Chapter 22: Shattered and Scattered
"And the vice-president also flies," Jessie mused as she sat behind Rufus in one of the planes.
The young executive sat in the pilot's seat while the man originally hired to bring the plane over acted as co-pilot. Next to Jessie sat Barrett, and behind them sat Cloud and Tifa.
Rufus smirked confidently as he continued to guide the small craft through the air.
"How much longer?" Barrett asked impatiently.
Rufus rolled his eyes. "We only took off a minute ago."
"Jessie said that one of them was spotted near Corel," Barrett huffed angrily, "Maybe you don't care about your hometown, but I care about mine!"
"It's an airplane- not a rocket," Rufus replied coolly, "We'll get there when we get there. If you don't like it, there's parachutes in the back. Help yourself."
"Smart-ass…" Barrett muttered under his breath.
Jessie had gotten straight to work in tracking the path of the four WEAPONs before they left. Several new sightings had popped up in the last half-hour. The one Sephiroth had described as Ruby WEAPON had been last seen burying itself into the Corel Desert.
There was a sighting of the "Diamond" WEAPON traveling near Wutai. Rufus' other pilot agreed to fly Vincent, Sephiroth, Zack, Tseng and Reno over there.
That left Cid and Biggs to wait for further news. For the time being, the Highwind would be left to fly over to Fort Condor. Elmyra, Dyne, Eleanor, Wedge, and a few other members of the Midgar branch of Avalanche were hiding out there for the time being.
The other two WEAPONs hadn't been spotted yet.
Tifa shook her head sadly. "Poor Aeris. I hope she pulls through."
Jessie sighed. "Yeah. Y'know, I've only known her a little over a month, but it's gonna be weird not having her around anymore. I feel bad for Sephiroth too. I can tell the guy's hurting."
"I've know that girl since she was a baby," Barrett said. "If she dies…"
"Don't even go there," Jessie said sharply.
Tifa nodded. "Right. We're gonna take on WEAPON, then Jenova. And then, when we're done, Aeris will be waiting for us."
Jessie nodded in silent agreement. We're all gonna be alright…aren't we…?
"Welcome back, Biggs," Elmyra hugged the young man, "For Odin's sake- you've gotten so thin in such a short time! Let's go find you something to eat."
Biggs smiled and let the older woman lead him into the kitchen, where she turned on the light and opened the refrigerator.
"Really- you shouldn't bother," he said, "It's two in the morning, I'll fix my own late-night snack."
"I suppose," Elmyra sighed, "It's just that I haven't heard from you all in over a week. Is everyone all right?"
It was Biggs' turn to sigh now. "Not exactly," he confessed, "Aeris is really sick, and Sephiroth's kind of a mess right now."
Elmyra looked alarmed. "What do you mean she's sick?"
"That virus that Jenova gave to the Ancients two-thousand years ago," Biggs explained, "she gave it to Aeris. They don't know what's gonna happen to her. You heard about Aeris' parents, right?"
Elmyra nodded.
"They're gonna send her over to see them, and see if the people there can do anything for her."
"She's so young," Elmyra said shaking her head mournfully, "I can't believe this is all happening."
"Yeah," Biggs agreed.
"How's Vincent taking all of this?"
Biggs shrugged. "All right. You know Vincent. Can't tell what he's thinking."
"He needs a break," Elmyra said absently, "He's always pushed himself to the limit. Ever since I met him ten years ago, he's always been like that."
"You and Vincent go back a long ways, don't you?"
Elmyra smiled. "I remember the day I first met Vincent. I must say, he was quite the eyesore with that getup he always wears. Honestly though, I don't know if he'll ever get rid of that ratty old cape. Back then, I didn't know what to think."
"Where did you meet him, if you don't mind my asking?"
"It was at the train station. I was waiting for the colonel to come back. He'd written me, telling me he was coming home on leave. So I waited every day at the train station. So did Vincent. Every day I was there, so was he. I thought he was some kind of bum at first, but after really looking at him, there was no way I could keep thinking that. No bum would have that kind of elegance about him the way Vincent did."
Biggs began to pour himself a glass of orange juice, listening quietly as Elmyra continued to speak:
"Then one day…I found him lying at the bottom of the steps leading to the train. Apparently, he'd been shot at. It turned out to be nothing serious, and of course these are the kind of things you'd see during wartime in Midgar. A couple of bullets had grazed each of his legs. I'd had a potion on me, so I used it on him. He sure did heal fast. Eventually, we got to talking.
"Nothing special, really. I told him about my husband, and about his thoughts on the Wutai war. Neither my husband nor I supported the idea of Shinra expanding their empire by force. Vincent agreed, obviously. All he told me was that the Shinra were responsible for the death of someone very close to him. Then before he took off, he'd handed me one of Avalanche's old newsletters."
"Vanishing mysteriously into the night, huh?" Biggs mused.
"Yes," Elmyra chuckled, "I suppose so."
Her expression sobered. "It was the next day that they delivered the news that my husband had been killed…and there you have it. Three days later, I emailed the contact at the back of the newsletter. Vincent recognized my name, and came over the next day. I decided I would help Avalanche any way I could."
"And now we stand where we are," Biggs finished. He picked up his cup and drank the rest of his juice. "Delicious! Man, I'm bushed! Climbed a huge mountain for nothing, and it's catching up to me now."
"There's an extra bed in Wedge's room," Elmyra told him, "First door down the hallway to your right."
Biggs balked. "Wedge's room?! That guy snores with his mouth wide open! He's like a buzz-saw, it's so loud! I think I'll sleep on the couch if that's all right with you..."
Elmyra chuckled. "Suit yourself."
Biggs stood up. "Thanks. I'll brief you on everything else in the morning just like Vincent wanted. 'Night, Mrs. G."
"Goodnight, Biggs."
Elmyra watched the young man leave the kitchen, then proceeded to pour a glass of juice for herself.
Vincent…this all may end soon. When it does…what then?
Her eyes traveled down to the mess of documents on the table that she had been leafing through before Biggs had come in. Jessie had been very helpful in gathering them, though the girl hadn't known what it had been for. Elmyra hadn't told anyone about this; she didn't want to give Vincent any false hope. But now the final piece of the puzzle had been emailed to her this evening by another source.
Over the years Vincent had given her bits and pieces about the woman he had loved and lost...Sephiroth's mother. Between the odd sightings, and what Jessie had given her when she had hacked into the Shinra personnel archives, Elmyra had begun to put two and two together. It was always the same place: a cave on the edge of the crater lake near Nibelheim. They were ghost sightings, but nobody sane really believed in ghosts. She and Vincent also were well aware of Jenova's incredible regenerative powers, and then some.
She had done her own investigating, and found an interesting note in the Shinra archives about a break-in at the morgue in Nibelheim only two days after Sephiroth's birth and Dr. Crescent's subsequent death. Her body had gone missing, along with a dress that had belonged to another Shinra worker. Why they had decided to leave their dress in the morgue was beyond Elmyra's understanding, but so were a lot of the things that the Shinra did.
...But was it really a "grave robber" breaking in, or had Professor Hojo and Professor Gast underestimated Jenova's true powers...? Perhaps it was someone breaking out...
Once this whole debacle was over, Elmyra intended to let Vincent find out...if only to get a bit of closure.
As for Elmyra herself, perhaps she would finally allow the owner of the nearby grocery store to court her. The man was certainly persistent, and with Jenova gone, SOLDIER would cease to exist. She should allow herself to finally experience some personal happiness...
Vincent sat in the co-pilot's seat as the pilot guided Rufus' second plane through the sky. Tseng and Reno sat behind them, while in the back row, Zack and Sephiroth sat silently, not looking at one another.
"Heh," Reno snickered, "So Wutai busted its ass to win the war, only to get annihilated by some big monster the Planet unleashed. Talk about irony…"
"Not if we're able to get to WEAPON first," said Vincent.
Reno raised a skeptical eyebrow. "So you figure our guns and shit are gonna kill that thing? Even though it was the Planet itself who released it? I dunno, man. This could get interesting."
Zack grinned. "The bigger they are, the harder they fall, right?"
Reno laughed. "I like your way of thinking, man."
"Has Wutai been alerted about WEAPON?" Tseng asked.
"I spoke with Lord Godo over the phone just before we boarded the plane," Vincent answered. "The whole country should be on alert by now."
"Hey, I can see land coming up!" Zack exclaimed.
"Yep- we're almost there," the pilot announced, "Just keep your seatbelts on. We'll be there in a few minutes."
"There hasn't been any sign of this thing you call WEAPON," Lord Godo said to Vincent as the group all sat in the nobleman's living room. "Though we really don't know what we're looking for."
"WEAPON has probably settled into some kind of hiding place," Vincent said thoughtfully.
"The sea is the only place a large creature could hide around here," Godo told him, "I'll send our troops over to the beaches as soon as possible."
Vincent stood up. "If there's nothing else, I might as well return to the inn with the others and wait for word on the situation."
Godo stood up and bowed politely. Vincent returned the gesture and walked out the door.
He hadn't taken more than five steps before nearly being run over by someone.
"Hey, watch where you're going, old man!" a young girl exclaimed.
"Perhaps if you weren't in such a hurry, you would have done the same yourself," Vincent replied evenly.
"Hey- this is my house!" the girl argued, "I can do what I want! And why aren't you bowing? Don't you know who I am, gaijin?"
Godo appeared behind Vincent. "Yuffie," he said wearily, "Stop bothering my guest and go to your room."
"But Dad, I was gonna go to the woods!" Yuffie protested.
"As of now, we're in a state of emergency," Godo told her, "Go to your room and find something to do there."
Yuffie stomped her foot. "This is crap!"
"Get to your room before I give you something to whine about!" Godo ordered his daughter. "Just be thankful my belt isn't made of leather like the ones back east!"
Yuffie quickly dashed down to the room at the end of the hallway and slammed the door behind her.
"You'll have to excuse her," Godo sighed, "She's only eleven, but she's already going through her rebellious stage."
Vincent nodded. "My son was fifteen when he went through that stage."
"What did you do?"
"Pretty much the same as what you just did. I'll admit though, it's not easy. Though you've got your child with you 24/7. I'm sure that doesn't make it any easier."
Godo chuckled. "You have no idea..."
"Where's Sephiroth?" Reno asked as he, Tseng and Zack sat in the Turtle's Paradise bar and grill.
"Holed up at the inn," Zack answered.
"Aren't you gonna get a drink?" Reno asked Zack, looking at the soldier's plate of food.
"Nah," Zack said, "I gotta be ready for anything, not to mention I don't want another hangover. The last one was bad enough..."
"Soon as this is all over," Reno said, "Me and my buddy Rude have gotta take you out drinking. You've got no tolerance, y'know? Only a couple forties and you were smashed."
"I don't even know how I made it through the next day," Zack admitted as he began stuffing his face. He then stopped eating as his eyes came to rest on a very long, thin sword that hung on the wall.
"Excuse me," Zack waved to a waiter, "But what's up with that sword?"
The waiter looked at the wall and smiled. "Ah, that's the Masamune," he told him, "Nearly twenty years ago, it was forged by a sword smith of the same name. Supposedly, Shinra had an experiment to create the perfect soldiers. And the perfect soldiers required the perfect swords. What you see there is actually the prototype. It was ultimately rejected in favor of the kind of sword you carry. Actually, even the strongest of the members of SOLDIER could barely lift that thing. Since the sword was such an embarrassment, Masamune gave this place his sword, ultimately concentrating on creating lighter blades with just as much durability."
"Yet, you display it so grandly?" Tseng asked.
Reno shrugged. "Why not? That thing looks pretty badass. I think it works."
"Is there anything you want me to get for you gentlemen?" the waiter asked.
Reno and Tseng raised their empty mugs expectantly.
"Right away, sirs."
What the hell am I doing?
That thought kept coming back to Sephiroth as he sat on his bed, staring out the window.
If only I had simply stayed with Aeris instead of running off to join Avalanche…Sephiroth thought, I realized I felt something for her and thought the worst. What was I scared of? I never really had to worry about losing control until Jenova came into the picture. My paranoia is the reason Aeris is bedridden with a deadly disease…
He couldn't deny it anymore. There was no point. He was finally able to admit to himself that things between him and Aeris had changed. Predatory or not, he couldn't lie to himself that she was still just his "little sister". If he could have his way right now, the two would move back to Fort Condor and live out the rest of their lives in peace...if she felt the same way about him. He certainly wasn't going to confess her feelings right now while she was laid up, though. And of course, there were too many obstacles in the way. President Shinra still wanted both him and Aeris, the Planet itself was in danger, and Aeris was fighting for her own life.
I can't control what happens to Aeris…Sephiroth thought miserably, but I'll be damned if I let Jenova or President Shinra have their way.
And yet, you can't even come out of your own room…his subconscious taunted him.
A knock on the door brought Sephiroth out of his thoughts.
"Sephiroth?" Vincent's voice came from outside. "Are you all right?"
The swordsman stood up and opened the door.
"I'm well enough," he told his father, "Any news?"
"Nothing yet," Vincent replied, "Come to the Turtle's Paradise with me. You need to eat something."
Sephiroth sighed. "Very well."
Vincent nodded. "Good. I thought it would take more effort to get you out of your room."
Sephiroth stiffened impatiently as he followed his father out of the room. "It's not as if I've suffered a nervous breakdown."
"Forgive me. Call it fatherly concern, if you will."
Just then, a bell could be heard ringing outside. The bell was soon followed by a loud siren.
Vincent and Sephiroth looked at each other. No questions needed to be asked.
"Let's go," Vincent said.
The two hurried out of the inn.
A/N: Thank you to all my new followers. This means a lot to me.