Disclaimer: I own nothing except my laptop and my ridiculous imagination! All else belongs to Square Enix.
Chapter 28: Leaving His Consort
"That bastard is still alive," Sephiroth growled.
"He obviously wants you to know," Genesis said as he rested his hip on the edge of Sephiroth's desk. "But what now?"
"Who cares?" Kadaj scoffed. "The more important question is what are you going to do about it brother?"
"Find your brothers and have them wait here for me," Sephiroth said as he turned of the image of Cloud and Denzel setting the charges in Nibelheim. "I have to see Professor Goro and find out why Cloud is alive."
"And what should I do?" Genesis asked.
Sephiroth turned and glanced at him. "Find Raeven, Captain Cody, Kyo, and Roden. We need to come up with a strategy to find AVALANCHE and eliminate them!"
Genesis raised his eyebrows. "And what about Miss Lockhart? Surely you don't think she'll be happy about that."
"Tifa's desires be damned," Sephiroth snapped. "Cloud Strife will die and now, so will the rest of her friends!"
Professor Goro turned at the sound of the lab door hissing as it slid open and then closed. He gasped and leaned back as far as he could when he was confronted by the tip of the Masamune.
"General?" he asked questioningly as he nervously glanced up at Sephiroth's angry eyes. "What…?"
"Why is Cloud Strife alive?" he demanded.
"He's alive? But…but that's not possible!" Goro said, still conscious of Sephiroth's blade at his throat.
"That's what I thought," Sephiroth said as he narrowed his eyes. "And then I saw a recording of a very much alive Strife!"
"I can bring up Hojo's notes," Goro said before swallowing convulsively. "Could you…uh, lower your weapon though?"
Sephiroth withdrew the blade and followed the professor to the computers. "Hojo was supposed to push him to the breaking point…far enough that he would never come back."
Goro looked up at Sephiroth and shrugged. "As you know, General, killing a SOLDIER is quite difficult to do, especially ones enhanced with Jenova cells. Massive amounts of damage must be inflicted to overwhelm the cells' natural instinct to regenerate the host in conjunction with all the mako flowing throughout the body."
"But we're not impossible to kill," Sephiroth stated.
"Well, no, but it is a challenge sir," Goro said as his fingers rapidly danced across one of the keyboards in front of the many computers in the lab. "I found Hojo's notes. Now, according to everything there, Cloud Strife was indeed pushed to the edge of death quite successfully. I don't know what to say in regards to his return to the living. He would have needed massive amounts of mako in conjuncture with an influx of fresh Jenova cells and curaga."
"How the hell did they get their hands on mako?" Sephiroth murmured. "Could they siphon it from the reactors?"
Goro shook his head. "No, raw mako would be deadly. It would have to be refined."
"Find a way for me to kill him," Sephiroth snapped before turned and storming out of the lab.
"Are you serious?" Loz asked in disbelief.
"I saw it with my own eyes!" Kadaj said impatiently.
"I thought he was on the brink of death," Yazoo said. "Does Miss Lockhart know?"
"Of course not," Kadaj said dismissively. "Knowing that her knight in shining armor is still alive would only push her to act out against brother like she did when she was first here!"
"Man, her friends are going to suffer now," Loz said as he crossed his arms across his chest. "Brother must be pissed!"
Sephiroth entered the room, angry enough for his remnants to move out of his path without him even asking them too. He went around his desk and faced the group that had assembled in his office, waiting until everyone was seated.
"Cloud Strife is alive," Sephiroth said.
Raeven shifted slightly in his seat. "Um, sorry? I thought he was dead."
"I expect blondie will be getting that a lot," Genesis murmured with a smirk.
Sephiroth narrowed his and glared at Genesis, who looked away, still smiling slightly. Sephiroth looked at the other men in front of him. "All bets are no off. I want AVALANCHE found and eliminated…permanently."
"Our spies have located many of the cells you had asked us to find," Kyo said with a smile. "In fact, our spies in Junon reported seeing Yuffie Kisaragi and the former Turk Reno in one of the small fishing villages."
"And one of the weapons dealer they normally use told us that he had send a shipment of guns to Wutai recently," Loz added. "And we were able to 'persuade' him to give us the name of the member who ordered the shipment. Vincent Valentine was the man who placed the order."
"That same dealer also confirmed a shipment was sent to Coral, ordered by Weiss, and a shipment to Gongaga ordered by Barret," Yazoo added.
"Our patrols found Tseng around Banora, but he disappeared too quickly for my men to follow him," Captain Cody said.
"Banora is still in the process of being rebuilt," Sephiroth mused. He turned his eyes to Genesis. "Any idea where Tseng could hide in Banora?"
Genesis shrugged. "There are many places he could hide, Sephiroth. After ShinRa bombed the entire town in their pathetic attempt to destroy me, many entrances to the underground caves were opened. In fact, the caves were where I hid during my rage against ShinRa and it is probably where Tseng would hide."
"Raeven, are any of the SOLDIERs or trainees from Banora or the surrounding area?" Sephiroth asked.
"Well, I grew up on the outskirts of Banora until I was ten, and one of the new trainees, Justice Pearce grew up in the town," Raeven answered.
"I want you two to head a team of SOLDIERs and infantrymen in an assault on Banora," Sephiroth said. "Kyo, I want you and Roden to divide the SOLDIERs and infantrymen into enough teams to hit all the locations where AVALANCHE has been spotted, but leave enough of force for Genesis and Kadaj to command for the defense of Midgar."
"I actually get to do something other than running all over the world chasing ghosts?" Genesis asked dryly. "How truly exciting, Sephiroth!"
Sephiroth glared at him, but decided to ignore him. "Loz and Yazoo are coming with me."
"Where?" Loz asked with frown.
"We are going to Nibelheim to find Cloud," Sephiroth said with smirk.
Tifa was surprised to see all the activity in the training room when she arrived for the sword training class. Everyone seemed to be rushing around and ignored her. She looked for Raeven to find out what was going on, but she couldn't find him. She did, however, spot Justice.
"Justice!" she called over the noise of all the troupes.
He turned when he heard her voice. "Tifa! You shouldn't be here."
"I take it class is cancelled," she said as she hurried over to him while avoiding the men as they grabbed swords and other weapons.
"It sure is," Justice said.
"What's going on?" she asked with a frown.
"AVALANCHE blew up the Nibelheim reactor," he said. "General Sephiroth has ordered assault teams to various places around Gaia to seek out AVALANCHE and destroy them."
Tifa's eyes widened. "What? But…why?"
Justice shrugged. "I don't know, but it has something to do with a recording General Rhapsodos and Commander Kadaj brought back from Nibelheim. Listen, I have to go. Raeven said the General wanted me to go with the team to Banora. I'm…sorry about this."
She nodded sympathetically. "You're a SOLDIER in training, Justice. When your commanding officer says jump, you jump."
"But…they're your friends," he said as he lowered his eyes. "And you were so nice to me."
"Fight them with honor," Tifa said. "They can respect that…and so can I. You do what you need to do, Justice."
He nodded sadly as he raised his eyes to hers. "Thank you Tifa."
She smiled reassuringly and watched him run out of the room with the others. She too hurried from the room and went in search of Sephiroth.
"What the hell are you doing?"
Sephiroth turned his head and looked at Tifa standing in the doorway of their bedroom. "I take it you heard."
She nodded and approached him. "I heard you've launched a full scale attack on Gaia to find my friends…despite your promise to leave them alone."
"They blew up a reactor," he said coldly as he turned to face her. "Destruction of my property has always meant that I will find them and punish them."
"Sephiroth, please," she said as she grabbed his hand. "Don't do this. Don't let them provoke you."
"If I just let it go, they will continue to attack me and try to destroy me so they can save you," he said angrily. "This attack cannot go unanswered and you know it."
"Please! You can't do this!" Tifa pleaded.
"Tifa I can give you many things," he said as reached out and caressed her cheek. His touch was gentle, but his eyes glowed with hate. "But I can't give you this! Your friends will die."
Tifa stepped back angrily and glared at him. "You think you can just go charging out there after my friends and then come back here to me? Have you lost your mind?"
"It wouldn't be the first time," he said flatly. "I have to go. A helicopter is waiting for me."
"Go? Where are you going?" she demanded.
His lips drew up in a smile filled with hate. "To Nibelheim…the beginning of everything."
Tifa's eyes widened slightly. "Sephiroth…"
"I don't have time for this," he said, cutting her off. "I am leaving and you are staying put. Do not make me reinstate the locking code on the door, my darling."
She trembled at the absolute lack of emotion in his voice as he used the term of endearment. "I am not your darling!" she whispered.
Sephiroth sneered as he grabbed her by the arm and pulled her against his chest. "You weren't saying that when you fucked me last night and the night before."
Tifa narrowed her eyes and tried to slap him, but cried out when he grabbed her wrist. "Sephiroth!"
"I love the way you say my name," he said silkily before leaning down and capturing her lips with his.
She struggled against him, but he was too strong and was soon parting her lips with his and pushing his tongue against hers in brutal kiss. She finally was successful in drawing her lips from him and glared up at him.
"I hate you!" she spat breathlessly.
He quirked an eyebrow and smiled slightly. "I know you do. And you probably will continue to hate me for a long time, but your friends must pay for this destruction, Tifa…and they will pay, I promise you that."
Tifa stood with Sephiroth in the protective cover of hanger as rain beat relentlessly against the roof, an occasional clap of thunder and flash of lightning distracting her from watching the preparations of the helicopter set to take Sephiroth back to Nibelheim. She again looked up at him, needing to try and convince him to leave her friends alone one more time. "Please, don't do this! I'm sure they didn't do this," Tifa pleaded.
Sephiroth wanted to snap back that it didn't matter if AVALANCHE as a whole sanctioned the bombing of the reactor and that the only thing that mattered was the fact that Cloud, a man who should have died months ago was spotted alive and well inside the Nibelheim reactor setting the charges that blew it up. But if he told her all that, he would lose her for good. He was sure that eventually she would forgive his coming actions…especially if he was able to keep Marlene and Denzel alive. If he could make sure her children survived, it would be something he could hold over her.
"There is proof they did this, Tifa," he said before looking down at her. "The security cameras don't lie." He moved in front of her before leaning down and kissing her on the lips, anxious to remove the memory of the angry kiss he had forced upon her earlier. Even the fact that she didn't fight or protest the deepening of the kiss failed to lift his heart. He lifted his head and looked down at her, one finger gently tracing the curve of her cheek. "I will return as soon as possible."
Tifa nodded, a feeling of despair and helplessness curling around her heart as she watched him walk out into the rain towards the waiting helicopter with Yazoo and Loz. She didn't want him to go. He would kill her friends and she would truly be alone. Fighting him if she was alone wouldn't do her any good. She absently walked out into the heavy rain and watched his helicopter lift into the sky, uncaring of the fact that she was quickly getting drenched. The heavy rain hid her tears as she watched the helicopter until it disappeared from sight. She even stayed well past its departure, just letting the rain beat against her and numb the pain she felt in her heart. It wasn't until a black umbrella appeared in her line of sight that she blinked and turned around.
"You're going to make yourself ill if you stand here much longer, Miss Lockhart," Genesis said softly. "I'll take you to your room."
She nodded and allowed him to escort her back to the room she shared with Sephiroth. She said nothing and was glad that Genesis respected her desire for silence. He used her key card to unlock the door before opening it for her and allowing her to enter first. He watched her remove her shoes before disappearing into the bedroom and shutting the door behind her. Unsure if she would reappear, he moved closer to the fireplace and used his mastered fire materia to start a roaring fire in the hearth located in the corner of the room.
He had removed his gloves and was warming his hands near the flames when he heard the door open. He looked over his shoulder and found Tifa watching him. She had changed into some black pants and black shirt that he assumed she usually wore for training and she was carrying two towels. He got to his feet and faced her.
"I wasn't sure if you were going to return, so I just started a fire for you," he said softly. "You don't want to catch a cold."
"Thanks," she said as she moved closer to him. She smiled slightly and handed him one of the towels. 'I thought you might want to dry your coat and your hair."
He smiled gratefully and took the proffered towel. "Thank you."
She nodded and moved closer to the fireplace before lowering herself to the floor. She began drying her hair before looking up at him. "Are you going to stay?"
"If you like," he said as he shrugged his coat from his shoulders and allowed it to rest on a nearby chair. He also took the time to remove his tall boots so he could easily sit beside her on the floor. "You seem quite downcast. Are you worried about your friends…or Sephiroth?"
She stopped her movements momentarily. "Sephiroth?" She turned her head and looked up into Genesis' cerulean eyes before angrily shaking her head. "Why would I worry for him? It's his fault this is all happening!"
"You don't fool me," Genesis said as he turned to stare at the fire in front him. "You see the same glimpses of kindness and other good things in him too. You truly began to care about him when he released your friends."
"That was all a lie," she murmured sadly. She lowered her eyes and stared at her hands where they rested in her lap. "I feel connected to him now in a completely different way than before. I have been engaging in intimate acts with him for a while now and I'm not the kind of person that can just do that and not feel anything. I thought I could, but…I just couldn't do it. I just want all the fighting to stop. I want my friends to be able to live in peace. Can't I just be enough for him? Can't he just let them go?"
Genesis nodded in understanding. "You wish for a life less complicated. I can relate to that."
Tifa sighed. "I just don't want to do this anymore. It seemed so simple before. All I had to do was fend Sephiroth off for six or seven months and then we could attack. But then…everything began deteriorating. He was going to allow Hojo to experiment on Vincent and I had run out of things to give him so he would stop hurting my friends. So I gave him my body. Then he wanted access to it at all times and, damn him, he wanted me to enjoy it. I thought I could just lie there and let him fuck me without it touching me…but it did touch me. My friends were suffering and I was enjoying the way he took me and made me feel things I had never felt before. I know he's evil. He killed my father, destroyed my town, and ruined my life, but sometimes…there's a glimpse of something."
"A glimpse of the man he used to be," Genesis murmured sadly. He looked at her trembling hand on the floor between them and covered it with his own hand. "I too wish that this could be a different time. Sephiroth used to be a good man...even though he tried to hide it. He has always felt awkward about showing any emotion. I felt bad for Sephiroth from the first moment I met him when we were teenagers. I grew up in Banora with my friend Angeal. I was a spoiled rich kid and he was the down to earth poor kid, but somehow we were best friends. When we joined SOLDIER, we met Sephiroth. He had grown up in the labs and was not at all social. We, of course, had no idea that we were all genetically enhanced 'projects' and that was why they wanted us all to work together, so we just went about our normal routines, unaware of the constant experiments and tests they were doing on us. It wasn't until Sephiroth became the youngest General and he was finally let off of Hojo's leash that Angeal and I finally began to understand just what Sephiroth was subjected to. He was subjected to painful tests and injections to create the perfect weapon. They constant tests and injections made him weak and sometimes near death on a regular basis. Angeal and I used to take turns sitting with him in his apartment to make sure he made it through the night. We were all so close. But as we got older, Sephiroth began to make a name for himself and eventually became the World's Hero and I became jealous of his fame. After all, I did the same things he did and won as many battles as he did for the great ShinRa Electric Company, but got no recognition."
"Why?" Tifa asked with a frown.
Genesis smirked. "It was all part of the games Hollander and Hojo played. Hollander was the man who created Angeal and myself. Because we failed to display the full potential of our Jenova cells, we were considered failures and by extension, so was Hollander. Hojo's method of breading the Jenova cells in both the mother and the fetus led to Sephiroth and he was considered the success of the Jenova Project race. Hojo had won and lorded it over Hollander. I was growing impatient for my glory to come, and allowed a simple, good-natured sparring match between Sephiroth and myself to become something so much worse. Sephiroth and I were so wrapped up in battling each other that our friend Angeal had to step in and stop us…but I wouldn't stop. My will was so strong that I ended up shattering Angeal's sword and a piece of that blade sliced my shoulder. That was the day that began the path to my destruction and Sephiroth's descent into madness."
Tifa turned her hand so the palm faced up against his and gently squeezed his hand. "What happened between you?"
Genesis smiled derisively. "I let my jealousy consume me…and my friends. My wound refused to heal and nothing Hollander did could stop the progression of my degradation. Angeal donated cells and blood, but nothing helped. Hollander refused to allow Sephiroth to donate cells, despite his desire to do so." He laughed silently at the look of shock on Tifa's face. "Like I said, he was a good man at one time. You know, I often wonder how much of our twisted history would be rewritten if Sephiroth had been allowed to give me his cells that day. Hollander fed my anger with the truth of how we were all created and used my anger to convince me that we had to destroy ShinRa for the wrongs they had done to us. So when ShinRa deployed me to Wutai, I convinced the men I was in charge of to desert ShinRa with me…and allowed Hollander to copy my traits onto them, condemning them to be my clones…prone to the same degradation I was suffering." He turned his face away from her, too ashamed to look at her. "It was easily the most shamefully selfish thing I have ever done. I convinced Angeal to join me, preying on his dedication to his honor. I convinced him we were both monsters and monsters had no honor. I told him…" Genesis stopped, tears welling up in his eyes as he relived his reprehensible past. He pulled himself together and continued on, his voice a little rougher than before. "I told him the only way to redeem our honor would be to destroy the ones who had stolen it from us. I turned him against ShinRa and caused him to hurt his young trainee, Zack. But eventually Angeal realized that Hollander was using him and his clones for his own selfish pursuits so he goaded young Zack into fighting him to the death."
Tifa moved closer to Genesis and rested her head on his shoulder. "Cloud told me that after Angeal's death, Zack became close with Sephiroth."
Genesis nodded. "The puppy, as we called Zack, latched onto Sephiroth and surprisingly, Sephiroth latched onto him as well. He managed to touch Sephiroth's heart in a way no one ever had. And then came Nibelheim. I had heard that after that mission, Sephiroth was planning on leaving ShinRa as well and I thought it was my perfect opportunity to approach my old friend. I had long since determined that Hollander had lied when he had said Sephiroth wouldn't be a viable match to heal my degradation. He had lied to me my whole life, so why would he stop lying since I was so gullible? I was sure if Sephiroth would give me some of his cells, I would be able to heal my degradation."
"Why did you think that?" Tifa asked quietly.
"My Jenova cells were not cultivated in the womb like Sephiroth's were," Genesis explained. "His Jenova cells are ingrained in the fabric of his DNA and are more pure. If I could have his cells, I figured they would attach to my Jenova cells and fix whatever the problem was, at least enough to stop and heal my degradation. So I followed all of you to the reactor in Mount Nibel. While you were outside, I was in the reactor, being brutally honest with Sephiroth about his creation. I told him outright that he was a perfect monster and I needed him to heal myself. Instead of reacting the way I thought he would, he just glared at me, hate spitting from his eyes and rolling off his very body before telling me he would not help me. He even accused me of lying. I left the reactor, but stayed close to Nibelheim, intending to speak to him again, once he had calmed down. But…I had only succeeded in throwing him into the pits of madness and that caused him to destroy your home…and kill your father. I singlehandedly destroyed my two best friends and hurt the puppy more than I ever realized until Zack helped me regain my honor as a SOLDIER."
"Is that why you're helping us?" Tifa asked as she gazed up at him.
He nodded slightly. "I created this mess with my selfishness and I must help end it and if that means destroying Sephiroth, then I will do it. Though the glimpses of the man I knew twisted and intermingled with the man I helped create makes it difficult to maintain my conviction."
Tifa nodded. "I feel the same way. I see parts of the man I had thought him to be before Nibelheim and part of me aches for the man who has been broken by the cruelty of his father and ShinRa...but the man he is most of the time must be stopped."
"When Sephiroth is destroyed, the man I called friend will be freed," Genesis said firmly. "He no longer hears the calls of that demon, Jenova, so it is my hope that Angeal will be able to find the remnants of the man we once knew and guide him to the Lifestream…once and for all."
Tifa looked at the pain on Genesis' face. "You love him, don't you?"
Genesis turned and looked down at her before nodding. "I love him as only two friends can love each other…and it is for the sake of my friend that I will destroy the demon left in his place." He gently put an arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer to him. "I will protect you, Tifa. He will not harm you."
Tifa turned her eyes to the flames. "Somehow, I know he won't hurt me."
Genesis looked down at her and used his left hand to tilt her chin so she was looking up at him. "Never trust Sephiroth, my dear. It will get you killed."
