose I was wrong on the whole people-not-recognizing-our-sisters part." He then turned to Nico, "How far from our location to Midgar?"
The SOLDIER pulled out the map from his pack, "Several days away, sir. There's a river cutting between us and the wastelands up ahead. The chocobos can drink there, though the water might be a little salty since we're so close to the sea."
Genesis nodded, "Good, and now would be a very good time to launch another attack." he turned towards the general direction of the Mako City, eyes narrowing slightly.
"Another attack? I thought the rest were still at Modeoheim," Nico was surprised, Genesis looked amused, "And let them suffer from boredom? I'd think not, they'd tear the town apart with their ridiculous squabbling." Hearing this, Nico blushed though no one could see his face. It was true as most SOLDIER Thirds and Seconds were quite unruly when they had nothing to do.
Genesis smirked slightly, "I told them to move down south towards Midgar before we left Condor. Their last report said that they were stationed somewhere south of Bone Village, meaning that they are getting close." He shot Angeal a meaningful look, but it was Christina who caught up to Genesis's intentions.
"So, by telling the others to attack Midgar, it would distract Shin-Ra from thoroughly investigating what happened earlier in Junon."
"Exactly, you read me so well, dear sister."
Gillian spoke up at that moment, "Shall we move on to the river then?"
Angeal nodded, and suggested that everyone not ride the chocobos to give them more recovery time. And so, the party moved onward after giving their steeds some greens to snack on.
Having defeated Ifrit with Sephiroth's eventual assistance, Gun and Rod reported to Legend via PHS, who relayed the outcome of the situation back to Rufus, who then ordered Sephiroth to report to his office.
"The Vice-President requests your presence in his office, sir." Gun said to the Silver General who had dematerialized his sword after the Summon had been defeated.
He simply gave the Turk a nod before making his way back to HQ.
Rufus's office...
The heir to the company was seated before his desk, his eyes closed in thought.
"Sir, do you have any further orders, sir?"
Ice blue eyes opened to gaze upon the Turks who had returned due to Legend's orders, "No, dismissed."
"Yes sir,"
Both Shotgun and Katana then left the office, leaving Rufus to his various plans of overthrowing his father. But now, his attention was on the scene from before, 'Perhaps I could use Genesis, or perhaps not...that volatile man would be hard to control, unless...'
Just then, his office door received a series of knocks, "General Sephiroth, sir."
"Come in,"
Shin-Ra's military poster boy entered and closed the door behind him, "You wanted to see me,"
"Yes, I'd like to hear the story from your perspective, if you please."
Sephiroth therefore recounted everything that had led up to the confrontation, starting with the strange girl who Sephiroth could now tell resembled Genesis and meant something to him.
Rufus looked amused, "Commander Rhapsodos has a sister? That's very interesting indeed,"
"With all due respect sir, we have no way of telling whether or not that girl was Genesis's sister."
"But you've said it yourself, Commander Rhapsodos grew extremely protective of his...ah, companions, when my Turks showed up. And you also mentioned that the eyes of both girls were mako green, though not as green as yours, of course."
Sephiroth fell silent, there was just no way that Genesis and Angeal had siblings or they would have mentioned the subject to him. What is so secretive about having siblings, right? But there were also the eyes...those eyes could only mean experiments, and Sephiroth could absolutely tell the difference between natural green from mako green.
"Perhaps the Science Department?"
Sephiroth looked up at Rufus, "I came to the same conclusion,"
"Good," Rufus said as he pulled out his PHS, "I'll have Tseng check into the Science Department's databases for anything relevant to those girls."
Midgar...
Zack was staring at his reflection in the mirror at his bathroom, it has been days and he still did not feel like he was First Class at all. He was supposed to be happy, but with Angeal's defection, the entire thing just seemed cursed. Zack wanted to go back to the times when he was still a lost puppy, trailing behind his mentor, proclaiming that he was going to be First Class to be a hero.
Things just seemed so simple then, and with all the recent incidents, Zack began to realize that Shin-Ra was not what he made it out to be.
An upbeat trill rang out from his pocket and Zack pulled out his PHS, he did not bother to check who was calling, "Zack here, who is it?"
"It's me, Zack, come to my office,"
With that, Tseng cut off the call, and Zack quickly grabbed his sword while making his way out of his room.
Tseng's office...
"There was an incident at Junon today," Tseng said the moment Zack shut the door.
"An incident? In Junon?"
"Yes, Genesis and Angeal have been spotted, along with Angeal's mother, and the girls."
Zack lurched forward and placed his hands on Tseng's desk, "For real?! What were they doing there? Did Sephiroth see them?"
"Yes, he did," Tseng passed over a folder detailing a printed report of the incident over to Zack, "Everything's inside, take a look."
Zack read the report quickly, "What were they doing in Junon? I mean, why risk being seen? They could've just skirted around the city and—"
Tseng smiled, "Think, Zack, travelers who have been on the road since leaving Mideel, and after replenishing supplies at Fort Condor, don't you think they would run out by the time they had gotten to Junon?"
Zack hummed in understanding, "So, why did you call me here?"
"It seems that the Vice-President is...interested in our little case."
"You told him everything?!" Zack yelped, staring at the Turk Director in horror, who shook his head, "Not everything, I simply gave him the information that he wanted, which pertained to the girls."
"The last thing we need is more people getting interested in them, what if the Science Department finds out?" Zack voiced out his worries.
"They won't know anything, I'll make sure of it,"
Unknown location...
Sephira Crescent opened her eyes, and her vision was greeted with mako. Well, nothing new there.
She moved her head slightly, and noticed that her nutrient drip had been recently replaced. The needle piercing her skin gave her an idea: 'If I could use the needle and prise off the bottom of the top...' She raised her head towards the huge metal slab that made up the lid of the tank, and made her decision.
'Better than staying stuck in here and turning into a Makonoid, that would be horrible.'
Sephira grimaced, she knew that she was weak from long periods of inactivity but she would rather die as a human being instead of dying as some mutated monster. So, weak as she was, she knew she had to try.
'First things first, I need to get the mako to drain away.'
Sephira glanced up at the lid once more before pulling a needle out of her left arm. Reaching for the lid, she got to work.
A long moment later...
A stream of bubbles escaped Sephira's mouth as she grunted from her efforts. She had managed to pop off the bottom, revealing the complex series of wiring within.
Sephira allowed her arms and neck to rest for a while, before lifting her head once more to examine the wiring above her.
She smiled.
'I'm so glad that I paid attention when those scientists were setting up this thing.'
Memory sequence...
Hojo was irritably ordering his assistants around the recently constructed underground lab. Two of them were carrying one huge box between them, they carefully set down their burden, and sliced through the cellophane taping the box firmly shut.
"Get the mako tank set up quickly, you imbeciles! I hardly have time to spare for any of your incompetence!"
"Yes, Professor,"
Six assistants immediately saw to the assembly of the mako tank, not wishing to be on the receiving end of Hojo's wrath.
The head of the Science Department turned to the lab table that had already been set up earlier with Sephira strapped down on it. He gave her a quick once over to ensure that nothing was out of order before leaving to rearrange some of his lab equipment.
Sephira angled her head over to where the six assistants were assembling the mako tank, and watched them fit the wiring in its various places in the lid.
"Make sure the wiring isn't messed up, the Professor won't be happy if any of this stuff gets jammed."
"Yeah, he'll throw a hissy fit for sure."
"Whatever, he'll find some other reason to breath down our necks anyway."
The other scientists grumbled lightly to themselves as they did their job.
And all the while, Sephira was watching them fix up the mako tank, mumbling the function of each wire quietly to herself.
Memory sequence end.
Sephira raised her hands out of the mako as she began to hot-wire the mechanism to drain out the mako. It took her some time but she eventually succeeded as the mako level in the tank began to fall.
Sephira let her feet touch the bottom of the tank while she waited for the rest of the mako to recede. When it was fully gone, the door slid open and Sephira lost her balance, sending her crashing to the floor.
"Ow..."
Giving herself a moment to regain her bearings, Sephira closed her eyes and focused on the Jenova cells inside her.
"Gen, let's go already,"
"In a moment, my friend,"
After that, it was a series of gunshots ricocheting off a blade. And Sephira heard the thoughts of Christina Rhapsodos: 'Have to get out of here before it's too late! Damn it, of all places for Sephiroth to be, it had to be Junon.'
"Junon...?"
Sephira blinked a few times as she realized that she had cut off the connection herself. "Junon, huh? That means that it'll still take some time before they'll get anywhere close to the North..."
Sephira groaned, she felt like mush and her legs were definitely not working as of this moment. So, she decided to crawl her way out of the lab and into one the bedrooms belonging to some scientist who once resided here.
'Rest first, and figure things out later. Might as well send Christina another dream message before I sleep...'
Whew, I'm beat! Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter like you did the last. Please leave a review, it would be well appreciated!
And now gotta go catch some Zzzz, see ya guys next time!
-Ninniacthel
