Chapter Thirty-Six
Sector Five
December 15th, [ μ ] – εγλ 2000
Sephiroth sat in a circle of discarded papers, open files, and scattered data disks in the middle of the SOLDIER records room. He had locked himself in here as soon as he had left Cloud's apartment, the curiosity burning slower in him but with no less intensity. He had ripped through file cabinets, computer systems and harried clerical staff in his need to find the truth surrounding his… creation.
So far, he had found nothing. Every remaining document was a tiny piece of the puzzle that fit Cloud's explanation, but left a lingering and compounding distaste. The worst were details of his childhood.
He could remember little before the age of eight, when he was sent off to study with Katana, a weapons master in the Turks who specialised in the sword of his chosen name. He had spent his pre-adolescent years under the watchful gaze of… his father while Katana had drilled into him the fundamentals of sword work and combat. It had been a fond time for him — while Katana was a strict teacher, he did not believe in the spiritual and pacifist tripe that so often went with hand in hand with martial arts instructors. He taught form, precision and the art of the weapon alone.
When he became an adult at age fourteen he was drafted into SOLDIER, the newly formed department of elite warriors in Shinra's army, of which he would be the first member. He met the second and third members of the department, Angeal and Genesis, with whom he would form what seemed like a lifelong bond. At first it was respect, for of all the students and instructors at Shinra they were the only two who could challenge him. Soon, as the injections and medical 'enhancements' grew in frequency and discomfort, it turned to friendship as they turned to each other for comfort at their most vulnerable times.
Yet Hojo had never told him of anything before his time at Katana's boot camp. When he asked, he was told that it was nothing remarkable — after all, most people do not remember their earliest years and with Sephiroth losing his mother it must have been so traumatic, don't worry about it, Shinra took care of you and you should be grateful to them.
But the records told a different story.
He had been born in Nibelheim, like Cloud. His mother was listed as Jenova and his father listed as unknown, absent. He spent the first few years as an infant in a mansion Shinra had set up as a research base, at the same time and in the same place that they built their very first mako reactor. The list of tests were standard, but excessive for a cadet, let along an infant. Blood tests, fitness tests, toxin sensitivity, mako absorption rate. Some of them done daily, most of them done as soon as he was a week old.
He was a test subject to Shinra, an experiment from the day he was conceived.
He had been told that Shinra had taken him into the SOLDIER program as their first member because he was exceptionally skilled, he was a prodigy who had gained such amazing power with sword and materia before he was even a teenager. But that was a lie, he was made to be a SOLDIER from his birth. He never gained any power, it was inflicted upon him. His shirt was torn open from when, in a fit of panic, he had checked his limbs for scars, or a line where his arms joined his chest, evidence that he had been assembled.
His thoughts turned to Angeal and Genesis, his friends with such similar power. Is that why they left Shinra, had they too found out that they were made to be 'special' at the whims of some fucking scientist?
Was that why Cloud seemed to bear such a grudge against Shinra, even when working for them? Or worse — Cloud was older than him, was he the failed prototype that had been cast aside to make way for Sephiroth, the next test subject?
His thoughts were interrupted by on the door slowly, timidly sliding back.
He growled, gathering up the scattered papers and throwing them on a nearby desk. He had locked the door for a reason, he did not want to be disturbed and he meant it. When Lazard poked his head around the corner of the doorway, he levelled his most malevolent glare at the director.
"Sephiroth," Lazard said as he walked into the room, his eyes cast down to his wrists where he fastidiously straightened his cuffs with one hand, his other holding a plain manila folder. "A mission has come up."
Sephiroth stared back at him.
"It's just a short mission," Lazard went on, his eyes not moving from the folder. "There has been a disturbance at the Sector Five reactor. A team is being sent, and Second Fair will be leading it. I just want you to provide assistance."
Lazard handed the folder over and Sephiroth took it, letting it drop to his side without bothering to open it. "Very well, I accept." A true Shinra lackey, to the end.
"Fair's promotion to First Class only needs my signature. I would like you to see for yourself if I should put it there or not."
"Very well," he said, brushing past Lazard and leaving the records room. He did not have much time for the hyperactive, annoyingly friendly Zack Fair, but he had heard enough from Angeal about his protege being competent and professional in the field — as much as he was not elsewhere.
Sephiroth certainly hoped so. In less than an hour, he would be finding out for himself.
"Gold team, move up to the control room and secure it. Red team, spread out and cover the walkways below. Blue team, you're up top with me."
He was impressed. While Fair's easygoing style had worn on him for the first stage of the assault, his rapport with the troopers and firm communication had made for a coordinated attack with the general infantry that he would find difficult to pull off. While Sephiroth knew that he commanded respect amongst all the ranks of Shinra, he was well aware that he was just as feared and not terribly well liked. He was coming to realise was that Fair's style of leadership was not worse, just different and he would grudgingly admit, perhaps even more effective than his.
"I will follow Gold Team," he said to Fair before following the squad leader down the narrow steel walkway. They were not far into the reactor and while Fair was being careful, they were still making excellent time — it helped that they had not yet run into any resistance.
"Yes sir," both Fair and the gold leader answered.
He was more interested in the control room itself than the performance of the various teams. The report had described an anomaly that was technical in detail, various power fluctuations and equipment malfunctions that would be best suited to an engineering team than a military force. Yet the entire reactor had been evacuated, leaving one of the most complicated and expensive buildings in Midgar to be operated by remote while teams of soldiers blundered around its interior. There had to be something else going on for the President — and it had to have been the President — to order this operation.
"Control room secure."
He nodded at the trooper, pushing past the door and making a beeline for the security console on the far wall. Each of the monitors were showing various feeds from the security cameras, and a quick flick through them found exactly what he was looking for. Too many cameras were showing static to be a coincidence.
He tapped his earpiece. "Expect trouble, Fair."
Yes, sir. Any specifics?
"The reactor has been infiltrated. No specifics yet."
Why wasn't this detail put into the report? He pulled up the security controls and started playing back through the tapes. The security personnel would have surely reported cameras going out immediately, so the evacuation would make sense if the reactor was under attack. Most of the cameras were taken out before they could spot the culprit, but there was one… just less than two hours ago, where one camera covered another.
Even on the black and white screen he could see the red clad figure walk into shot and with a wide swing slice a camera from the wall. The figure turned to the camera, lifting his arm and shooting a blast of flame into the lens. The screen turned to static.
"Genesis," he whispered to himself.
He stood from the seat and made his way to the door, finger held against his earpiece. "All teams, fall back. Fair, I am taking command."
Everyone, fall back, Fair repeated. Sir, what's happening?
"Genesis," Sephiroth replied. "Second Fair, make sure the teams get out."
Sir, you need backup-
"Take the teams to the entrance, Fair. Now."
Grabbing the sides of a ladder, he hauled himself up to the next level three rungs at a time. He would be able to travel faster without the soldiers slowing him down, but more than that, he wanted both them and Fair out of the way. He was not planning to fight Genesis, or to bring him in to Shinra. No, he needed to have a long talk with his old friend.
Sephiroth clipped his sword to his back, raising his hands. Angeal was cornered, his Shinra-issue broadsword raised defensively as he backed up against the wall. "I did not come here to fight, Angeal," he said, taking a cautious step closer. "I only wanted to talk."
Angeal let the tip of his sword drop to the floor, but he did not lower it entirely. "Talking may be more dangerous than fighting," he warned.
"Perhaps, but do you not think it is time?"
Angeal glanced around the bare room. The dust was disturbed, long marks in the floor from the hasty removal of heavy equipment. Just what have you been doing, Angeal?
"Sephiroth, if you knew what I knew…"
"I think I do. I found out about… my birth, at least."
The admission was enough to take Angeal by surprise, his grip on his sword slipping enough to let the blade clatter to the ground. He took in a deep breath, "Then you know about Jenova?"
"I was told she was my mother, that she died in childbirth… but she was not my mother. More than that, I don't know."
Sephiroth's superior hearing could pick up the frenzied beat of Angeal's heartbeat easing slightly. So Jenova was important. He had placed her out of his mind when he found out that she was not his mother. Was she still related to him in some way?
"Then you should keep it that way. I wish I had never known."
"Is that who you are looking for, Angeal?"
"No, it's more than that. I can't explain to you why, but this can't involve you."
Sephiroth practically growled at his old friend. "I am already involved."
"Please, keep out of this… and keep Zack out of it, too."
"What about Genesis?"
"What about him?" Angeal reached down to pick his blade off the floor, holding it up to rest on as a support while he talked with Sephiroth.
"I know that he is here, Angeal. Neither of you have to hide from me."
Angeal flipped his blade back into a ready position, backing away from Sephiroth while he scanned the room. "Genesis is here?"
"What is going on?" Sephiroth stepped forward, only for Angeal to duck out of the way.
"Angeal's been hiding something," came the familiar voice from the rafters, and in true theatrical Genesis style, he dropped from the roof above with his coat sweeping behind him, landing deftly in the room with a flourish. "Hiding something from both of us," he continued, crimson sword pointed straight towards Angeal.
"I did what I had to," Angeal yelled as he charged Genesis, bringing his massive blade into a swinging arc that forced the other man to dodge to the side.
"Stop!" Sephiroth yelled at the other two, grabbing his own sword from his back and stepping into the fray.
Yet the two continued to battle, Angeal closing the gap with determined strides until he was in reach with his broadsword. Genesis danced away, using his sword and coat to keep Angeal at arms length while he responded with his formidable magic skills, throwing out three fireballs at a time.
Sephiroth slashed through one ball of flame, breaking the magic bonds in half before it could explode. He needed to reach Genesis, but he still had no idea what to do when he got there. If he could just get them to stop fighting, he thought, they would be able to sort the whole mess out — either they would come back to Shinra, or he would leave with them. But they would do it together. He was so close to finding the answer — if only they would lay down their weapons and talk it out.
Narrowing his eyes and letting out a short growl, he stepped through the flames of another of Genesis' spells, swinging the Masamune down low to keep the tongues of flame under control. Genesis never had any thought for the locations he fought in — he ducked to avoid the flying debris as a fireball blew a hole through the wall — and would burn them to the ground just to win the fight. Sometimes a bit more restraint would be welcomed, especially in a damned reactor.
Another fireball, and this time he was too late in catching it, the magic slamming into a supporting pillar and breaking it in two. He was still exhausted from the fight with Cloud, and it was slowing him down. While he had never had a need to question his own abilities before, he was not sure he could hold off Genesis alone like this, let alone both of them. Worse, Genesis' fireballs were starting to take their toll on the building and he was barely able to see the other two through the thick black smoke that was suffocating the room.
Pushing through the smoke he found where Angeal had chased Genesis outside the room and was now pressing the other SOLDIER on the numerous catwalks the reactor possessed. With each swing of his sword Angeal would sever another of the platforms and the two would leap over to the next, only to begin the process again.
With a blind leap, Sephiroth grabbed the nearest walkway and swung up to meet them, landing on the walkway so Genesis was just in reach of his massively long blade. The two of them had their blades locked together, pushing desperately against each other in a physical show of strength. Genesis could not win a direct physical push with Angeal, but it was the magical tricks up his sleeve that Sephiroth was more worried about.
Joining the lock, he pressed Masamune up against the other two blades, trying to break them apart. "Stop this!" he yelled at them, using his incredible strength to force both combatants to fight against him instead of each other.
"Stay out of this," Angeal growled, pushing back with his broadsword. Genesis twisted to the side, trying to use the distraction to score a hit on Angeal while he was occupied. Angeal twisted to meet him, pushing further against their locked swords.
Angeal's blade snapped.
All the force they were pushing into their grapple barrelled out, the shattered half of the blade flying from the end of the sword and embedding itself into Sephiroth's shoulder. Angeal stumbled forward, narrowly missing getting his head sliced off as Genesis' sword, suddenly lacking resistance, flew out in a wide arc. With nothing to hold him back, Angeal stumbled into Sephiroth, knocking the wounded and stunned man through the railing and down into the reactor below.
As Sephiroth fell, he could see the world become clearer, more tranquil. He wondered what they were even fighting over, why three friends had been locked in such vitriolic combat. He could hear someone shouting his name, but it didn't make sense to him. It didn't matter.
All that mattered was the wind rushing past him, the darkness below that was slowly creeping up to surround him and the peaceful knowledge that nothing mattered anymore. There was nothing he could do to stop this, just lie back and let himself go as peacefully as possible.
All it took… was one mistake.
He relaxed his body, hair fluttering all around him as he accepted his fate.
He hit the ground, and everything went black.