Calamity's Reign: Chapter 10 - Child of Calamity
Tifa sat down against a log, staring into their campfire while waiting for Sephiroth to return with the latest kill for food, brooding to herself.
Traveling with Sephiroth wasn't what Tifa imagined it would be. She had expected a rude, inconsiderate, assholish, insane megalomaniac constantly harassing her, mocking her for her sins, as a form of punishment she had chosen for herself. Instead, he was just... quiet. Brooding. He walked silently, eyes washing over the environment. She had saw brief flickers of emotions in his eyes, the rest of his face masked. She could not help but wonder what he saw to trigger those brief flashes. Was it his own past? Or was he thinking of the future? She didn't have the heart to ask, not when the environment haunted her as well. She had traveled the world before with AVALANCHE, as they passed familiar places, two different sets of memories haunted her, one set happy, one sent horrific.
She shook her head and re-focused. Traveling with Sephiroth was different, vastly different, from her previous travels with AVALANCHE. The complete and utter silence was off-putting and hard to deal with. But, with the lack of his own rebuke towards her, she chose silence, chose lack of companionship, as her own punishment for her crimes.
As the weeks passed, there were only two-reasons he'd ever talk. One was to warn or alert her of something. The other was to request to spar and offer advice while doing so. She reminded him of the person he was once said to be. The top of SOLDIER, a commander, a general leading his troops. His speech was formal, brisk, and to the point. She preferred it that way, well... almost...
She hadn't had the nerve to ask him yet...
Why had he come to her when she was lost in herself? She didn't understand. Had he been helping her? Mocking her? Tormenting her? Saving her? It made no sense, and... and... that kiss... it wasn't a physical one, it had been a kiss between minds and souls... it had sent her reeling and confused the hell out of her. As awkward and potentially horrifying as the thought of him being attracted to her was, he had shown no further interest, and that, had riled her up. To have her mind and soul be kissed so passionately like that and then tossed aside afterwards lit a furious fire in her. The only companionship and yearning a monster should have was another monster, but he didn't even seem to care for her presence at all. Perhaps that in itself was another form of punishment the world saw fit to lay on her.
She could admit... after losing her ability to blame him for Nibelheim in the wake of her sins at Edge, she could see him in a new light. He was impressively handsome when she wasn't feeling terrified of or fighting against him. He was a bit distant, okay, extremely distant, but, they didn't exactly know each other well. Nor were they used to each-other yet. The raw power and skill he had was astounding, when he practiced his sword kata's, he was mesmerizing... but... the only interest he saw in her at the moment was only as a sparring partner. She sighed and suppressed the rising desires, scolding herself for feeling like a hormonal teenager over a single kiss, no matter how euphoric it had been, and focused her thoughts elsewhere.
She had to admit, Sephiroth was good, really good. Master Zangan didn't hold a candle to Sephiroth's form in hand-to-hand combat. While she could hold her own, she was still learning and improving rapidly. She smirked to herself, yesterday she had knocked him flat on his ass at the end of their spar. Rather than get mad and call it a fluke as she thought he would, he simply dusted himself off, rose to his feet, complimented her growing skill, and then retired for the night.
Praise from the general. Hmph. What a long way she had come to be able to go toe-to-toe with him in martial arts.
Her smirk left her face, she bowed her head and sighed. "If only the price for that power hadn't been so high..."
Had she been given a real choice in the mater, she never would have accepted it. Marlene... Denzel... Edge... her friend's faith and trust... her own damnation... no amount of power was worth losing so much. She'd throw all the mako and Calamity in her body away if she could just have them all back.
Damn him... damn m-m-m-mo-r-r-b... father.
She growled under her breath. She couldn't even call or think of him by anything but 'Father'. She knew it was a lie, but, it was like a compulsion she couldn't resist! Like it was ingrained in her very mind, body, and soul. He had hurt her so much, but she still couldn't think of him as anything but her father, wasn't allowed to profane against his name in anywhere but the deepest recess of her mind. She considered it a miracle she wasn't compelled to keep fighting in his name when he was gone.
She brooded silently. How was it possible to go in and just wipe clean and replace someones memories like that? To completely and utterly desecrate and corrupt their body? She raised a hand, grabbing a lock of her hair and bringing it around in-front of her eyes to look at. She was damned. Corrupted. Tainted. Turned into a monster that would never find release. They had sent Sephiroth back to the life-stream enough times to figure he could never truly dissolve into the collective of souls, especially not without corrupting it. So... was this her fate then? Forever doomed to this damnation?
Tifa gave a bitter laugh. "Fuck... I'm channeling Vincent pretty damn good right now."
She let go of her hair and sighed, bringing her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around them. This is why she hated silence, it let her think to much. There was nothing to distract her from her own mind and demons. What she wouldn't give for Marlene's constant chatter or Denzel's inquisitive nature right now...
Her ears perked at the sound of something being dragged in the distance. There were at least some good perks of being enhanced. The increased strength, natural abilities, and senses she had attained were impressive and useful. Though, it had certainly taken some getting used to. Especially the hearing. She could literally hear heartbeats if it was quiet enough. Not to mention other umm... personal acts... gods it was embarrassing to realize she hadn't gone near enough away from the group to relieve herself back during the Meteorfall crisis. How had Cloud put up with all of that?
Taste was... perhaps the most enjoyable increased sense. Though, it could also be the worst, because everything, good taste and bad taste, was greatly enhanced. It was... maybe a good thing she was starting to come around to eating monster meat. Sephiroth didn't particularly seem to care what he ate, whatever he brought back to their camps they made he skinned cooked and ate. Tifa doubted food poisoning or other related ailments could even effect either of them anymore.
Sephiroth entered the camp sight a moment later, dragging two wolf-like creatures. He set one down on his side of the campfire, and threw one towards her side before drawing a knife and readying to prepare his food. It hit the ground and whined a bit. Ugh, he hadn't even bothered killing this one. Eh... she'd get around to it in a bit, she wasn't honestly hungry at the moment.
She stared at him for a moment, mulling over one of her earlier thoughts before asking, "Sephiroth, is it possible to learn to defend one's mind?"
Sephiroth paused and looked up at her. "In what regard?"
She closed her eyes and spoke with a bit of turmoil. "Resisting memory and mind manipulation or control."
Sephiroth nodded. "It is."
Tifa opened her eyes and regarded him. She was a bit... uncertain how to approach him on this... maybe... she should just outright ask? He was a rather upfront and blunt man, maybe he'd respect that.
"Can you teach me?" she asked.
Sephiroth studied briefly. "Perhaps, but what do you have to offer in return?"
She scowled at him. "What would you want? It's not like I have anything of value on me."
"One set of lessons, in return for another," he said.
She blinked a few times. "What could I possibly teach you?"
He raised an eyebrow. "Who said you would be?"
She blanked. "Uh... huh?"
"Sparring with martial arts sates my appetite for combat only so far. If you wish me to teach you to defend your mind, you will also agree to be taught how to wield a blade," bargained Sephiroth.
Tifa shrugged. "Umm... okay?"
Sephiroth seemed a bit surprised. "You'd be willing?"
Tifa crossed her arms. "What? Just because I've used my body as my weapon my entire life you think I'm adverse to learning to use other weapons? Oh no, miss fists can't possible learn or want to learn how to wield a sword or a gun or whatever."
Sephiroth scowled at her. "Spare me your mocking. I'll give you your first lesson tonight, tomorrow, we begin heading to a place to either find you or make you a proper sword."
"Where do you have in mind?" she asked.
"Wutai," was his reply, "It's where Masamune was made after all.
"Uh... are you exactly welcomed there?" she asked with chagrin, "The Wutai war..."
Sephiroth scoffed. "Am I welcome there? Lockheart, I ask, am I welcome anywhere?"
Tifa paused briefly before chuckling. "Point taken."
Sephiroth began skinning his monster as he spoke. "The first step to defending your mind is realizing it as separate extension of yourself, as a weapon. As a martial artist, you are aware of how to bring out your inner energy, your chakra, ki, life-force, whatever you so wish to call it."
Tifa nodded. "Mhm, it's what gives my Final Heaven its oomph."
Sephiroth resumed, "You realize your inner energy as a separate extension of yourself, you must try to do the same as with your mind. This is especially important for beings like us."
She tilted her head. "Why?"
"Our cells," was his reply, "How do you think I'm always aware of Cloud? How I could dominate his mind when he was living a disillusion seeing himself as Zackary? Through our minds we can direct our cells in other beings."
He grew cross. "On that regard, beyond the simplicity of mental prowess, we both must also learn to resist the call of other Calamities. Your Father attempting to initiate Reunion on me was not something I wish to have repeated. I'd rather be killed and forced to reform myself from the lifestream again then go through that even once more."
She decided to take his word on that. "Noted."
She hesitated. "What... exactly is Reunion like? All Cloud's ever said was that it was like a forceful pull, a constant subconscious tug."
Sephiroth narrowed his eyes. "Hmph. Is that all he told you? You lack a great deal of understanding then. Reunion has multiple parts. The subconscious tug he mentioned is meant to subtly drive whatever creature is hosting our cells to head towards the nearest greatest mass of cells. That is the first stage. The second stage of Reunion involves direct control, attempting to subvert the host and use it to your advantage while it still has it's use. The third and final part is the actual act of Reunion itself, drawing cells together into either the largest nearest mass, or the true host."
He grimaced. "Being on the receiving end of Reunion is... very unpleasant. To put it plainly, it's like wanting someone to cut you open, crawl in your skin, and parade around as a part of your body, or to do that to someone else. Receiving the cells however is a... very pleasant sensation, if not euphoric. To draw them in, to become one, to become whole. To become mine."
Thump thump
A high pitched whine filled Tifa's ears as Sephiroth talked and described Reunion to her. Her heartbeat began to rapidly increase in speed and power. Her hands started shaking, thoughts emptied out of her mind...
So few...
There was a soft, terrified whimper from the nearly dead monster at her feet. Tifa eyed the creature and smiled cruelly at it.
Need more...
Yes... she needed more cells... she hungered...
Consume, grow...
She slowly reached down for the monster.
Mine.
Sephiroth stopped speaking abruptly as the hair on the back his head stood straight up and a shiver ran down his neck. Abruptly all sounds stopped in his immense hearing range. All the bugs had gone quiet, the wind was gone, not a creature stirred, it was as if everything was holding it's breath. He looked sharply at Lockheart as her presence seemed to shift and warp, setting off every single warning sense in his mind and body. Her eyes were glowing full on blood red. The slit of her eyes had thinned, he could see the veins in her eyes bulging. There was a maniacal look on her face as she eyed the nearly dead beast at her feet.
She reached down with both hands and grasped its head. Black ichor seemed to pour out of her hands and into the creature, causing it to squirm and whine with agony. The black ichor stopped a moment later, and the creature began to change. It grew silverlike hair from the back of its head, and it's face began to warp, turning feminine and almost human like... looking almost like... oh...
Well, Genesis had wondered if Lockheart could make copies. There was the answer to that question.
My child... my beautiful child...
Sephiroth felt a horrific chill creep over his body. He could hear Lockheart's mental call. It was uncontrolled, echoing, rebounding throughout the air. He went still, suddenly feeling an enormous presence focusing on them. Never before had he felt Gaia's presence so intensely focused. It could feel Lockheart's Reunion call, and he could feel it's fear, borderline terror.
Grow... spread... become mine...
Sephiroth could feel Lockheart's cells in the creature spread virulently, faster than any plague he had ever heard of, faster than even Jenova would spread through most creatures and people. He didn't know if it was because of her proximity, or if her cells would naturally spread like that with her focus. But it was alarming. She was far more like the Calamity that sired her than he was to Mother. What was worse, this wasn't even a focused conscious effort. From what he could tell, she was completely lost in herself, in her Reunion instinct.
Forget Mother, forget her Father, hell, even forget himself. Lockheart was the most dangerous Calamity or Calamity Child in existence as far as he was concerned. Morbunova wasn't a nuisance, it was a fool. Did it have ANY idea what it had done by creating Lockheart? If she put a conscious effort into training and mastering her infectious abilities and Reunion, empowering the effects and virulence, she could most likely single-handedly infect and consume Gaia's lifestream and goddess within weeks, if not days. The pure pressure she was exerting... he wasn't even sure he could resist her infecting him if it came down to it, gods... was this what true fear felt like?
The creature had finished its transformation in less than thirty seconds. He had been wrong, so wrong. This wasn't a mere 'copy', she had went beyond what Genesis and Angeal had been able to do, the wolf had been completely changed into a Calamity-Tainted creature. It was a wolf only in vague shape. It's fur was gone, replaced by a slimy looking skin. It's claws had sharpened and elongated. Tentacles stretched out of its body, dripping black ichor that could infect and warp who knows how many people or creature's with Lockheart's cells.
Sephiroth regarded Lockheart with a new light and great alarm. She had all the power of a pure-Calamity child like himself, and the contagiousness and control of a Calamity, empowered and mixed in a way it never should have been. Without Morbunova to maintain control over her, she could go off unhinged and uncontrolled. He became incredibly unsure of his former intentions for Lockheart, wondering if he should just try and put her down now, if not to save himself from her, then to save himself from getting killed when Gaia brought its power and champions down on her. What she was doing now would not stand with Gaia's goddess, and not even it's Holy WEAPON could argue against this.
Come to me... join with me... BECOME ONE! REUNION!
The infected creature gave a cry and surged at and into Lockheart, it's flesh melting and joining with her. Sephiroth himself felt the tug, felt his own cells scream in pain despite her not even focusing on him. He watched, somewhat sickened, as the creature pushed into her, trying to merge into her body. Her flesh momentarily warped and elongated sickly before she retook her normal shape, spreading its cells throughout her body. Her presence and power had increased. She had absorbed half a body's worth of cells into herself, along with it's entire spirit, feeding off the minor lifestream within it.
Finally, seemingly unable to absorb any more of its cells into herself, he felt Reunion's call stop. Slowly the blood-red glow in her eyes softened, and the slits of her eyes evened out. Her presence returned to normal, and the chill in the air faded away. Lockheart stared at the half-absorbed corpse for a moment, a blank look on her face. He swore he could visibly see her conscious return to her eyes, which suddenly widened with shock, then pure and utter horror as she realized what had just happened.
Tifa screamed in panic and threw the partially dissolved corpse away from her into the campfire. "NO!"
She turned and scrambled to her feet, bolting away. "NO NO NO! I'M NOT LIKE THEM!"
Sephiroth watched as she began screaming and crying in denial as she ran away. He scowled furiously, banished his fear, and took off after her, overtaking and tackling her to the ground, pinning her arms behind her.
"I'M NOT!" she half-screamed half-sobbed again, "I'M NOT LIKE JENOVA! I'M NOT LIKE FATHER! I'M NOT!"
Sephiroth raised an eyebrow. "I thought you had already accepted that you were a monster?"
Tifa furiously shook her head, hiccuping and sobbing, "I... I... I..."
Sephiroth scoffed. "Did you think this was but a nightmare that you would wake up from? Or is it that secretly, deep down, you hoped you weren't a monster? That somehow, everything would turn out alright and you could someday go back to your friends?"
Tifa began to cry in earnest, full force, her entire body heaving as she wailed.
Sephiroth slowly shook his head, amazed that he could actually feel pity. "Fool. Life is one utter cruelty after another. The quicker you learn, the easier it becomes."
He hefted her up and returned her to the campfire, plopping her down where she had been. To his surprise, the moment he let go, she lunged at him, wrapping her arms around him and burying her head into his stomach, sobbing uncontrollably. He stood there, absolutely lost and uncertain as to what to do. How in the world had he felt fear of this utterly pitiful creature? Perhaps he had chosen his words to her rather poorly. She looked completely destroyed, borderline ready to fully breakdown and never pick herself back up again.
That however... could not be allowed to happen. If she lost herself, her instincts could take over in place of conscious thought, and he was the closest thing to her to infect and consume. He would take on the roll of comforter, as much as he loathed it, if only to save his own skin and potentially keep her as a worthy rival. She could be trained to control and suppress her Reunion instincts, she had to be, otherwise she would become a great devourer of the likes Gaia had never seen before.
He tapped into old memories, of various times he had seen mothers would comfort children, how fellow SOLDIERs would watch over and take care of friends in the infirmary, or in medical tents on the battlefield. Anything like that he desperately searched for in his mind.
He ran a hand through her hair. "Shh Lockheart, calm yourself. Listen to me."
There was a hiccup and a slightly-lowering of the volume of her sobbing.
"You can learn to control and repress your Reunion instincts," he said softly, his hands combing through her hair, "You do not have to choose to become like your Father."
Her sobbing weakened a bit. "I... I feel... so empty..."
He frowned. Empty?
"Gods... I... I want... I hunger... I... Reunion... NO!" she began wailing again, struggling against herself and her urges.
Sephiroth scolded himself. Idiot. Why in the world had he described Reunion to her? He should have figured it might trigger something in her. She was fairly larval, infantile in her abilities as a child of Calamity. She had no experience and control developed yet, nor a parent to guide her like he had with his own Mother. He did not have the same Calamity based abilities she did. He could try and guide her, to a degree, but the rest she'd have to do on her own. For the moment though, he needed to pacify her.
"Lockheart, control yourself, that is an order," he warned, "Unless your suppress your instincts, you will draw Gaia's wrath upon yourself, and I will not aide you. Do you wish to be killed? Or rather, do you wish to infect and consume what remaining few you may call friends? Because if they kill you and send you into the lifestream you will utterly plague and consume it, destroying this planet and killing all life on it."
Ah, there it was. Tifa tensed immediately, her sobs stopping, shock and horror on her face. If there was one thing that drove Lockheart, even after all that had happened, it was those she cared for. She closed her eyes tightly, letting out pained cries. He raised an eyebrow at that. Was it actually harmful to resist such urges? He momentarily thought to compare it to a drug addict going cold turkey and suffering withdrawal. No, this was probably worse, because this wasn't some mere addiction. This was a part of her very being she was trying to repress.
"I... I... I can't... I can't stop thinking about it...," she cried out in agony, a bit of black blood seeping out of her nose, ears, and mouth.
"Then I will silence your thoughts," he said.
Sephiroth whipped out Masamune and smashed the handle into the side of her head, hard. He caught her as she went limp and set her down on the ground. He gave a heavy sigh. This was going to become difficult.
He tilted his head, feeling Gaia's focus on them relax slightly. He could still feel its alarm and fear. It was... amusing... in a way, to realize that the Planet all of the sudden feared Lockheart more than it did him.
"So long as we are left alone and undisturbed, I will attempt to teach her to control herself," he said aloud, "But be warned, killing her or setting her off would be the last mistake you ever make. You would be wise to keep your WEAPONS sheathed for the time being."
He could feel the intense focus shift, almost as if it were regarding him and considering his words, before it slowly faded away and the normal night sounds returned into the air. With that, Sephiroth sat down next to Lockheart and began to numbly run a hand through her hair, thinking and processesing what he could possibly try to do...
Author's Notes:
So yeah... Tifa is fucking scary when she loses it and goes full blown Calamity.
Note: Sephiroth does not know Angeal's role as a WEAPON to keep the other's pure.
I'd write more Author's notes, but its almost 11pm, I've been writing/editing for awhile now. I'm publishing the chapter and going to sleeeeeeep! Enjoy.