Disclaimer: The Final Fantasy VII Compilation belongs rightfully to Square-Enix. This amateur effort at fan-based fiction is in no way making profit off of the licensed characters described therein, nor is it associating any new original characters to Square-Enix either.
Chapter Eleven
General Sephiroth:
Zack Fair was spotted in the slums. He seems to be without physical injuries.
- Tseng
Sephiroth squinted at the bright screen of his phone, the darkness of his bedroom only intensifying the painful illumination. Flipping it closed, he let his eyes take comfort in the dark again as he stared at the ceiling, the burning in the back of his eyeballs subsiding only minimally. His fingers lost the phone somewhere in the sheets, but Sephiroth allowed himself to forget the device as he switched to laying on his side to face the wall instead of the window blinds. As he did so, the pressure that had been forming in the back of his skull immediately drained into his throbbing left temple.
Shutting his eyes, he silently cursed the Turk for waking him. Actually, he had never specified to Tseng when his assignment of keeping an eye on the young SOLDIER would end, but currently all Sephiroth cared about was catching up on the sleep he lost since spending all that time in the data rooms. Inevitably, his thoughts returned to what he had learned there, his imagination conjuring an image of Eva Rhapsodos clutching greedily at a pile of gil. Sephiroth opened his eyes to glare daggers into the blank wall.
Genesis can do whatever the hell he wants with Shin-Ra, Sephiroth bitterly thought as he shifted in his bed once again to make himself comfortable enough to sleep. Something gnawing at the inner linings of his stomach, Sephiroth threw the bed sheets aside and sat up with a growl, hearing the cell phone thud as it fell to the carpeted floor. Sephiroth attempted to snort away the grogginess he only just realized he had, his air passages clearing after a moment, leaving only heaviness in his brain.
Sephiroth peered through the window blinds. Green light slipped through the spaces instead of the sunlight he'd fallen asleep with. Out in the distance he caught the inactive Mako reactor 5, temporarily shut down for the impending investigation. There had still been no word as to Hollander's whereabouts, and if Zack was reported to be seen in the slums, then it was safe to assume that the young swordsman was continuing his search for him there. Sephiroth let the blinds fall closed and dressed before dragging himself to the kitchen. Within minutes a slab of meat was sizzling on a skillet, its aroma the first pleasant sensation since having been awoken by Tseng's message. Sephiroth pushed the steak about with a fork, easily put to boredom by the tedious but necessary process of cooking.
Sephiroth's ears picked up the whirring of helicopter blades close to the building when he was finally at the table with his dinner. White light flooded through the cracks of the blinds, and Sephiroth glowered as it shined in his face, the fork barely inches from his lips. The insides of his mouth salivated for that split second before glass exploded around him, a mass falling before him and completely collapsing the table.
Sephiroth leapt out of his chair, rolling back behind the kitchen counter as the grating sound of the helicopter's machine gun tore through the apartment. Plaster fell around him in flakes and chunks, into his hair. He looked to his right hand, realizing he still held onto the fork, and seeing the plaster flakes all over the piece of meat caused his stomach to growl painfully. The proverbial bull saw red.
The pieces of the ruined table scraped against the tiled floor as the mass moved to stand. Sephiroth, only barely registering that it was a Genesis copy that had landed in the apartment, shoved the blade of Masamune through the intruder's gut. The machine gun fire immediately ceased, the helicopter pilot realizing the form of the new silhouette standing within the blinding beam of the helicopter's search light. Sephiroth turned and glared at the Shin-Ra helicopter, and then off it went, disappearing around the other side of the building. He momentarily regretted not damaging it with materia before it could leave, the pathetic-looking state of his living area reminding him that the pilot had been responsible for most of the damage. The window could easily be fixed, but the bullets had literally ripped everything else apart, his only living space.
Sephiroth stood seething for several minutes before the building's alarms actually started blaring, finally alerting the hundreds of employees inside that it was necessary to evacuate. He left the apartment shaking his head in astonishment. So much for readying headquarters for another attack…
This time around, Sephiroth avoided the stairs completely, knowing that it was one of the default evacuation routes. Though the elevators weren't out of commission, they were empty, as the company's standard emergency procedures discouraged Shin-Ra employees from using the elevators in the event of an evacuation. That left Sephiroth free to use them in peace for once, and he rode it to the SOLDIER floor without any issue.
What will you do? Angeal had asked him. Sephiroth considered his friend's words as he calmly addressed the damage done by the Genesis copies; the shattered windows, scorched walls and wounded 2nd and 3rd classes lying about. Right about now Sephiroth would be receiving the call to protect the president, but he had left the phone back in his quarters and would not be there to receive it. The thought pleased Sephiroth perhaps more than it should have. After all, no matter how Sephiroth tried to avoid it, Angeal was right. Why should he have to answer for the company's crimes? Monthly wages and shampoo? It was almost an insult to his abilities as a warrior.
For that matter, what did he owe to Genesis that obligated Sephiroth into aiding him? Nothing. Genesis Rhapsodos took Sephiroth's friendship for granted the day he decided to desert SOLDIER without a word to anyone. If Genesis sought vengeance against Shin-Ra, then he should work for it himself.
Sephiroth had an idea. It wasn't much of one, but it was something to work with until he decided what he would eventually do about the dilemma. He would follow his instinct and nothing else, see where that would take him. Abandon the internal debating and simply do.
Now was the perfect time to start, he decided. He was aggravated, enraged that Genesis' new attack had ruined his meal time, so instead of going to President Shinra, as the usual policy would dictate, Sephiroth took to doing what he had been dying to do since being woken.
Masamune was red with Genesis' blood by the end of the hour. His friend's clones littered the floor, deserters of SOLDIER finally back home and reunited with the men that they betrayed. Sephiroth took the elevator to Lazard's office, but found the room empty, strangely. It was one of the only floors not yet affected by the attack and yet the director found the need to evacuate immediately with the others? Sephiroth approached Lazard's desk with a frown, finding that to be a little unlike the director.
Sephiroth picked up the office phone, not dialing until he located the employee directory in Lazard's computer. There was no answer as he called for Lazard himself, only the automated voice that inquired if he should like to leave a message. The second person he dialed for yielded far better results.
"Zack. Head for the Shin-Ra building now," he commanded. "Genesis has attacked us."
When he left the office, the floor was finally alive with opportunity. The one-winged copies of Genesis were drawn to Sephiroth like moths to a flame, half a dozen deserters of SOLDIER hoping to ambush him. The attempt was laughable. Though he proceeded to the higher floors to engage the others, following his instincts and whims rather than protocol, something about it wasn't satisfying him. Sephiroth, as he evaded a clone's blade and shot a debilitating fire spell at it, realized that he hadn't received stimulation in a conflict since his duel with Genesis all those months ago, and to even call that stimulation was a bit of a stretch.
Sephiroth turned, hearing the flapping of wings, ready to destroy the incoming Genesis copy before it could reach the broken window. He paused, glimpsing a familiar white wing in the distance instead of the usual black. Angeal swept through into the office corridor, Zack of all people in his arms as he entered. They landed before Sephiroth, Zack stumbling and nearly falling while Angeal landed as gracefully as ever.
"Sorry to keep you waiting," Zack said, running a hand through his spiky black hair.
Sephiroth glared at the both of them. "You're late."
Angeal turned towards him, a familiar glint in his blue eyes. "Sephiroth, have you lost weight?" he joked.
He said nothing to other man in response. A bad joke was usually Angeal's way of breaking the ice, but if he felt the need to atone for his sins and help SOLDIER oppose Genesis, then he didn't owe Sephiroth an explanation or an announcement that he was doing so. Sephiroth felt the pull in his stomach and scowled, Angeal's words only further reminding him of the ill fate of his dinner.
Angeal shifted uncomfortably before lifting a thoughtful hand to his chin. "Onto business, then. It is safe to assume that Hollander has ordered Genesis to eliminate Hojo."
"Hojo?" Zack questioned. "The Director of the Science Department? Why?"
"He believes Hojo robbed him of his rightful position," Angeal explained.
"Then they'll be targeting the laboratories upstairs," Zack replied, his tone lined with urgency.
Sephiroth pushed past the both of them, towards the elevator. "Forget about Hojo," he harshly cut in.
He could feel their questioning eyes on him as he walked away. "You're in your usual mood, I see," Angeal casually observed. "Take the floors below and I'll handle things outside."
Angeal gave his orders to Zack and then Sephiroth stopped listening, entering the elevator and taking it downstairs to the main lobby. Gunfire filled the air rather than the pre-recorded female advertising Shin-Ra's latest automobiles and personal handhelds. As Sephiroth approached the balustrade to observe the lobby below, he recognized an all-too familiar voice screeching her disappointment.
"Ugh! Useless!" Scarlet, her blonde hair in disarray and pulled out of its neat twist, threw a remote control device at her feet in frustration. A Genesis copy finished demolishing the last of the half-a-dozen or so anti-SOLDIER mechanized units dispatched to defend the lobby, and then set its sights on Scarlet. All the Weapons Development head could do was fire her handgun in vain, the copy effortlessly evading the shots as several more of it's identical kind joined the conflict, flying in through the entrance that had yet to be repaired from the last attack.
The woman stumbled back in her high heeled shoes, recklessly firing the weapon until it clicked empty. A blade came rushing down at her and Scarlet shut her eyes just as Masamune's edge met her enemy. Sephiroth, in an instant, allowed his sword to devour the crimson-clad soldiers, bringing silence to the lobby as the clones joined the pile of wrecked machinery and downed Shin-Ra security forces.
Scarlet opened a cautious eye and then immediately smiled, taking the hand Sephiroth offered to help her stand. "My hero…" she purred, immediately clinging to his arm.
"You tried taking them on alone?" Sephiroth asked, flicking his wrist once to throw the blood off of the long katana. "Was that meant to be courage on your part, Scarlet, or should I start questioning your intelligence?"
Scarlet rolled her indigo eyes a little and adjusted her dress, Sephiroth taking special note of the tear of fabric along her left thigh. "As if any form of bravery would be enough to actually impress you," she scoffed.
"So what happened then?"
Scarlet closed her eyes and he could see the thin vein beginning to pulse just near her temple as she forced herself not to lose her cool in front of the general. "Heideggar was just so certain he could get the jump on Genesis. I told him, and told him, and told him that we needed all the men we could get to protect headquarters in case of another attack, just as the president said. Of course, he never listens to me! Everything with that worthless little man has to be a pissing contest!"
"Somehow I'm not surprised," Sephiroth replied. Leave it to Heideggar to seek glory and praise while Scarlet was left alone to defend the building with what little weapons she had left.
"Not that I'm ungrateful for the help, handsome, but shouldn't you be with the president right now?"
Sephiroth smirked at her. "Oh, that's right. I should be, shouldn't I?"
Scarlet sauntered closer to him, giggling softly. "That's all right. I know you were busy. Say, let's go find him together and I'll be the witness to your alibi."
Sephiroth raised a silver eyebrow as she reached up to entwine her arms around the back of his neck. "What's the catch?"
"You know, the usual," she answered, running her long fingernails pleasantly against his skin. "A dinner here, some company there… it's just that it's going to be soooo stressful for me the next few days while we're trying to fix everything up." She added a little pout for emphasis, but there was no need – Sephiroth was already sold.
"Sounds fair to me." Sephiroth could use the distraction while he thought about what to do next. Plus, Scarlet was easy to please and they were both usually satisfied by the time she inevitable began to irritate him. Sephiroth never usually had to deal with the overly ambitious blonde for more than one week at a time.
The evacuation alarms went silent by the time he and Scarlet reported to the irate president. Zack reported in sometime later, fresh from a conflict against a summon Genesis used to ensure yet another escape, and it was shortly after that when the rest of the attacks on the Shin-Ra building ceased. Sephiroth's brief liaison with Scarlet was a useful distraction in the days that followed, the entirety of Shin-Ra literally in a panic and rush to fix everything Genesis' forces destroyed.
In the week that followed, Sephiroth was temporarily relocated to a hotel room in Junon while his living quarters in Midgar were being repaired. That, and President Shinra was to be making a series of speeches for both the civilians and the military forces. What Sephiroth had hoped would be a quiet week for him to think, however, was thrown out the window a day of one the speeches. Sephiroth found himself facing a would-be assassin as the president's panicked audience watched. Frankly, Sephiroth was just shocked that it wasn't Genesis.
As he had calmly moved past a line of soldier who had their guns raised at the podium, there, with Mr. Shinra on his knees and a katana at his throat, was the leader of AVALANCHE: a dour-looking woman, seemingly harmless in appearance.
Elfé.
Their duel was unlike anything Sephiroth had ever experienced. This girl, seemingly from nowhere, was able to parry his every strike, quick to react even when Sephiroth switched to the offensive. For the first half of the duel she was as calm as he, unenthused as she redirected Masamune with her plain katana.
"I don't say this often," he announced to her. As far as he was concerned, his mission was accomplished, having guided and led the fight onto a clear street, away from the president. However, that wasn't to say that he was finished with the confrontation. "I'm impressed with your skill."
The woman blinked, her dark eyes unaffected under the strands of her mousy brown hair, eyes devoid of the traditional mark of SOLDIER, yet housed in a body that clearly displayed the strength of one. "I would say thank you, but I don't owe that to the arrogant pawn of an oppressor."
Sephiroth's look was filled with poison. "I'm no one's pawn." He rushed forward, lunging at Elfé with a speed he had not even reserved for his duels with Genesis or Angeal. Elfé grunted as she brought the katana up to block, just barely locking the blade with his, but efficiently holding her ground against his strength.
"Maybe not a pawn," she replied through gritted teeth, "but a warrior with nothing to fight for is probably a far worse thing to be."
Sephiroth's acidy glare gave pause to her words, and he released the sword lock by leaping back away from the woman to study her. Elfé did not take the opportunity to retaliate, only stared back with the same unresponsive eyes. He wasn't sure if she lacked personality entirely or if it was just part of her discipline.
He shook his head and allowed himself a haughty smirk. "Let me guess. This is the part where you ask me to join your little team."
The corner of Elfé's mouth twitched, not-quite-a-smile. "Yes, we're currently taking volunteers, but you don't have to worry. I'm not interested in anyone who doesn't believe in the cause that we're fighting for – not even if it's the Great Sephiroth himself who decides to knock on our door." Elfé brushed back her boyish bangs with her other hand, and then Sephiroth saw it ; a glowing materia strangely embedded into the back of her hand, possibly the source of her impossible strength.
"Something to fight for…" Sephiroth murmured. As simple as the words were, it was a disturbingly foreign concept to him.
"You'll learn what that is eventually," Elfé assured him, her gaze slightly downcast, "when the home you call Shin-Ra takes away everything you've ever known to be true in this life, and all you have left is the knowledge and the will to make them pay."
She seemed so certain of that, Sephiroth realized, as if Elfé knew something about him that he did not. He thought about it though, and he remembered Genesis' need for retribution, and Angeal's desperation to right all of the wrongs. Was it inevitable? Would Sephiroth end up consumed by the same thing and join the ranks of his friends, or a ruthless terrorist organization hell-bent on destroying everything? As apathetic as he currently felt at this point, was it even physically possible for him to be driven to that much hatred for just one thing? Loathe as he was to admit it out loud, Sephiroth found the idea of actually feeling anything a rather appealing notion.
"I want to leave this at a draw," she suddenly announced. "Not that I'm getting cold feet or anything, but I've already gotten what I came for. I targeted President Shinra as a distraction, and my fighters are on their way to the mako cannon as we speak. It'll be fired at Midgar."
"Fire away," Sephiroth dared. "You're still in no position to demand such a thing." He raised Masamune and prepared his stance.
"I know," she answered, "but I refuse to beat or be beaten by you right now, when you don't even have the incentive to fight. Besides, if I did manage to escape, would it even honestly bother you?"
Sephiroth gave the question real consideration. He would be disappointed that they didn't finish their duel, but that was only because Elfé was the first real challenge he's had in years since being in SOLDIER. In the long run however…
"AVALANCHE means nothing to me," he admitted.
"Among other things," she guessed. Elfé turned away from him, sheathing her katana. "Think about what I said. Let me know when you find it."
"I'll find it," he vowed, but by that time, the mysterious swordswoman had already gone.
Hours after the anti-Shin-Ra group had escaped Junon, Sephiroth, along with every person connected to corporation's network, received an electronic message. Genesis Rhapsodos and Angeal Hewley. Killed in Action. Sephiroth found himself throwing his phone into Junon's harbor. Killed in Action. As if they had never left to begin with. He watched the handheld sink into the murky water, knowing Shin-Ra would just send him another replacement.
Nothing to fight for, he bitterly thought. He had originally felt that refusing to take part in the assassination of his friends would do them a service, and yet their names were now nothing more than an automated text message received by oblivious people the world over. If that was the sort of reckoning Genesis had hoped for, then Sephiroth wasn't impressed. What was the point in fighting so hard for something if the effort would be so easily dismissed?
Still, he decided. Elfé was right. Sephiroth would not be reduced to a mere headline to be stored away somewhere within the company's news archives. He would find what Elfé told him about, even if it would take him years.
I will never be a memory.
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Author's Note: I really, really, really, am not satisfied with this, and my livejournal will explain why. For now however, I just wanted to note that Elfe is not an OC, she's from Before Crisis, the leader of the AVALANCHE that existed before Barret got his hands on it. Unfortunately, I couldn't get a hold of the actual account of what occured in their duel, but I felt it was important to Sephiroth's character, and thus it was included in a vague paraphrasing sort of way. If anyone has actually managed to play this obscure mobile-specfic game, I would greatly appreciate a quick message in my inbox on how the events played out.
