As the sun peeked out from behind the clouds, Lightning opened her eyes to the empty room around her. She looked over at the perfectly made bed beside hers and sighed. She knew that a certain someone had no sleep that night. Lightning got up and wandered over to the window and gazed out at the horizon. The sunrise was a beautiful wonder of nature. The oranges and pinks surrounding the sun slowly blended into a baby blue as the clouds fled the scene. Over in the distance, was the Shinra Mansion, hiding in its secluded darkness. Not a speck of sunlight reached the large building.
"Sephiroth... is the darkness... is my hidden darkness slowly changing you?" Lightning asked herself before turning away from the window.
Zack walked to her doorway and knocked on the door.
"Zack, the door is open. Just talk, I'm already awake." Lightning replied to the first class l'Cie. Zack treaded carefully into her room and looked around the room. "The light in the library was left on last night. All of last night." Zack said with slight worry tainting his youthful features.
"I know. He wouldn't leave. It's like him though, always wanting to know exactly what he's up against. I hope he leaves that room soon." Lightning replied. Zack looked down at the bandage covering his new brand and then looked up at the spy.
"What did you do to yourself this time? Got a burn from attacking bombs again?" Lightning asked him before removing his bandage. She gasped silently as his white brand gleamed against his pale skin.
"What is it?" Zack asked.
"You're a Sanctum l'Cie... How is that possible? All of the fal'Cie died when Cocoon and Gran Pulse collided. Unless... it was from the Lifestream. What's your Focus?" Lightning asked the SOLDIER operative.
"Huh? What's a l'Cie? What's a fal'Cie? What's a Focus?" Zack asked in confusion. Lightning sighed.
"A l'Cie is a servant of the fal'Cie. Fal'Cie are mechanical gods that can brand a person to be their servant. A Focus is the task you were given to complete. If you complete your Focus without being killed, you will turn to crystal and gain eternal life. If you don't, you will turn into a Cie'th. A mindless zombie fated to wander the wilderness until you can't no more and you fossilize into a Cie'th stone." Lightning explained.
"Genesis told me that my Focus was to die at the hands of Ragnarok. And then a shadow picked me up and gave me this." He said, pointing to his brand before continuing, "Then I blacked out. I woke up and found a beast looming over Sephiroth and I ran. What does that mean?" Lightning shook her head and sighed.
"It means, you're screwed. Sorry, but there's not much choice. You either die or become a zombie." Lightning replied.
"I'd rather die than eat people's brains." Zack said. Lightning sighed and slapped her forehead with her palm.
"Cie'th don't eat people. They just kill them." Lightning replied with an annoyed tone.
"Lightning?" Zack asked.
"Yes?" Lightning asked in reply.
"You don't really think that Sephiroth will go crazy, do you?" Zack asked. Lightning sighed and stole a brief glance at the distant mansion before turning back to the puppy with her reply.
"I hope not. I doubt it, but there is a possibility." Lightning replied with a certain sadness shining in her ice blue eyes. Cloud poked his spiky blonde head in through the doorway and then looked down at the ground awkwardly.
"Hey, Zack. Your friend isn't wearing his helmet." Lightning said with a half-hearted chuckle, trying to change the subject. Zack turned to find his friend standing in the doorway, with his helmet in one hand and his gun slung over his shoulder.
"Cloud, you should have kept your helmet off from the start. You're home for goodness sake!" Zack cheerfully exclaimed at his blonde friend, who in turn shrugged with a smile.
"There's a reason for everything." Cloud replied with a smile. Zack laughed and wandered out of the spy's room, his previous discoveries completely forgotten.
Lightning walked back down to the Shinra Mansion and stood at the library's open door. Two separate voices were ramming comments down each other's throats. Lightning didn't want to intrude and she just waited by the door, picking up bits of their conversation.
"No. You can rot in hell for all I care." A dark and emotionless voice said and the sound of a page turning followed afterwards.
"I thought I was your friend!" an aristocratic voice hissed.
"You were until you and Angeal left me. You expect me to help you, after you two betrayed me like that?" the first voice asked in reply. Lightning assumed that the first voice was Sephiroth and the second was Genesis.
"I am degrading at a much faster pace than before. I couldn't stay. Too many questions would be raised." Genesis replied quietly.
"Too many questions? People are asking too many questions because of your clones' presence!" Sephiroth said, a quiet hiss tainting his haunted voice. Genesis scoffed.
Suddenly, the room went quiet and Sephiroth slammed his book down on the mahogany desk before looking out the door and finding a shocked Lightning staring at him from behind the door. He took her hand and kissed her cheek. He pulled her into the room and Genesis' eyes grew wild and demonic.
"I told you I'd be back." Genesis said with an evil smirk.
"Cut the crap Genesis. You don't scare me." Lightning replied and folded her arms across her chest. Genesis laughed.
"But I should. I should scare the both of you." Genesis replied with a tone almost mimicking that of Sephiroth's.
"You don't scare either of us. Get the picture, dumbass." Sephiroth retorted coldly.
"I'm not entirely human. Neither are you. Neither was Angeal. Neither is Zack. Neither are you Ragnarok." Genesis said with a smirk.
"It's Lightning." Lightning said and Sephiroth wrapped his arm around her waist before kissing her ear.
"Yeah, I don't care." Genesis replied with a sneer.
"Shut up, you obnoxious twit." Lightning snarled at the degrading auburn angel. He laughed and headed for the door.
"Careful of what you say, Ragnarok. It could be used against you." Genesis hissed and then sauntered out of the library.
When the angel's footsteps could no longer be heard, Sephiroth released her waist and picked up another book from the shelf.
"What was that about?" Lightning asked.
"Genesis came in just to stir up trouble. I know him better than he realises." Sephiroth replied and opened up the book he had just picked up. A chilling air of silence drifted into the room and almost made Lightning shiver. She began to drift into thought, wandering about things that stayed hidden in the dark corner of her mind for the past few days. The silence splitting sound of turning pages kept Lightning's train of thought on its rails.
"Hey, you alright?" Lightning asked her silver haired lover. He stayed silent and continued to flip pages.
"An answer would be nice, you know." Lightning replied to his silence. Sephiroth looked up from his book and held her gaze for a few seconds before returning back to the book.
"Sephiroth! Stop reading bloody scientific fairytales and answer me!" Lightning exclaimed.
"Leave me to read in peace." Sephiroth replied coldly. Lightning sighed angrily and crossed her arms over her chest.
"No, I won't. Not until you leave with me." Lightning retorted with an annoyed tone. Sephiroth put the book down and loomed over his lover.
"Lightning, I don't want to hurt you. So just leave me be." Sephiroth said and then picked up the book again.
"You can hurt me all you like... Just remember that I have the power to destroy Gaia, with or without your help. Killing you would be as easy as squishing a bug." Lightning replied with a vicious snarl.
"Don't threaten me." Sephiroth said, never lifting his eyes from the text.
"You're acting like an inconsiderate asshole. You know that, right?" Lightning asked and turned to walk out of the room.
"And you are being a fucking bitch. You know that, right?" Sephiroth asked in reply.
Lightning swung around to face the reading SOLDIER hero and placed one hand on her hip.
"Listen here, Sephiroth. You think that you are this amazing, undefeatable warrior, but you're not. In fact you are just a selfish, barbaric, narrow-minded, cold-hearted, egotistic test subject. I can't believe you actually made me think that you love me. You don't. You love power, just like Genesis. You love your pride, just like Angeal. You are nothing but a puppet, you know that? Genesis is bending you to suit his diabolical scheme and you are blindly doing what he says. You're a fucking puppet, Sephiroth. Get your nose out of those books, and face reality like the shit-faced, hellhole it really is." Lightning replied in annoyance and walked out of the room.
Sephiroth put his book down and vanished, only to reappear in front of the doorway, barring Lightning's path.
"You bitch. You should know better than to push me too far." He hissed and made her back into the room. She hit the front of the mahogany desk and almost lost her balance.
"You're trapped." Sephiroth replied darkly and the only exit slammed shut and locked by itself. Sephiroth placed his hands on the desk either side of Lightning's hips, trapping her in the centre. Despite her bleak situation, Lightning was already planning to make an escape.
Sephiroth pressed his lips up against Lightning's neck repeatedly before Lightning pushed him off of her. Sephiroth wrapped his arms around her waist and pressed his body up against hers before nipping her ear lobes. Lightning tried to push him off of her again, but his grip on her was unbreakable.
"Stop it!" Lightning exclaimed and tried to push him off again, with no luck. Sephiroth only laughed at her futile efforts to free herself from his grasp.
"Your bitchiness and harsh words really turn me on. You know that, don't you?" Sephiroth asked the spy lovingly before kissing her neck again. Lightning just stood in confusion.
"Wait, so you're not going to kill me?" Lightning asked in reply. Sephiroth laughed and kissed her collarbone.
"Why would I do that? I love you. I don't want to hurt you." He replied as one of his hands ran down her leg.
"You're so confusing..." Lightning stated with a sigh. Sephiroth grinned and kissed her cheek.
"So are you." He replied.
"You're even more so." Lightning countered and kissed his forehead.
Sephiroth laughed again and slowly worked her jacket off of her shoulders. Lightning placed her hands on Sephiroth's cheeks and pressed her lips up against his. Their lips constantly locked and unlocked as Sephiroth's hands roamed her body. Lightning slowly worked her tongue into Sephiroth's mouth and roughly twisted her tongue with his. Sephiroth's hands slid up the back of her shirt and they rested on her lower back, slowly massaging out the knots in her back. She sighed with pleasure as his tongue took over and fiercely intertwined with hers. Their lips parted for only a few seconds as Sephiroth picked her up and sat her on the desk before their lips connected again. Lightning pulled away, whipped her shirt off and began to lick Sephiroth's neck. The warrior sighed before unbuckling his coat and throwing it to the ground. Lightning wrapped her arms around Sephiroth's neck and she began to gently bite his ear lobe. He gently removed her lips from his ear and placed his hand on her chest, slowly forcing her to lie down on the desk. She chuckled as his tongue tenderly traced the outline of her scorched brand.
"Oh Sephiroth!" Lightning exclaimed with a giggle and kissed his head.
"What's going on?" a shocked Zack asked, staring at the couple making out on the mahogany desk. Sephiroth turned around and acknowledged Zack's presence. He sighed and hung his head in embarrassment.
"Shit." He cursed.
"Zack, wait outside the library and we will call you in." Lightning instructed. Zack shrugged and left the room. Lightning and Sephiroth quickly redressed. Lightning sat on the edge of the desk and Sephiroth lent against the bookshelf behind him.
"Now, come in." Lightning said and Zack trudged in.
"What was that?" Zack asked with a confused expression.
"None of your business." Sephiroth replied. He picked up a book and flicked through the pages, quickly skimming over the text.
"I just came to say that Tifa, Cloud and I are going to get a late lunch and I wanted to know if you two wanted to come along." Zack said.
"I'll go. Sounds good. You coming?" Lightning asked her lover.
"No. I've got a lot of reading to do." Sephiroth replied.
"Do you want me to bring you back anything?" Lightning asked.
"No, I'll be fine. Go on without me." Sephiroth replied, never lifting his gaze from the text.
"Alright, I'll see you later then." Lightning said and followed Zack out of the library.
Sephiroth never left the library and always kept the door locked with the light on. Nobody expected what happened five days later.