. R O A D . T O . D A M A S C U S .
. S A G A . O N E : T H E . A C A D E M Y .
Chapter Nine: Song of Seraphim
I call to remembrance my song in the night: I commune with mine own heart: and my spirit made diligent search.
Psalms 77:6, The Holy Bible
Sephiroth stood in the large gymnasiums in his black sweat and black tan top, with black sneakers, watching Zack and Cloud facing each other. Zack had his buster sword while Cloud had something similar but smaller. He studied their stance as they waited for him to give the signal so they'd start fighting.
Zack stood up out of his stance, throwing the massive sword onto his shoulder, another hand at hip, "Cloud, I've seen you do that stance all the time, why are you doing it?"
Sephiroth huffed in exasperation and went to Zack's side and whispered, "Zack…"
"What?" Zack turned to the taller man as Cloud relaxed from her stance.
She mimicked the raven-hair's action by holding her sword onto her shoulder, letting it droop behind her, "I always do that, you never complained before."
"Think carefully," Sephiroth poked a finger at Zack's forehead, "Nibel Fighting Stance. There is one common with his stance among the others here in the gym…"
Zack knew it was time for him to use his brain; he searched around the gym, trying to see what Sephiroth was trying to tell him. It took him a few minutes before Sephiroth sighed.
"What gender is Cloud?" He asked his voice quiet.
"Female… Oh! I see now, sorry Cloud!"
The General chuckled, "A woman's body weights are different than men's, so they stand in a different stance where the balance center differently. Higher for men and lower for women, the Nibel Fighting Stance was designed for women only to handle larger weapon like the Buster Sword," he returned to where he was standing and gestured his hand for them to continue. "We will have to work on that if we do not want others to notice."
Zack flustered and returned to his stance while Cloud did the same. "Well, at least you were dumb enough to not notice…" She muttered and Zack gave her a dark look as Sephiroth waved his hand signaling for them to fight.
It had been few days since that night; the two men included Cloud in their schedules, taking their training sessions to train her as well for the Elite. Cloud gladly accepted the change and took the chances to get to know Sephiroth more personally, regretting in the past she missed out the chances to meet him earlier.
The two sparred, clashing their swords against each other. Cloud had been picking up her pace, starting with a smaller broadsword as the General asked her to. Over the course of few training sessions in the few days, she had moved up quickly and was using bigger broadsword. The current one was a size smaller than Zack's Buster sword and she was almost ready to handle Zack's Buster.
Sephiroth mused as he watched the two spars, moving out of the way as they got closer to him. He wore a small smile, watching every move Cloud made, watching how she recovered her mistakes quickly, and turning it into Zack's mistakes. He concluded that Cloud was good, very skilled and at the top of Class Two, almost good as Zack, who wasn't very far behind Sephiroth. He realized then that they were the only three people in the entire ShinRa Army that was top best. He figured, if Cloud were to put up against the weathered Soldiers, she would had defeated them easily. She was holding her own up against Zack, considering that he was strengthened with Mako. Cloud is very strong, for a woman.
He wondered as he knew he had Mako treatment, giving him super strength and speed as well endurance and healing ability. However, his was far beyond any Soliders he had known in his entire life, even the former Elites in the past. He assumed it was because he was given the treatment from birth while the others started to get them in Class three and increasing as they advance. He suspected it was something else that gave him the ability to be compatible to pure Mako while the rest were given distilled Mako and at much lower amount.
He had known Zack since he was a teenager, for nearly twelve years. Zack had worked his way up the system from the beginning to the top over the long years. Zack had a better endurance for the Mako in his body than any other Soldiers and he suspected Zack might would be administered pure Mako any time soon if Hojo decides so. He did not like the concept of Mako enchanted strength for anyone but he could not do anything about it because the ShinRa made a law for all Soldiers to receive it. It was also addicting, if one were to withdraw from Mako, they would suffer horrible withdrawal and die. There was no way out.
He did not want Cloud to receive any injection. Her strength was natural and unique. He had broken into the system and cancelled every appointment that Cloud would have in the future. He hoped Dr. Hojo wouldn't notice, buying him time to find another way to introduce her to Elite without taking Mako. He knew there were very little chances she would be able to get in without Mako but it was nearly impossible. He had been thinking in the past few nights since his discovery of Cloud's secret and came to conclusion of creating a Plan B, which would cause him to withdraw from the Military entirely, as well Cloud and Zack, making the ShinRa lose their best Soldiers and it would take extreme measure to put the Plan B in action.
He now believed the myth of the Valkyrie to be true, with Cloud as evidence and he does not want her to fall into Hojo's hands, or the ShinRa's either. But he knew he would not be able to elude her from them for long. She was unique and a very valuable asset to the government and the military. He did not want her to be subjected to life that he had. She deserved better.
"Good, good…" he commented as he held his hand up, stopping their sparring. He turned to Zack, "Can I see your Buster sword?"
Zack nodded and gave the sword, shrugging as he stepped back. Sephiroth shifted the sword from hand to hand, testing the weight and twirled it around a few time. He turned to Cloud and held an empty hand out.
Cloud gave him her sword and watched him toss the sword to Zack and handed the Buster to Cloud, "Here," He said and went to his things on the bench nearby and picked up his Masamune.
Zack and Cloud looked at each other wide eyed. "Oh, he decided it's time. Good luck, kid." He muttered and stepped back, leaving Cloud to gape at him.
The other people in the gym stopped, realizing what was going to happen. The General was challenging a Class Two Soldier. It was rare for them to see General challenge anybody, usually it was the Soldiers that challenges the General for position in Class One.
"Uh?" Cloud asked, unsure what to do and saw Sephiroth standing across from her, his Masamune ready by his side. Then he stood in his traditional stance, tilting his head, gesturing that he was ready.
"Right," Cloud took her stance, holding the massive sword, finding a hold to make it light. She adjusted her hold, getting a better grip and held it up, singling that she was also ready.
Cloud made the first move, lunging with the Buster sword, swinging it in high arch and clashed against the Masamune. Soon, they fell into furry of dance at furious speed.
Zack watched in amazement, he had sparred with Sephiroth enough to know his ability was far beyond good, but to see him going against Cloud was something entirely different. It was almost like he was watching the two dances, each completing the other steps, as if they knew what the other's next move were.
It was almost perfection in his eyes as the two clashed against each other, parry and pivoted. Almost a week ago, the General had learned of Cloud's secret and for the next two days, Sephiroth went around protecting her, calling her every other hours making sure he knew where she was, how she was faring and all that. He even made time to talk to her, getting to know her more and more.
By the third day, Cloud recovered from the ordeal and almost returned to normal, starting her sparring sessions, falling into new routine that included the three of them. Yet she still was shaken up from that night, every time she seen the five thugs around the camps, she paled and turned away or moved closer to whoever she was with, either Sephiroth or Zack, sometime Reno when he was around.
The General became an emotional support for her while Zack was as ever, the friendship support. He saw that Cloud had trusted the two of them and confided in them about almost everything. They even went out once together into the country town near Midgar, the Kalm town and ate at a small diner and gotten to know each other more without having to worry about other overhearing them.
He saw how Sephiroth looked at her, he knew that he had fallen for her and wasn't sure what to do or how to treat her. He had told him once to be himself, let her trust him and let her show the next move for him to take.
Their attitude of the late had been in positive aspect, they had lightened up, and the General almost looked like a normal human with emotions. He usually wore mask but around her, he showed his true self and he liked that. It was something else to get used to, a new prospect.
Sephiroth ended the session by sweeping the six footed sword close to her neck. She toppled backward under the weight of the Buster and fell back onto the mat. He sheathed the sword and helped her up, giving her a secret smile.
"Excellent, you should stick to wide broadsword for your choice of weapons."
Zack grinned as he clapped his hands, "You think so?"
The General gave a nod and took the Buster sword and handed it back to his friend, "Yes, he is better with wider broad swords than any other weapons I've seen him use."
Cloud tilted her head as she listened; they've agreed to use false gender in public to not arouse any suspicions. She also had continued her cross-dressing as well. It was a bit harder of late than when she first started at the Academy. She was flat but in the last year and half, she noticed she was already developing. It was harder and she had to resort to using bandage wrap.
However, she was thankful with the training for Soldiers; she had buffed up and achieved the look of the male without any problem. Sephiroth recently noted that she should watch her actions because he could identify that she subconsciously walked and talked very much like a female.
Zack suggested, "Let's hit the shower and go grab some dinner." He hoisted his sword onto his back, having it latch onto his armor and followed the General out with Cloud in tow. As they reached the private lockers that were for the Elites, Sephiroth had been using it alone for a long time and now Zack used it as well. Cloud stood outside, waiting, usually she would go into the lockers for everyone else and quickly showered and dressed.
But this time was different, Sephiroth held the door open, waiting for her to follow them in.
"What?" She asked.
"You need to clean up as well."
"I'll wait until we get back to the apartment and I will clean up there."
Sephiroth shook his head, "No, no time."
"But! It's Elites only."
He laughed a bit, "I'm inviting you in the Elites locker room. Come on in, don't worry, it's only Zack and me."
Cloud reddened several shades as she entered the locker room and found it was much cleaner and nicer than the other locker room she had been in.
Zack grinned, he was already topless and he gestured to the singles shower stall, "We won't peek, you can use that." He handed a towel and her bag with change of clothing he had grabbed earlier from the apartment.
"Thanks." She took the bag and retreated into the shower stall. Sephiroth and Zack went to wash up themselves in the open shower.
Cloud had finished and got dressed before the two men had finished. She waited in the shower stall and heard the water go off on the other side of the stall, followed by some scuffling noises, which she knew were the towel going over their bodies, drying off. The men usually took longer time to dry off since they both had waist long hair, or longer in Sephiroth's case. And since they were taller than she was, they had more part to dry.
"You guys almost done?" She heard Zack laugh.
Sephiroth replied, "Yes, you can come out."
She peered out and stepped out as well; finding Zack almost fully dressed and Sephiroth only had his pants on, working on his knee length boot. He was sitting down on the bench, tugging the boot on. His chest was bare and perfectly chiseled and she blushed slightly and averted her gaze to the room.
As soon the two men finished, they all left the locker room and the gym to find somewhere to eat other than the cafeteria food at the Mess Hall.
Reno watched the General and Zack leave the Elites locker room and he gaped as he saw Cloud follow them out as well. Something was up. Actually, something had been up for a while. Rude slumped down next to him on the floor after some basketball match with the others.
"Hey, what got your brain churning?" Rude asked as he peered at his friend.
Rude turned to the dark skinned, bald friend of his and shrugged, gesturing to the three with his head, "Dunno, was thinking about Cloud and Zack. They're with the General."
Elena, the blond female joined them, "They're getting rather chummy, three of them. What's the story?"
Reno shrugged, remembering the weekend before he had saw Sephiroth ran across the campus with Cloud in his arms. "I know Zack is familiar with the General, but Cloud? I didn't think so."
Rude rubbed the back of his head, "You said something about Cloud and the General last weekend, what happened?"
The red-head stood up, grabbing the ball and bounced it between his legs, "I saw General run back to his condo with Cloud in his arms, looked like Cloud was beaten up. I think it was the Nibelheim gangs. They were running in different direction earlier." He frowned, remembering the next day, Cloud looked fine but pale and shaking all day during classes. He remembered also that Cloud didn't say any words to anybody but to Zack or the General for few days.
Elena propped her elbow on her knee, resting her chin on her hand, "Well, now they are always together whenever they can be."
"Zack and the General are protecting Cloud." Reno commented as he swished the ball into the hoop nearby. "Well, it's not really my business."
Rude laughed, "And keeping track of how Cloud lives his life is your business?"
"Hey, I'm over that. Zack threatened to have me demoted. But as soon as I figured it out, it changed to something different."
"How so?" Elena asked, curious.
"Usually Zack and Cloud spar after the gym close, but they're sparring during the day and doing so with the General, the kid is done with Academic, he's a Class Two, sure did get promoted so fast, he nearly broke the General's records in the ShinRa."
Elena scoffed, "Didn't you hear? The only person to finish a six year program in three years was Cloud Strife."
"Right, whoa. He sure got a big brain."
Rude laughed and shook his head, "No, just more big spikes on that head of his." They all laughed together.
Reno grabbed the ball that rolled back to him, "Zack said they're training Cloud for Class One. I think they're trying to make the Elites grow, like it used to be years ago. It takes talented Soldiers to make it in Elites." The other gasped in awe.
"And Cloud is one?" Elena asked.
"Yeah, he's pretty good… I wouldn't deny that." Reno said as he tossed the ball and they returned to another game of basketball.
LKYASHODOALKYASHODOALKYASHODOALKYASHODOALKYASHODOA
The General of the ShinRa army was on a mission. He strode down the busy hallway of the Hall, where Soldiers and Cadets meet to hang out, play game and all various sorts on their off time. He had never been in the Hall before and this was his first time.
He had finished his long day of work and a mission trip was coming up the weekend. He and Zack had discussed the plan for the weekend and Zack suggested something making his grand appearance in the Hall.
The hallway parted like Red Sea for Moses as usual for him, everyone stared at him, gaping at his full black and silver glory. Whispers muttered behind him.
They saw his face somber and serious, one murmured behind him as he passed, "Someone gunna get it."
He inwardly smirked and kept going. He found the large room he was looking for and stepped in. He didn't find the person he was searching and grabbed hold of a person that was near him, sending the poor guy knees knocking. He continued to look around as he asked, his hand gripping the shirt of the guy, "Where can I find Strife, Cloud?"
The room silenced and suddenly, everyone pointed in one direction, to the other large room down the hall, the den room.
He let go of the guy he had held, who dropped to the floor and went back out into the hallway, "Thank you."
As he reached the den room, he inwardly smirked again, the room noises have subdued with his entrance. It was fun at first then it was getting a bit tiresome that everyone dropped whatever they were doing just to look at him. Sure, he was the glory of the ShinRa military. He had single handed stopped the Great War, killed the biggest and the baddest dragons, took out assassins before they even reached Midgar and many other things.
He spotted Cloud and Zack with couple other men playing table game of foosball. Zack gave a triumph whoop as he made goal. Cloud stuck her tongue at him and then stopped, realizing the room had became quiet and she almost expected the siren to go off with announcement of oncoming war. She turned to see Sephiroth at the entranceway, fully dressed in his uniform, his six footed Masamune at hip as well.
"General Sephiroth, sir" Cloud saluted and bowed, since no one else was going to greet him.
The ball bounced off the table and rolled to his feet. He ignored it, "Strife, come with me." He tossed the ball to Zack and pivoted out of the room with Cloud in his wake.
She nodded as she followed him, the silence was starting to bother her, but it was something that she had gotten used to because it almost always announced that Sephiroth was in the area. As soon she left the room, the room exploded with noises, commenting and questions behind them.
"Oh, what did that kid do?"
"Whenever the General comes asking for someone, it only mean trouble!"
And few more of the same sort conversation went around until Zack laughed, waving his hands in the air, drawing attention, "Kid? Trouble? Yeah right, you forgot Strife's a Class Two and he can whip your butt for calling him a kid! Now, where is that ping pong ball?" He went down to his knees and hands, crawling on the floor, looking ridiculous.
The two walked in silent out of the building and across the campus to the Knoll. He stopped and Cloud moved to face him, looking up at him since he was a head and half taller than she was, "How is it going up there?" She giggled as he gave her a scathing look before smiling.
"It was interesting; I've never been in the Hall before."
She smiled, "I was kind of expecting for a bomb to go off or something like that. You tend to have that kind of effect in the room."
He chuckled; his cheeks tinged slightly, "I summoned you for a reason."
"Cut the formalities and loosen up!" Cloud told him, he was always too serious, but then again, she was almost serious as he was. "Oh, I've been around Zack too long now that I am sounding like him, am I?"
Sephiroth laughed out loud, causing the other passerby jump and stare at him in horror, having never heard the General laugh and quickly scattered away, feeling pity for the blonde. "I think he is getting to us. Anyway, I don't really know how to ask you this." He glanced around and found they were alone and turned back to her, "I would like for you to accompany me to dinner this Saturday night."
Cloud gave a blank look and then her cheeks pinked, "Are you, like, asking me out?"
Sephiroth nodded as his hand fiddled with the handle of the Masamune at his hip, "Well, I'd like for us to have alone time, to get to know each other better."
She smiled softly and stood on her toes, poking his nose with her finger, surprising him. "Uhm, it depends… where are we going?" She cocked her head as she studied his facial expression. He grinned at her, finding her cute standing there like that.
"I was thinking of the Gold Saucer, they have a fine restaurant there."
Her jaw dropped.
"You don't want to go there?" He asked as he misunderstood her.
She shook her head, "Oh! That sound nice, but isn't that like oversea?"
He laughed once again, "Actually, I have a mission to the Gold Saucer this weekend and you are accompany with me and Zack, with few other Class Twos. This mission is the trail run for top Class Twos. It's more of a promotion trail for you rather than anybody else."
Cloud clasped her hands, "Really, that means after the mission…"
"If you succeeded, you have a good shot for Class One." He smirked.
"But I have yet defeated you and took the tests and all that."
"That'll happen after the trail. Now, yes or no?"
She nodded and jumped up to grab him around the neck and gave him a hug, he stood there surprised and gingerly wrapped his arms around her waist. "Yes." She said as she slid back down to the ground, "It sound good, the date."
"Do you happen to own a dress?" Sephiroth asked and then slapped himself mentally for blurting out the question. He had been curious to how she would look in a dress again.
"I did… I tossed the ball gown after the ball… and I did at other time," She laughed, "when I was three."
He shook his head, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to ask that question, it was dumb. It's not necessary." He waved his hand and smiled at her.
Her cheeks tinged pink, "oh, I shouldn't have hugged you, we're out in public."
He shook his head as they started back to the Hall, "No one is out here anyway. But you're slipping, be careful. You will get your letter for the mission sometime today, but I wanted to be the one to tell you first."
She smiled as she stood at the doorway of the Hall building, "Thank you for telling me."
He gave her a single nod and turned away, heading to his condo before he would return to the office for some after hour works. She watched him walk away with silly smile on her face and went into the building, unaware of odd looks she had been receiving from everyone.
Zack found her and smacked her head and whispered in her ear, "What the heck you smiling about? You looked like, oooh!" He realized and smirked, "He asked you?"
She nodded and punched him really hard on his arm, "I need to get a dress… for my mother." She said as she saw several people looking at her.
Zack rubbed his arm and nodded, "I think I know just the place. We're going this afternoon. Your mother's birthday is coming up, right?" He muttered darkly.
"I can't really… I got duties to attend to." Cloud said and thought, "Actually, I don't have any time unitl this weekend and the mission is this weekend. I will see if I can find time this afternoon."
Zack slugged his arm around Cloud's shoulders, "Don't worry, and leave it to me. I got some time."
She gave him a skeptical look and shrugged, "All right. Nothing too ritzy." And he laughed.
The afternoon came as Zack found himself in General Sephiroth's office, "I was supposed to take Cloud shopping to find a dress. Somehow, she was called away to deal with some thing about her job."
Sephiroth nodded, "Yes, I had her to go to sign up for test, talk with the job committee about transferring her credits and duties so she'd be prepared for Class One, she need to be ready for her master's tests and Class One tests also few other things…"
"Right, so. When's the date?" Zack asked, rubbing the arm that Cloud had punched him, wincing at how hard she had hit him earlier, the pain still lingered for a while.
"Gold Saucer, Saturday night."
"Ohh, good plan, during our mission trip, so I guess you're taking her to the nice restaurant there?"
The silver head nodded, "And some other entertainments. What does she like to do?"
Zack gave a rueful chuckle, "At Gold Saucer, you're going to have to find out."
"I suppose so." Sephiroth muttered as he pulled out a small CD-player and placed the small disk in it, "It's about time we hear this thing…"
Zack leaned forward, recognizing it as Dr.Gast's CDs that he had found in the desk some time ago, "That's right. I wonder what's on it."
The player gave a click and whir and suddenly a man voice came on, "Gast: Project Valkyries…" Silence came for a few moments and a sound of shuffling was heard and the voice came back on, "Right, the Valkyries, my wife and I have discovered few things about the Valkyries… My wife had researched the Tome I've discovered while I was assigned to Nibelheim with Dr.Hojo a while ago to initiate the Soldiers Project. She had unlocked the secret of the tome and found the future events yet to happen."
Zack gaped at the CD-player, "Man that was a long time ago…"
A female voice came on, sweet and kind, "The prophecy in the Tome was of the two last remaining children of the Nibelung who would change the world in the future. They are mentioned in the book as the Daughter and the Son. The boy would be born to the reincarnation of Jenova, it was very vague but it was clear that he is going to be born sometime soon. As for the Daughter, she would be born to the last Valkyrie that roamed the planet. Her mother would die in the destruction of Nibelheim that is yet to come, making her the last one. The two will come together and bring order to the planet, redeeming thousands of souls, releasing Gaia's children and retake the Cetera's ancestral home."
"That's right, Iflana, tell me more about how they will appear, what have you found?" Gast asked and the sound of shifting paper.
Iflana answered after a while, "The Son and the Daughter are both born in Nibelheim, the Son didn't stay very long, he was taken to the, as the Tome said, the Dark City and grew up there. Nothing more was said about him for a while, no hints of who he will be or anything of sort. As for the Daughter, it was mentioned she returned to Nibelheim and grew up there until she went to the Dark City on her own, where she would find the Son. Here it says that the two are described to be powerful and strong, appearing unusual to the others. Oh, that's right, I forgot the small details, the Son will have Gaia's blood as well, and we aren't too sure what that mean."
Gast's voice, "Iflana, I believe it mean Mako, the boy will have Mako in his system, seeing the Solider Project is about that."
Zack looked up at Sephiroth, "Why do I have a feeling that I know who the Son is."
Sephiroth paled. "Listen."
Iflana sighed, "Gast darling, we're not sure about that."
"It's the Soldier Project that stupid Doctor Hojo got going; I am positive. The Dark City, it must be Midgar!"
"Perhaps you're right." Iflana said and continued, "Researches on myths and legends told around the planet, one matched closely to this particular legend, the legend of Megamiki and Madoshi of Wutai. However, in the legend of Megamiki and Madoshi, it told of the two's suffering and trails as they searched for each other. Megamiki would search for long time to find him to be reunited with him. It was mainly legend on their love and loyalty toward each other. If the Daughter and the Son reunite and they will be able to set Megamiki and Madoshi free once again."
"Yes, yes… We believe the legend match the particular legend in the tome of the Son and the Daughter."
"We think so."
The CD-player whirred for some more and clicked, announcing the end.
"I already know half of those, but the part on the Son, that's new." Sephiroth sighed as he sat back in his chair.
Zack nodded, "I think… don't get me wrong, I think you're the Son."
"How?"
"You were born in Nibelheim, around the time the Soldier Project started, right?"
"Yes."
"You didn't stay there long; you came to the Dark City, hence, Midgar and grew up here, with Hojo." Zack made a distasteful face.
"Yes…"
"You're one of the most powerful people around here, truth to be said, you're like top super person we all know of and unusual."
"My mother has brown hair and brown eyes…" Sephiroth pointed out, "So that didn't make her a Valkyries."
Zack grinned and flipped the tome open and pointed to the chapter on the reincarnation of Jenova, "Here, Gast's wife say that the Son would be born to the reincarnation of Jenova and the only Valkyries to have brown hair and eyes. That's your mother, Lucrecia Brown. She worked on the Jenova Project as well with Dr.Hojo. It's not her specialty but I believe she was on the project for some reasons."
Sephiroth went quiet, musing what had been revealed.
"For all we know, Cloud is the Valkyrie, and you two found each other… in the Ring of Dance! Get it, found each other."
The General waved his hands, "All right, you've made your point." He shook his head, finding it all hard to take in.
Zack took the second disc and put it in the player, hitting play, "Might as well listen to the other one."
Gast's familiar voice came on, "We have a special guest, I've gone to my extent to find this guest and ask her to interview. We will keep her anonymous, she wish to be unnamed. However we can say that she is one of the last Valkyries left in the world."
Sephiroth and Zack shot glance at each other and leaned close to listen to the CD.
"What should we call you?" Iflana asked.
A voice came on the player, obvious a female, she sounded regal, "I have two names in my lifetime, and you can just acknowledge me as J.L."
"All right, J.L. What a beautiful baby you have there," Iflana said and a soft cooing sound came on the tape.
"Baby?" The two men asked at the same time.
"Yes, this is my son, he was just born recently. We better be quick about this. I do not want Hojo to come in and find out what we are talking about."
"Hojo…" The two men muttered together.
"Yes, it is very important that you tell us what you can."
"That's right. Yes, I am one of the last few remaining Valkyries left, I believe there are just two of us, and the other one is young, very young and orphaned. She is currently somewhere in the Dark City, safe for now."
"You believe she will bore a daughter someday." Gast asked.
"Yes. I knew there were two of us left, and when I became pregnant, I just knew one of us would have a boy and I was the first, I just knew. The pregnancy was very quick; I only carried him for three month and gave birth to him."
Zack shot Sephiroth a glance, "Three months?"
"Three months?" Iflana echoed the question.
"Yes, we Valkyries carries our children in short term pregnancy, our bodies develop faster during fetus-hood. I am so relieved Hojo bought my excuse that I had been hiding the pregnancy for the first six months. I couldn't tell him who the father was, I love him very much but I am afraid for him."
"The father, may we know who he is?" Gast asked.
"No, I wish to not foreclose. Anyway, you're meeting the Son of the Valkyries, the last one; he will bring the planet to order in the future."
"He is so adorable… But how unusual, isn't he suppose to have blond hair like other Valkyries?"
"Not really, only the daughters will appear blond haired and blue eyed, the Sons are an exception. He will grow up and his hair color will change, right now it's black but it will change when he gets older when he experiences the maximum of his power."
"What does that mean?" Gast asked.
"Well, when the Sons reach to the point of his end of adolescence, he will release his most powerful ability and at the point, his body will grow and change, fully transpiring into adulthood, often their feature change, it depends on each one of them. I can foresee the future; my son's hair color is the feature that will change for him."
"Speaking of seeing the future, is that all the Valkyries traits?"
"No. Only some of us can. I can and to tell you this, the legends here in the book will come soon. The Daughter is going to be a beautiful child; my son will love her very much, despite what they will go though."
"You say this as if something bad will happen."
"Yes, they're the Son and the Daughter, the Queen and the King. And yes, in the end, they will redeem Megamiki and Madoshi from their banishment. Yes, they will suffer, all because of Hojo."
"Hojo?"
"That's right. There is nothing I can do to stop this. I work with Hojo to make sure he doesn't release Jenova too soon." Malice was laced in J.L's voice.
"I am sorry, I must finish. My son needs his feeding."
"Thank you very much." Gast said and a click sounded the end.
"Ooooh…" Zack exhaled as he sat back, his eyes wide. "That's something… You're that Son, that's for sure. Remember Vincent Valentine, the Turk was in Nibelheim three months before you were born. It all makes sense. He was your father and that woman got to be Lucrecia Brown."
"J.L.? If the L stands for Lucrecia, what does J stand for?" Sephiroth asked and twirled his finger around a long strand of his silver hair, "I remember now, my hair was black, before the Wutai War, I just didn't think of it."
"There we go. It has to be. What do you think, your father?"
Sephiroth glared at Zack, "Vincent Valentine, he's the only one."
"Hot dang, this is cool to find out more about your past… You love Cloud, so you two are going to change the world!"
Sephiroth rolled his eyes and flipped the tome open, another disc rolled out from the pages; he frowned and picked it up, "Another one? This looked recent."
Zack took the disc and nodded, "That must be Cloud's, and she keep using things as bookmark, her Class Four identification card is in the book too." He popped in the disk and hit play once again.
Few moment of silence and a sweet sounding voice came on. The men recognized it to be Cloud's voice with another female.
"Estuans interius adente veritate…" Both voices sang and Cloud took the next line in solo, "Seraphim, Seraphim, sors speciousissimus Et omnis…"
Together, "Veni, veni, venias,"
The second female's high pitched solo, "Concessi me ascendi facias!"
"Veni, veni, venias, Gloriosa!" Together they sang in quick pace and Cloud took the next solo, "Concessi me ascendi facias, Generosa!"
"Veni, veni, venias, Gloroisa,"
"Concessi me ascendi facias, Genrosa!"
Cloud ended with long solo, drawing the last line, "Seraaphim, seraaaphim…" and the song dwindled to silence.
Zack exhaled as he took out the disk and glanced up to his friend, shocked to see a tear roll down his cheek. He quickly scrubbed it away and placed the player back into his desk drawer and closed the tome.
"Kind of heart-melting… What a voice." Zack murmured as he held the disk out to Sephiroth who nodded and took it and pocketed it in his jacket.
"It's the verse in the tome, I had it translated. The song speaks about asking an angel to raise whoever above. Ascending to heaven, as I believe it was about."
"Amazing, I hear her hum this song every day when she work on her homework over the years and now I hear the words, it still make my heart melt." Zack said as he stood, "Since Cloud's on duty this week and can't go shopping for a dress, want to come with?"
Sephiroth nodded, "I suppose, I have nothing else to do."
An hour later found the two dressed in their casual clothes, walking in the mall. Sephiroth in his black jean, black scuffed combat boots and gray t-shirt, he had a black baseball hat on his head with red diamond of ShinRa logo on it, his hair pulled back in high ponytail plaited. Zack wore his blue jeans, navy t-shirt and his hair the usual wild trends.
"We're going to this store and find a dress for her." Zack went over his plan, searching for a particular store.
"Do you know her size?"
"Oh crap. I guess we'll have to guess."
Sephiroth rolled his eyes as he followed Zack into a store and stopped, staring around. "It's going to be like finding a needle in a haystack." He muttered more to himself, the store was full of dresses of different kinds and sizes.
Zack grinned like a mad man, "So, what kind of dress do you like?"
Sephiroth balked at his friend, "There is no way I am doing this." He turned around and found group of women huddled at the window, staring at him. He was cornered.
The raven haired laughed and dragged Sephiroth to the side, pulling a red vinyl mini-skirt off the rack, it appeared like a mere scrap of fabric, "Hey! A mini-skirt!"
Sephiroth gave a disgusted face.
"No? I think you're right, not your type."
"What is this? Are we shopping for me or Cloud?"
"Cloud, of course, but what kind would you like to see her in?"
Sephiroth nodded as he understood and mused, watching Zack go though the rack and pulled out a black piece of dress that looked like it belonged in an S&M magazine. He gave Zack a look.
"Right, too scary. Need something mellower." He kept pulling clothes out and displaying it to Sephiroth, getting every denial. At some point, he even posed as if he were the one who's getting the dress. The General rubbed his head, feeling an oncoming headache.
Sephiroth glanced around the store, unsure which dress would suit Cloud. He was just starting to get to know her more on personal level. All he had known about her had been thrown out of the window the moment he discovered she was Sorano as well. Her personality as Cloud Strife, the Solider was just a mask that she wore every day and the real personality underneath was beginning to surface. Then something caught his eyes and he stared at it.
Zack noticed the General looking at something and followed his gaze, "Oh, now that's nice." He nodded in agreement and waved the sales-lady over, "Hey, uh, hold on." He turned and exited the store and mingled in the crowd of females and pulled one back into the store. "You're just about the right size."
The girl shrugged, silently agreeing, staring at Sephiroth in awe. Zack had the sales-lady take down the dress and had the girl to try it on, it seemed to fit and soon, they left the store with a box. They made a pit stop at the male clothes store and picked something up for Sephiroth as well.
w w w . y a s h o d o a . c o m / r o a d t o d a m a s c u s
