Chapter XIV

Sephiroth was never the same after the incident in the Mako Reactor. He and his party had come to Nibelheim to repair the broken reactor, and exterminate all mutated creatures, but that mission had since fallen to the wayside. While Cloud and Zack went out on nightly patrols to rid the area of monsters, Sephiroth sequestered himself in his hotel room and refused to see anyone. He stayed in that room for days on end, never opening the door once, not even to eat (though there was some debate whether or not Sephiroth actually ate, or if he sustained himself by the sheer will of his pure awesomeness). Zack and Cloud were concerned. Zack especially. He'd seen the madness in Sephiroth's green, catlike eyes that day in the Mako Reactor. His were the eyes of a fanatic, one who was willing and capable enough to commit any and all atrocities.

One night, Cloud and Zack came back from a patrol to find Sephiroth gone. It took some sleuthing, but they eventually discovered he'd taken up residence in the Shinra Mansion. The mansion had been abandoned for years. After some debate, both decided to pay Sephiroth an importune visit. They prepared themselves for just about anything.

The mansion's interior was colossal. A massive staircase spiraled upwards to a second and third floor. Paintings of haughty noblemen and majestic landscapes decorated the walls, and statues of mythical creatures were positioned in various corners of the foyer. There was also a grand chandelier dangling from the ceiling, but this was in disrepair, as were all other furnishings in the mansion. Everything was covered underneath a thick layer of dust and cobwebs.

Cloud and Zack split up in order to cover more ground. The layout of the mansion was truly labyrinthine. Behind every door was a room, and behind every room was a corridor, and in these corridors were more doors that led to more rooms that led to even more corridors. Their search for Sephiroth proved arduous. The blinding darkness didn't help much, either.

It was Cloud who happened across a hidden door. He entered a scarcely decorated room where in the corner was a gray brick wall. This wall seemed out of place. Upon closer inspection, he noticed an outline that looked very much like a door.

"Find anything?" Zack asked as he entered the room.

Cloud moved his hands all along the wall, trying to find a switch or a pressure plate, anything that might open this hidden door.

Zack looked on in bewilderment. "What're you doing?"

And just then, the hidden door revealed itself. Cloud didn't know what he pressed, but whatever it was, it caused the gray brick wall to slide open. Beyond the darkness was a staircase that spiraled downward. Cloud and Zack descended ever so cautiously. Upon reaching the bottom of the staircase, they found themselves in a cavern that was lit florescent lavender. At the opposite end of this lavender-lit cavern was a wooden door. Yellow light poured through the cracks of the door.

Cloud and Zack now found themselves in a laboratory. It was dark inside. A few candles scattered here and there was the only light source. At the center of this laboratory were two chambers. They shared the same technology as the chambers found in the Mako reactor, only instead of metal cocoons, these chambers resembled glass beakers, and were wired into a control panel swathed with buttons, switches and dials.

Past the laboratory was a small library. A narrow corridor connected the library with the laboratory. It was within this narrow corridor that they found Sephiroth. He stood motionless, like a statue, his nose buried in a book. He was reading something aloud. Cloud and Zack caught him in midsentence.

"…an organism that was apparently dead. Found in a 2000-year-old geological stratum. Professor Gast named the organism Jenova." Sephiroth flipped the page. "X Year, X Month, X Day, Jenova confirmed to be an Ancient. X Year, X Month, X Day, Jenova Project green-lighted. The use of Mako Reactor 1 approved for use."

Cloud and Zack approached Sephiroth, but he didn't acknowledge the two. He simply turned on his heels and sauntered into the small library, saying to himself, "My mother's name was Jenova. Jenova Project. Is this just a coincidence?" He placed a trembling hand on his face. "Professor Gast," he whimpered, "why didn't you tell me anything? Why did you have to die?"

Cloud and Zack bravely stepped forward, intent on having a word with Sephiroth, but they stopped in their tracks when Sephiroth spoke up. "Let me be alone!" he bellowed, his back turned to them.

And with that, Cloud and Zack were gone, leaving Sephiroth alone to ponder his own existence.

As the days passed, and Cloud and Zack continued their nightly patrols, dispatching monsters they came across, Sephiroth remained hold up in the Shinra Mansion, reading every book, periodical, and research paper he found. He was possessed by an unquenchable thirst for knowledge. This knowledge ultimately drove him in insane. All was quiet for a couple of days, but then came the maniacal laughter, and the beginning of the end for all those residing in Nibelheim that fateful night.

It began ominous enough. Cloud and Zack were on their nightly patrol when suddenly a bout of wicked laughter came booming out the Shinra Mansion. They knew straightaway it was Sephiroth. They also knew he'd finally snapped. It was Zack who volunteered to go inside and confront Sephiroth. He told Cloud to stay behind, because Sephiroth had become dangerously erratic, and if he should lash out, Cloud wouldn't last long against him. It took a SOLDIER to take on a SOLDIER, was Zack's general argument. Cloud agreed to stay behind.

Upon reentering the secret laboratory, Zack was immediately taken aback by what he saw. Books were scattered all over the place, and piled high, almost up to the ceiling. By this point, the maniacal laughter had ceased, but in the back, where the small library was located, Zack could hear sinister chuckling.

"Who is it?" Sephiroth sneered. He was sitting at a table, surrounded on all sides by thick manuscripts. "Show yourself!"

Zack stepped into the light.

Sephiroth's green, catlike eyes narrowed into two thin slit. "Traitor," he grumbled to himself.

"Traitor?" Zack replied, visibly confused.

"You ignorant traitor," Sephiroth said with the greatest of malice. "Allow me to enlighten you." He sat up straight and leaned forward on the desk, looking quite professorial. "This planet originally belonged to the Cetra," he began. "The Cetra were an itinerant race that migrated across the Planet. They'd settle into an area, and then move on before they depleted all natural resources. They were in harmony with the Planet. At the end of their harsh, hard journey, they believed they would find the Promised Land and supreme happiness. But those who disliked the journey appeared." His tone became exceptionally bitter. "No longer content with migrating, they forsook the Promised Land, and elected to live an easier life by building shelters and exploiting natural resources. They took what the Cetra and the Planet had made, and didn't give back one whit in return! Those are your ancestors!"

Zack listened carefully but had trouble comprehending. All this talk about the Planet, the Cetra, the Promised Land, it all sounded like convoluted plot devices for a bad sci-fi movie.

"Long ago," Sephiroth continued, "disaster struck the Planet. Your ancestors survived. The Cetra did not. Your ancestors survived because they hid! The Cetra, in all their magnanimous glory, sacrificed themselves to save the Planet. After that, your ancestors, those worthless creatures, continued to multiply like a virus." Sephiroth picked up a manuscript. "Now all that's left of the Cetra are in these reports." He then lobbed the manuscript behind his shoulder.

"What does this have to do with anything?" Zack asked, losing patience.

"Don't you get it?" Sephiroth said, angered by Zack's complete ignorance. "A specimen was found in a 2000-year-old geological stratum. They named the specimen Jenova. Jenova is an Ancient. The Jenova Project wanted to produce people with the powers of the Ancients—no, the Cetra!" he corrected himself. "They were successful in this endeavor. They produced someone gifted with all the powers of the Ancients. I am what they produced! I am a true descendent of the Cetra!"

"Pr…produced?" Zack stammered.

Sephiroth got up and advanced on Zack in a slow, methodical manner.

"That is correct," Sephiroth hissed. A menacing smirk was plastered across his androgynous face. "Professor Gast, head of the Jenova Project and genius scientist, produced me."

Of course, Zack thought. It all suddenly made sense. This explained Sephiroth's inhuman strength—he wasn't human at all! He was an Ancient, or Cetra, as he put it.

Sephiroth brushed passed Zack, apparently making his way out of the laboratory.

"Sephiroth, wait," Zack said, putting a hand on his mentor's shoulder.

"Out of my way!" Sephiroth yelled, tossing Zack clear across the room and into a bookshelf.

The bookshelf keeled over and crashed down on Zack, pinning him underneath. The last thing he heard before passing out was Sephiroth saying, "I'm going to see my mother."

When Zack finally came to, he didn't know how much time had elapsed. Was it a couple of minutes? Was it a couple of hours? After freeing himself from the bookshelf, he made a mad dash for the streets of Nibelheim, which were already engulfed in flames. The entire town was on fire, and everywhere there were dead bodies, many of them severed limb from limb. The ground ran thick with the blood of the innocent.

"Terrible," Zack muttered to himself. "Sephiroth, this is too terrible!"

"Hey!" a voice hollered. "Are you still sane?"

It was Zangan, the old martial arts master.

"There are still people alive in these burning houses," Zangan said. "Help me by going into that house over there! I'll save the people in here!"

And with that, the old man kicked down the door, and jumped headlong into the blazing backdraft.

Just as Zack was about to enter the house Zangan pointed out, he came across the cameraman who'd taken the group photo of him, Tifa and Sephiroth. The cameraman, lying on his back, had his precious camera clenched to his abdomen. His face was pale and his body was shivering as if he was suffering from hypothermia.

"Am I…going…to make it?" the cameraman choked, spitting up blood.

Zack looked him over. The camera was pressed against a gaping belly wound. It was the only fixture keeping his entrails from completely spilling out. Zack was amazed the eviscerated cameraman wasn't dead yet. He'd be dead soon enough. Zack knew this but said nothing.

Off in the distance, Zack saw the blue uniform of a Shinra trooper. He knew for certain it was Cloud. He just hoped his little buddy was still alive.

"Please…don't…leave…me!" the cameraman pleaded. His plea went unanswered.

Cloud was unconscious, bleeding from the forehead. It wasn't a serious wound. His gaudy helmet may have very well saved his life.

"Yo, Cloud, you okay?" Zack said, trying to wake his fallen companion.

Cloud mumbled something, but otherwise remained motionless.

"Damn that Sephiroth!" Zack grunted. "He went crazy! Massacred the entire village! We gotta…we gotta stop that maniac! But, dammit, where'd he go?"

Then it occurred to Zack. Sephiroth had mentioned something about seeing his mother. His mother's name was Jenova, and as it so happened, that's the exact same name inscribed above the sealed door located in the Core of the Mako Reactor. It didn't take an investigative genius to solve this riddle.

"He's gone back to the Mako Reactor," Zack said aloud. He patted Cloud's injured head. "You stay right here, buddy. I'll be back for you in no time."

Zack sprinted up the road leading into Nibel Mountain. He vaulted over the dead bodies littering the blood-soaked streets.

It took some effort, but Cloud eventually garnered enough strength to stand up. He didn't know how it was he got knocked out. All he remembered was a bright flash, followed by a tornado of fire, and then total darkness. Within that darkness he heard the agonizing screams of women and children. His body was sore and unresponsive, but he worked through the pain in order to get to his house. All he could think about was his mother. He had to see her. He had to know she was alright.

His childhood home was in flames, as was every other home in the vicinity. Specs of burning ember filled the night air like a flurry of fiery snowflakes. Disregarding his own safety, Cloud plowed through the flaming front door, and maneuvered his way into the kitchen, where his mother spent most of her time, and it was here, in the kitchen, where Cloud found her, or at least, what was left of her. His once vibrant, loving, gentle mother had been reduced to ashes. Her charred remains were indistinguishable from the charred beams of timber that apparently crushed her to death.

"Mom!" Cloud yelled. "Hold on, I'm coming!"

Cloud was in denial. His mother was clearly dead, but still he attempted to recover her charred remains. He probably would have jumped into the flames if the roof hadn't suddenly come crashing down. Cloud reluctantly retreated from the collapsing house. He then watched in tears as his childhood home burnt to the ground, and his mother along with it. He cried harder and harder every passing second, and the longer he cried, the heavier his breathing became. He inhaled long, drawn-out gasps. The smoke and fire burnt his lungs, but the pain induced only fueled his hatred for Sephiroth.

Cloud journeyed to the Mako Reactor resolute on one thing and one thing only: The death of Sephiroth by his own hands. The town of Nibelheim demanded retribution.