Two weeks had passed since Fang had joined their ranks and she had proven a useful ally ever since.
Her performance was remarkable for a simple village girl. She knew how to fight, how to track down beasts, how to make conversation and when to shut up. And sure... They all enjoyed her company and welcomed her help and everything, but still, after all those days, somehow her presence still made the general feel uneasy.
This strange woman. None of her actions made sense to him.
There were those times when she´d try and catch him on his own. Times when he could have sworn she was trying to flirt with him. Times when he wasn´t that sure whether she had joined the corps because she wanted to help or just because she wanted to be near him.
He knew it all seemed a little farfetched. But still. He couldn´t shake off the feeling that she was trying to be close to him, always eager to catch his attention.
And she succeeded at it too.
With those huge sparkling green eyes and that pretty cocky smile of her´s, listening to whatever she had to say and agreeing even, was hard to resist. It wasn´t that he had any interest in her. Not beyond what was normal considering a colleague. But he found he did enjoy her company, her attention, simply as a friend. It was a nice feeling to be admired again, to feel important to someone. To feel appreciated. Something he hadn´t felt like in a very long time.
And still, although they got along well, although it was kind of flattering and everything, the way she treated him, after all those days, after all those weeks, he still wasn´t sure what to make of her.
He couldn´t deny the fact that he liked her. She was funny. Was intelligent. He appreciated her company and her small witty comments. It was refreshing, was nice to have her around. Still... He couldn´t shake off the thought that she was having ulterior motives. Motives concerning pretty much him...
Because yes. She was always around him, always trying to humor him, talking to him, touching him even... And there was something else... Lightning... Those murderous glares she´d been fixing Fang with whenever they ended up in the same room, those accusing glances she´d throw his way whenever she thought he wasn´t looking...
Clearly, his former apprentice didn´t approve of his newest acquaintance. Not at all.
But what was she thinking? Sephiroth could only guess.
Somehow he never knew what was going through that stubborn head of her´s.
Somehow she never let him in. Just pushed him away. Hadn´t it always been that way?
It had.
It had been her who'd pushed him away after all. Her, who'd refused to give it all a chance. Her who'd made clear she didn't want any of it. Didn't want him.
And as much as he wanted things to be different, he couldn't help but think that maybe it was time he accepted his fate.
Sure, he was thinking about her.
Every night.
Every day.
All the time.
All those things he had said. All those things he had wanted. Still wanted...
They were merely dreams... Stupid dreams.
He wanted her. Wanted them to be a family. More than anthing.
He had told her so.
A hundred times.
She´d made clear it wasn´t what she wanted, right? She had!
Sometimes she hadn´t even listened, hadn´t wanted to hear about any of it.
And she wanted nothing to do with him now. She´d made that much clear as well. Why else were they back to evading each other's presence at all cost.
Then why... Why was she sending him those glances. Why was she looking at him like that all the time?!
Why was she -
'Hey, watch out!'
It was only Fang´s voice, coupled with his genetically enhanced reflexes and years of hard training that saved him from dying a very painful death as two doglike creatures came flying at him out of nowhere.
His mind had been elsewhere again, he was aware.
It was happening more often recently.
Too often.
He really needed to be more careful.
He couldn´t allow his thoughts to trail off on duty.
Not like that.
Oh yes. This could have ended badly.
If it hadn´t been for Fang...
Cleansing his Masamune with a swift motion of his left arm it was stashed away by the powers of his storing materia before the second beast´s carcass had had time to slump to the ground.
'Thank you.' he said sincerely, looking up at his shocked new companion´s face.
Her eyes huge with shock, she only took a tiny step closer, gaze fixed on the dead monsters in front of them.
Those two were bigger than the usual `dogsters´ they had encountered before. Bigger and even more deformed then the ones they were used to fight these days.
'What are they...?' The woman asked somewhat carefully.
'Not sure.' the general answered thoughtfully.
They looked like dogsters. Just heavily mutated.
He had no idea where they´d come from, nor what they were exactly.
But the dark suspicions he´d been nursing somewhere in the deepest corners of his mind only grew.
These aberrations... Those mutations... They weren´t normal. Weren´t a natural phenomenon. That much was for sure.
Things like this didn´t just happen on their own...
Yes, there was something lurking in those forests. Something that wasn´t supposed to be there.
And suddenly he could feel it. Stronger than he´d ever felt it before. A strange but strong pull. Luring him deeper into the forest. More like an urge really. An urge to follow.
And yes, there was something.
Something within him indeed.
Begging for him to be united with what he was supposed to be part of from the beginning.
General Sephiroth Cresecent sat in his office, his back hunched as he studied the paper strewn in front of him.
It had gotten dark already, would have been too dark to read, had it not been for the wan electric light of his desk lamp sitting right in front of him.
The guardian corps station was dark, abandoned, everyone else had already left for home, but Sephiroth was still there and the desk infront of him was strewn with the latest reports of beast sightings, records of the past as well maps of the region and adjoining woodlands.
He had no reason to go home after all.
The empty beach house he'd once found comfortable, cozy, soothing, now it gave him goosebumps, made his chest tighten and his muscles tense whenever he only thought about it .
No, he'd rather stay at the station as long as he could.
Besides... There was work to do. And lots.
Shifting the papers in front of him and arranging them into neatly stacked piles, he revealed one of the few maps of the wooodlands he had managed to procure. This one he had gathered form Marqui at the neighbourhood watch and it was the only one that went beyond the first few yards of treeline, the only one that didn't only show streets and beach prominades and tourist features, but gave some more details on the terrain that lay further north, deeper into the forrest.
Not that there was much to gather from it really. The woodlands seemed to be just that. Woodlands. There were rivers marked and ravines, clearings and blackberry fields and behemoth lairs and their hunting grounds, which were marked with warning red ink.
Well... It wasn't exactly Behemoths he was looking for. Not really.
It was something else.
Something else entirely.
His mind a little sluggish and his head a little heavy he felt his eyelids droop, felt hard to stay awake.
Resting his elbows on the desktop, his hands coming up to support his heavy head, he briefly let his forhead rest in his palms, allowed himself to close his eyes as he let fingers massage his slightly pounding forehead.
Yes. He was tired.
Was exhausted really.
Had been feeling so for quite some time now.
And it wasn't something that could be cured with a few good nights of rest either.
It had been quite a while since his last mako shot, he was aware.
There was no point denying that.
It had been the day of meteor fall, right after they had returned from defeating ultima weapon and it had almost caused him to miss out on the entire evening, had almost caused him to miss his opportunity to spend time with Lightning from what he had thought back then would have been the very last time.
He'd needed it then. Badly fight with ultima weapon had drained him a lot and he hadn't wanted to face the end of the world without being able to stand on his feet.
But this wasn't the case now. Not yet.
Still. He was slowly running out of mako. And his body was beginning to show it. There was no point denying that either.
The truth was he was running low, had been ever since they had left Midgar. Was trying to save the few shots he had managed to procure, was trying to delay the inevitable really, was trying to make them last as long as he possibly could.
There were only two shots left after all. And he wasn't exactly sure of what would happen to him once he ran out completely. Didn't know what he would do once he was out of it.
He knew what it felt like to run out of mako, sure, had experienced it on plenty of occassions, that terrible feeling of overwhelming weakness, of exhaustion. The pain in his muscles, his limbs, the throbbing headaches, feeling as though his head'd split in two. The shivers, the trembling. The sweating of his palms, his feet, his back, the terribly clammy feeling in his chest, the nausea, how hard it suddenly felt to breathe. The churning of his stomach. As though he might be sick any moment. And the urge, that terrible urge, running through his veins, his core, his being...
He'd experienced those things before. On plenty of occassion. Had done so every time he'd been out on a mission that had been more taxing then he had anticipated.
The question was what would happen after that?
Would it just be a horrible withdrawal nightmare? Would he be like a drug addict coming off his dope cold turkey. A few days of thrashing around in his bed in pain while constantly throwing up and ruining the bedsheets? Would he emerge on the other side of it, a little less powerful maybe, a little less strong? A little more human but cleared of the mako? Or would his body shrivel up and die, starve without the mako?
Sephiroth had no idea.
Sure, the prospect of torturous withdrawal wasn't exactly something he was looking forward to. Still it was something he knew he could endure. Would endure. But the other possibility... Well... There was no hope for him there...
Well, a voice somewhere a this the back of his mind reminded, There might still be a third option.
Yes, there was.
He was aware.
Directing his gaze back to the map infront of him he quickly made to scan the vast area of adjoining woodlands for any clues again.
There had to be some source of mako somewhere nearby.
He was sure of that.
Had been sure of it for quite some time now.
Himself and the dogsters, they did turn out to have quite some things in common after all.
The truth was, the source of their mutations, their origin, it was still a complete mystery, even to him, but the secret of their agility, the miracle that lent them their strenght, their speed, their power, that was another story entirely.
The truth was he could sense mako in the dogsters. Could feel it in the creature's veins whenever he had sliced one open, could smell it in their breaths whenever he dared to come too close. And it wasn't raw pure lifestream either, it was freshly refined condensed mako.
It was driving him insane whenever he got near it, sent his whole body into overdrive.
Fuck... If only he could get himself a mako shot...
He had almost forgotten how it was to feel strong, powerful, invincible, as he used to be.
The mako was poison, it was true. It had slowly been killing him all those years and still. He was craving it. He couldn't help it.
The mako in the creature's veins was singing to him calling him, and he longed for it, craved for it.
Every cell of his body yearned for it, with every fiber of it's being.
If only he could find out how the dogsters got it. If only he could locate the source of it, the mako spring or whatever it was...
The map infront of him, it did not disclose a single tiny thing.
Would it even do him any good?
Would he even be able to make use of it?
Pure mako would kill even him, that much he was aware of, and a freshly prepared mako shot... Surely there was more to it than just administering diluted mako, surely it was so infinitely more complex than just finding a mako spring and pushing it into your bloodstream...
'Hey, are you alright?'
The unexpected sound of a female voice coming from the doorway bringing him back to reality, it made the silver haired first class snap out of his musings, made him infact almost throw down his papers in shock.
His eyes snapping up to lock with Fang's, it took him a few moments to gather his senses, to control his skyrocketing heartbeat, to finally come down enough to get his wits together.
There, it had happened again. He'd let someone sneak up on him and it wasn't even Lighnting. He should have heard that girl coming from miles away. Still. He hadn't even realized she'd been there inside the doorway until she had spoken. Gone were the times where he'd sensed people's presence outside in the corridors, had known they were there before they'd even reached his door.
Fuck... He really had to get himself together...
'Yes... Yes I'm fine.' he finally managed to choke out, 'It's just-..'
The brunette woman looking up at him expectantly, dazzling green eyes boring deep into his own with a curiosity, sudddeny the silver haired first class realized he didn't have a single soul to talk.
Sure he could have gone to Angeal to pour his heart out, could have walked up to Genesis even, had he really wanted to talk.
Still, his old midgar friends, somehow he didn't feel as comfortable around them as he'd used to, didn't feel as comfortable around them as he felt around Fang.
There was a fire in Fang's eyes he'd rarely seen in a woman, had rarely seen in anyone really, a fire that made her shine brightly even in the blackest of darkness. A fire that somehow made him feel safe, protected, feel at peace.
This woman somehow always made him feel comfortable enough to speak.
'All those monsters... All those attacks...' he tried fishing for words, then settled on shaking his head instead, his hand travelling up to the back of his head and massaging his stiff tense neck.
'Hey... It's okay...' Fang answered somewhat softly as swiftly she made to close the distance to the desk.
'You're all overworked.. You gotta take a break sometimes.' she said as she placed hersef against the desktop facing him with a worried glance.
General Sephiroth Crescent quickly shook his head.
'I gotta figure this out. It is important.'
It was true.
Mako source aside. The atttacks were getting more and more serious. The dogsters came in greater numbers and there was still the prospect of a biger threat lurking in the shadows of the forest, he had not fogotten.
They hadn't managed to locate it yet. Hadn't even gotten a single glimpse.
Still... Things definitely didn't bode well.
Oerba Yun Fang gave the man in front of her a caring smile.
'You worry too much general... you gotta relax sometime...' she whispered softly and it was slowly leaning down towards him that she brought her hands up to his neck and made gently to massage him.
The silver haired first class tensing up immediately, it was the woman smiling down at him encouragingly, that her hand began to work on the tense tender knots that had developed there over the past few weeks.
It made the man in front her shiver.
'It's okay... Everyone deserve a break.' Fang said, her hands traveling down under the collar of his shirt and over to his shoulders making a soft pained sigh escape his lips.
Those warm gentle hands moving on his skin, working the musles of his neck most skilfully, it was leaning slightly towards her that he found himself go limb, felt his body relax.
The soft touch of her fingers, after all those days of hardships, after those endless battles with the dogsters and all his trouble with Lightning, after all his mako cravings and all his regrets, after all those sleepless nights, suddenly they felt so good, felt so infinitely soothing.
'Fang...'
'You're all tensed up... No wonder you ... ' she whispered against the side of his head.
He could feel her breath on his cheek, so close was she, and he could feel her hands working their way further and further down his back.
'Maybe you should take off your shirt.' the cocky woman said and it was only then that Sephiroth realized what she was doing, what he was doing really, what was actually going on.
Suddenly the nice cozy feeling that had risen inside him evaporated, suddenly it all felt wrong.
'No. I cannot do this.'
It was a moment later that he was up on his feet that feeling a little bit lightheaded, he staggered away from her.
Stepping over to the back of his desk he quickly made to gather all his papers, folded up the map and sorted it all into neat piles again.
The woman on the other side of the table looking at him disappointedly, he quickly made to grab his coat and retreated over to the doorway.
'I... I'm sorry... I just can't.'