New chapter, yay! I'm expecting there to be about five more, and I'll get them out just as soon as I can. At the moment, I'm a bit blocked. Wish me luck!
These characters are the product of Nomura Tetsuya's imagination, which tends to create really hot eye candy. I just play with them.
"I met at eve the Prince of Sleep,
His was a still and lovely face,
He wandered through a valley steep,
Lovely in a lonely place."
- Daniel Defoe
THE MEASURE OF MAN
Chapter 13 - This Pomp of Worlds
Young Shelke Rui was deep in thought, in her reclined workstation chair and scanning the data matrix of the Lifestream. The lab was empty this early, it would be at least another hour before Dr. Kanawa and the others started to come in. Shelke often worked extra hours when insomnia or sad thoughts troubled her. Mostly they were of Shalua, dead and gone, the tether that had held her to humanity.
"You are human," Vincent Valentine had said, when they had gone together to visit Shalua's grave. When she protested that she didn't want to be human, Vincent had said, "I don't blame you, it's the most terrible loneliness in the universe. Nevertheless, it is what we are."
It is what we are. There is no escape, save death.
Shelke was not suicidal. She had learned in DeepGround how to stay alive, how to survive each day of pain and mako in hopes of one day being free. Now that she was, her life wasn't so bad. Working for a new, better ShinRa, using the skills she had obtained, was fulfilling. She was slowly getting to be friendly with the scientists she worked with, though they saw her as a child and probably always would. She often spent time with Vincent, the only one who could possibly understand what she'd been through, and it helped, his usually-silent presence. He understood that some things were too big or awful to fit inside words.
Shalua. Why did you die before I remembered how much I love you?
"Concentrate," Shelke told herself, in her low, monotonous voice. "Focus. Genesis Rhapsodos, where are you?"
She had scanned nearly all the natural mako in the Banora area, where it was most likely Genesis would be. Shelke squinted at the map on her monitor, zoomed in on a pool of Lifestream. It didn't make sense. Nero the Sable and Weiss the Immaculate had gone to seek Genesis after he was defeated by Zack Fair, and found him sitting beneath an apple tree in the ruins of the village. He had refused to join them, and so Nero and Weiss had gone back to their chopper to request further orders. Upon being told to bring Genesis back anyway, they had returned to the apple tree and found Genesis gone. Where could he have gone but the Lifestream?
Something was pricking at Shelke's thoughts, some bit of information that she hadn't yet realized. She looked at the map again, zoomed out until she could see all of Banora. Her glowing eyes scanned the image critically, then widened on they settled on one tiny section just outside the village.
"The cave," she said, hardly realizing she spoke aloud. "The cave where the presence of the Goddess is strong. That is where Genesis Rhapsodos went."
This was a huge breakthrough, something she knew she should tell Dr. Kanawa at once. Before she could reach for her phone, Shelke sensed that someone else was near, and she spun around as she grabbed her electro-rods. At the sight, she very nearly dropped them. There, standing calmly, was Genesis Rhapsodos, black wing folded, not a hair out of perfect place. He smiled, as if her silence were some kind of accolade.
"You must be a former Tsviet," he said. "I can sense my cells in you. I suppose that makes us a kind of cousins."
"Genesis Rhapsodos."
"Alive, and in the flesh, which you scientists clearly weren't expecting. Would you mind terribly if I destroyed these?" he asked, gesturing to the row of clones. "They creep me out."
Shelke shook her head. She didn't like them either, and Dr. Kanawa wouldn't be too upset. They had only kept them in case Genesis needed a body, after all.
Genesis elegantly drew a scarlet sword from his sheath and swung it, shattering the three standing tubes of mako in one go. The clones fell to the floor, seemingly lifeless, and Genesis severed their heads one by one. Shelke didn't look away. She had seen enough bloodshed to be immune to it by now, and she felt there was mercy in ending the existence of these manufactured things.
"That's better," he said cheerfully, and cleaned his sword on a clone's jacket before sheathing it. "Now. Perhaps you can tell me where I'll find Cloud Strife?"
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"You're going to give me a memory?"
"Why not?" Zack grinned. "Everyone else is, and I'm a slave to trends. Besides, I've got a good one. You'll probably remember a lot of it, but you should see it from my point of view."
"If you're sure..."
"Absolutely, Spiky."
Angeal laughed. "There's no use arguing with Zack once he's made his mind up. I've learned that the hard way."
Zack stuck out his tongue.
"Gaia save me from eternal teenagers."
Cloud eased himself down yet again onto the stone platform. "What memory is this, Zack?"
"The happiest day I had without Angeal."
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Zack Fair was excited. Admittedly, it didn't take much to ignite his cheerful nature, but today was special. Not only had even stoic Sephiroth recognized its importance, he had arranged for both Zack and Cloud to have the day free. A day off was unheard of for SOLDIER cadets, and Zack was determined to make this one good. How often, after all, does a best buddy turn sixteen?
"Spiky!" Zack yelled by way of announcing himself in the doorway of Cloud's room. "Ready for a day of awesomeness?"
Cloud made a face, wrinkling his nose in a way that made Zack want to pick him up and squeeze him. "Are you sure I have the day free?"
"Let me put it this way - if you didn't, Lefler would have hunted you down by now. You'd be squashed like a bug under his boot. Is your roommate in class?"
"Yeah. I told Tully I was sick. I don't want the others to find out I got a day off."
"Are they still treating you good?"
"They're great."
Cloud smiled, and Zack returned the expression. He spied on Cloud's training enough to know that there was some jealousy, both of Cloud's ability and Zack's attention, but that mostly Cloud was liked and respected by his peers. The boy managed to be exceptional without standing out too much, a trick that Zack would really have liked to know back in his own cadet days.
"Let's get going before they see you, then. Maybe you should wear a helmet, just in case. Although, heh, not being in uniform would make that a little weird."
Cloud was wearing a blue sweater and jeans; it was the first time Zack had seen him out of uniform, and he thought it made Cloud look even younger, like a civilian kid who'd wandered onto the Compound by mistake.
"It feels weird being out of uniform," Cloud confessed as they snuck down a back staircase.
"That never goes away." Zack was dressed in a green shirt and jeans, and as always he missed the familiar weight of his SOLDIER gear. "It gets to feel like a part of you."
Cloud seemed to breathe easier once they were out of the Compound and in the city of Midgar proper, though as a country boy he would always find the feel of a bustling metropolis awkward. "So where are we going? What are we doing?"
"Everywhere and everything!" Zack said a little too loudly, drawing some stares. "I'm gonna make this the coolest birthday you ever had!"
They stopped first at Frankie's Pizza, the same place Zack had celebrated his own birthday with Chase and Malakh, where Malakh had proposed to Zack and Zack had to accept to get him off his knees. Zack related the story to Cloud, who cracked up and said that Zack had some odd friends. He couldn't really argue that.
"Isn't it kind of early for pizza?" Cloud asked.
"Never! Pizza in the morning is the best way to start the day," Zack declared, as their large pepperoni-mushroom pie was placed on the table. "Okay, now!"
To Cloud's pleased embarrassment, the staff assembled into a line and started singing "Happy Birthday". A few customers joined in, and in the applause that followed Cloud turned slightly pink and muttered a thank-you. He seemed even more uncomfortable when Zack placed a circular object wrapped in bright paper on the table.
"Zack, you didn't have to get me anything," he whispered.
"I wanted to! C'mon, open it."
Cloud obediently tore off the paper and gound a greenish-blue orb of materia glowing brightly beneath the artificial lights. He handled it reverently, testing its weight with his hands and looking at it in awe.
"Is this Restore?"
"Yep. Mastered, too."
"Zack! I can't - "
"You can and will," Zack said firmly. "I remember what being a cadet is like. You get hurt all the time, and the higher-ups are stingy with Cures. Now you can perform them, for you and your buddies, all the time."
Cloud smiled. "Thank you, Zack. You're gonna make me popular."
"As long as you're still my Spiky. Let's dig in!"
The pizza was great, easily the best Cloud had ever had. Their next stop was a nearby arcade, where they challenged each other to nearly every game in the place. Cloud easily won Moogle's Kuponut Adventure, because the game required patience and he had a bigger supply of that than Zack. Zack turned out to be really good at the driving simulations and won most of the races, even beating the computer a few times. To his surprise and delight, Cloud had a knack for the fighting games, wiping the proverbial floor with Zack's character every time.
As they strolled out, Zack said, "I'm not surprised. I was just telling Seph not long ago that one day you'd wipe the floor with us both."
Cloud shyly ducked his head down. "I could never do that."
"You've got the potential, the rest is just practice. Ooh, hey! Fortune teller! You're getting a birthday reading!"
Cloud tried to protest, but in a matter of seconds he found himself sitting inside a heavily perfumed tent with Zack bouncing beside him. Across the small table sat Madame Zelda, a middle-aged woman wearing a colorful turban. She asked Cloud to hold out his hand, and studied his palm carefully.
"I see," she said in an accented voice, "a long life. No...a long youth. Strange."
"What does that mean?"
"I only see, it is for you to interpret." She went on. "I see adventure...and great trials ahead. But on your journey you will have good friends."
Cloud instinctively looked at Zack, who grinned.
"I see great fame, renown as great as that of General Sephiroth."
"See, Spiky? Told you you'd beat us both. What about love, ma'am?"
"I see a long, arduous journey...but at the end of it love, and happiness."
As they walked away from the tent, Cloud seemed pensive. Zack nudged him and asked what he was thinking.
"Just wondering if anything she said will really happen."
"I bet it will, all of it. Although I didn't like the sound of you having to undergo an arduous journey."
"I would, though," Cloud said, so softly that Zack barely caught it, "for him."
Zack threw an arm around him, and they continued walking. Their next stop was the movie theater, where Zack bought an alarming amount of popcorn and they watched one of the many action films loosely based on Sephiroth, with lots of car chases and bad guys getting run through with a long sword. Cloud asked Zack how Sephiroth felt about these films, and Zack explained that the general didn't understand why he had fans when he was just doing his job.
"The guy is almost oblivious about his own fame, I swear," Zack complained, and Cloud smiled.
When the movie ended, Zack dragged Cloud to the nearest ice cream shop, ordering a mountainous sundae for each of them. Even for the growing boys that they were, it took real effort to finish, and when they were done, Cloud moaned that he was never eating again, and Zack had to be dissuaded from ordering another one. As late afternoon turned into evening, and they were walking back to the ShinRa Compound, Zack asked Cloud if he had had fun.
"It was the most fun day I've ever had. Thanks, Zack."
"For your next birthday, I'll come with even more fun! Oh, hey, I've got to see Seph. Want to come with me?"
Cloud looked like he wanted to run away and hide, as usual, but he bravely nodded, also as usual. They found Sephiroth in his office, organizing paperwork.
"At ease, Cadet."
Cloud relaxed out of his salute and turned faintly pink. "Yes, Sir. Um, thank you for giving Zack and I the day off."
"Of course. You enjoyed it?"
"Very much, Sir!"
Sephiroth smiled, and Cloud shyly looked at the floor. Sephiroth turned his attention to Zack.
"You have reporting to do, Lieutenant? Follow me, then, I have documents to deliver." Since Lazard's disppearance, the general had found himself in the role of SOLDIER liaison to the executives, which meant more paperwork.
"Doesn't Lieutenant Keiga do this sort of thing?"
"I gave him the afternoon off to attend his niece's birthday party."
Cloud and Zack dutifully followed the general from office to office. When Zack had finished reporting the details of his last patrol, he was in no hurry to leave and continued following Sephiroth. He soon got bored and decided to pick Cloud up and spin him around.
"Hey! ZACK!"
"Lieutenant, do not twirl the cadets."
"I only do it to one of them, sir." But Zack let Cloud down, and they followed the general back to his office.
A soft bell began to chime, indicating it was time for the SOLDIERs to head to the cafeteria for dinner. Cloud wasn't hungry, but knew he should put in an appearance after being gone all day. He thanked Zack and Sephiroth again, saluted, and excused himself, throwing a last shy look at the general before he went. Sephiroth asked Zack how the day had gone, and seemed pleased that Cloud had fun.
"And dude - "
"Do not call me 'dude', Zack."
"We went to see a fortune teller, and she said Cloud's gonna be famous, as famous as you."
"Really?" Sephiroth smiled, a faint, quiet smile that seemed to hold a secret. "I would like that. I would like that very much."
scscscsc
Tifa swung her fists, ducked, aimed a precise kick that sent her opponent flying into a wall. He slid down the wall slowly and tried numbly to shake it off, so Tifa performed a Beat Rush, hitting him until he was unconscious. They were trying to win without killing anyone, and Tifa wondered how well Barret was handling that. With difficulty, she assumed.
"Clear Tranquil!" she heard Yuffie yelled, and felt the reenergizing force of the healing Limit Break surge through her limbs.
"Thanks, Yuffie!"
Another uniformed guard engaged Tifa, beckoning her arrogantly into a fight that almost resembled a dance. He ducked her first punch to the face, but she caught him in the abdomen with her left fist, and he went down to his knees gasping for air. Tifa took the opportunity to steal his gun, pulled off his helmet, and smashed the firearm against the base of his skull. He went down in a heap on the floor, tripping the next one who approached.
Tifa didn't exactly like fighting, because she was a kind-hearted person who hated to hurt anyone or anything. She found more fulfillment in taking care of Denzel and Marlene, and even in running Seventh Heaven, which was a second home to many of its customers. But she couldn't deny the rush of exhilaration that came with battle, the satisfying feel of her strong hands against an enemy, the thrill that came of winning a fight for something that mattered. All through their journey around the planet before Meteorfall, Tifa had felt her skills being sharpened, her body growing stronger, and it was a wonderful feeling. It was just as great to see the same thing happening with her comrades. The first time she saw Cloud perform Omnislash, she briefly forgot she was ever worried about him.
And there was Yuffie, of course. Yuffie had been only sixteen when she joined them, a kid, and now she was a young woman who'd grown as a person and a fighter by leaps and bounds. Clearly, though, she hadn't left behind her tendency to yell during battles.
"HEY! You dented my shuriken! I'll show you what it means to piss off the White Rose of Wutai!"
"She's not bad, just loud," Finn said with a smile, as he picked up a guard and flung him into three others.
"That's Yuffie's way." Tifa faced a guard who aimed a rifle straight at her. "Bolt3!"
The guard seized up as though he'd been struck by lightning, convulsed a few times, and fell to the floor in a dead faint.
"Ha ha, aren't you glad I, uh, borrowed, Cloudy's materia?" Yuffie said gleefully, deftly ducking a sword thrust.
"Borrowed, yeah, right."
"Doom of the Living!"
"How are you getting so many Limit Breaks?" Tifa asked, side-stepping a punch.
"I ate a bunch of hypers before we started! Smart, huh?"
"Oh, gods," Tifa moaned and broke the nose of a guard who had foolishly taken off his helmet. Hypers were only marginally legal in Midgar, supposed to be intended for the ill, and their effects could last all day. Tifa shuddered to think of dealing with Yuffie after they had won.
And they would win. There was no other choice.
A guard was approaching Tifa, looking for all the world that he'd rather not be doing this. When she raised her fists, he lifted up his hands as if trying to surrender.
"Please! Look, I didn't sign up for this. I just wanted to be a SOLDIER and fight for New ShinRa. I know who you are, you saved the planet, and I don't want to fight you."
Cloud. He reminded her of Cloud, who had once had the same wide-eyed innocence, and instead been subjected to so many nightmares. Tifa thought a moment, then pointed to the exit.
"Go. Get out of here."
"Thank you, Miss Lockhart!"
He went, leaving a surprised Tifa behind. She knew she was famous for the Meteorfall incident, but it always surprised her to be recognized. She had never particularly desired fame, and found it a strange thing to have. She dealt with it much as the others did, smiling and signing autographs, going on with her life. Cloud, of course, avoided people, even the people who wanted to thank him.
Cloud. Hold on, we're coming.
"Oh, fuck this. All Creation!"
All the guards within twenty feet of Yuffie dropped to the floor, hit points drained. Gradually, expertly, the room was cleared of conscious soldiers, until you could hardly move without stepping on a body. Tifa dusted her hands off and smiled, satisfied. It felt good ot be back, it really did.
"Yeah, we're awesome!" Yuffie squealed. Finn and Malakh cast her a bemused glance.
"Don't get too excited, Yuffie," Tifa cautioned. "We might have to do this on every floor on the way up."
"Don't worry! I've got more hypers!"
Tifa groaned.
scscscscsc
It had been nearly two days since Tseng parked himself in the corner of this small room, and he felt a growing restlessness that had nothing to do with his stillness or the chamber's size. Reno had been mostly motionless since whatever he was doing had started, and seemed to be glowing faintly, as if the shimmer of the Lifestream had been stretched over him. Tseng trusted Reno, and a Turk's trust was not given lightly, but he was worried. Reno had a tendency to push himself too hard, usually at risk to his own health and well-being. Tseng couldn't fault him for caring for others, but he cared for Reno, and hated to see him pushing himself so hard.
For he was straining himself, Tseng could see it in his determined expression. He had tried several times to speak to Reno, but the boy didn't seem to hear and had not replied. Reno had spoken a few times, but not to him, and Tseng wasn't sure what to make of what he had said. For the first time he could remember, Tseng wished he shared Reno's gift, so he could see when and how this would end.
"Reno," he said softly, "please be well."
The boy stood still, eyes closed, and gave no answer.
The door opened, and Dr. Kanawa entered, letting go of the ID card around his neck that he had just showed to the guards. He seemed agitated, and Tseng's guard immediately went up.
"What is it?"
"We're under attack! Soldiers have been deployed to every floor!"
"I wouldn't worry, Doctor. We've been expecting this. Shouldn't you be in the lab?"
"I'm headed there next. I wanted to stop in and check on Reno."
"There's been no change."
"Gods, don't Turks sleep?"
"Sometimes."
"Intruder Alert," the alarm above and around them blared. "All employees seek shelter. Repeat, all employees seek shelter."
Kanawa took Reno's vitals with a Medical Sense materia. Blood pressure, respiration, and temperature were all perfectly normal.
"As far as I can tell, he's fine," Kanawa concluded.
"You should go to your lab, Doctor. The other employees won't be able to get in with all this going on. There will be guards protecting the lab, you should put yourself under their protection."
Kanawa knew he was right, but felt reluctant to leave. "And you, Tseng?"
"I will remain here as long as Reno is here. I don't expect the intruders would harm him, but I can't take any chances. They are rather zealous where Strife is concerned."
"What about the president? Shouldn't you guard him?"
"Rod and Elena, I'm sure, are handling that. Rufus wouldn't want me to leave Reno's side."
"I guess that's true."
At that moment, Reno's body suddenly shifted, pressing forward on the balls of his feet. His head shot up, and he moaned softly, a pitiable sound. Tseng was on his feet at once and at Reno's side.
"Reno, we're here. It's okay."
scscscsc
"What's going on with Reno?" Cloud asked, concerned.
Zack merely looked worried, and didn't answer. He had seen this before.
scscscsc
"Coming...he's coming," Reno gasped, and all at once his muscles loosened and he was standing quietly, as though nothing had happened.
scscscsc
Tseng and Kanawa, who were focused on Reno, had their concentration broken by noise coming from outside. The sound of the guards saying "Halt!", the umistakable sound of a scuffle, and what they guessed to be the guards being thrown against the wall and falling in heaps on the floor. The door opened, and everything seemed to go into slow motion. Genesis Rhapsodos entered the room.
He looked exactly as Tseng remembered him, young as mako would forever keep him, fashionably dressed and handsome with a flirtatious smile. He touched his sheathed sword as he entered, either for reassurance or to show them he was armed, and stood in what came across as a heroic pose.
"You've been looking for me, Doctor?"
To be continued.