They fell into a routine of reading and discussing the research over the next five days. Now down to a single stack of unread books, the others turned in for the night, Zack staying behind only to delve into an argument which may or may not result in Nibelheim burning tonight.
"You may leave if you wish, Fair." Sephiroth didn't look up from the thick, green textbook he was reading at the desk. His tone was flat, expression cool, but Zack could tell the general wanted to bludgeon him with the desk lamp at this point.
Zack didn't care. He marched up to the desk and arms crossed, leaned over until Sephiroth looked him in the eyes. "You need a shower."
Sephiroth's expression pinched. "We have been through this already and my answer remains the same."
"You stink, Seph, maybe not enough for the average person to notice, but my SOLDIER senses are telling me you don't smell like a basket full of roses right now."
"Then I suggest you leave so my 'foul' scent ceases to bother you," Sephiroth purposely stared down at the book, the green flecks in his eyes agitated and glowing. They only did that when Sephiroth felt strongly about something, and while it wasn't the first time Zack seen it happen, he couldn't look away from the hue. Ever since they visited the mako reactor the color green no longer reminded him of nature or even Aerith's pretty eyes. Green was Jenova.
And Jenova was death.
Zack shook off those thoughts and straightened, appraising Sephiroth who for all the world didn't seem aware of the First. He finally got the man to eat yesterday. It was only a bowl of veggie soup, but Zack was just glad to see his friend doing something other than reading. Now he needed to get Sephiroth out of this room, which Zack didn't think was unreasonable considering the man hadn't left the mansion for five days straight.
He tried wearing Seph down with puppy-dog eyes and whining, but Sephiroth threatened to kick him out the room, not in so many words as a stern look from the general was enough, so he moved on to using Seph's own hair against him. For although SOLDIERs were required to look nice and neat in the public eye, with the type of sheen Seph's hair had, often smelling like strawberries, the man clearly took his hygiene seriously out of personal preference. This only made it more worrying when the man refused to sleep, bathe, or even eat without coercion. It meant Seph still wasn't himself, not entirely, and everyone agreed they weren't out the danger zone yet.
"If you intend to stay here, you might as well make yourself useful." Sephiroth flipped a page, but through the meanness, Zack heard an invitation. Considering the man tried kicking him out the first day and the second, third day dismissing Zack's entire group, the raven-haired happily grabbed a book from the stack on the desk and plopped down on the floor nearby.
Baby-steps were progress, no matter how minute. Admittedly though, as the minutes ticked by in silence, Zack got antsy. Exactly like the night prior Zack simply couldn't sit and read for hours on end, not when he had been doing the same thing for the majority of the day. He sprung to his feet and to combat his boredom, blurted what he been thinking about for days.
"You're not alone."
Sephiroth lifted a thin brow that told Zack exactly how stupid he sounded. "Obviously, unless you are a figment of my imagination."
Zack hoped Seph was joking, that he wasn't actually prone to hallucinating since that would not be good and a sign he was losing it.
Sephiroth noticed his pensive frown and reluctantly set down his book, granting him his full attention. Zack quickly explained. "I'm talking about back in the reactor." Sephiroth's expression tightened. "You kept referring to me as an average SOLDIER, said average members are human." His voice quieted as he earnestly asked, "What about you?"
Sephiroth rose from his chair and turned. "You have seen the research on the Jenova Project. My mother was an Ancient unearthed from a 2,000 year old stratum." He wandered to a shelf and stopped. "So even if my father is human," his fists clenched, "I am not."
There was a moment where neither uttered a word, then the general looked over his shoulder. "Now the Ancients, the Cetra, are but a memory that exists only within the pages of history." He walked up to Zack and narrowed his eyes while the shorter male tensed. "I cannot claim myself a human, yet if I claim myself a Cetra, then I must admit to being the last of my kind."
Zack's face crumpled and he was tempted to reach out, but already Sephiroth was standing behind the chair, back to him. "Then there is the third option."
Zack's voice bled sympathy as he asked, "What's that?"
Sephiroth chuckled darkly. "Consider myself neither. I am a hybrid, a monste-"
"Stop."
Sephiroth swiveled around, shocked as Zack pinned him down with a granite hard look. "You-you..." Zack seethed and the general frowned, wary of the smoldering sky blue eyes trained on him because Zack's blood was boiling. He wanted to punch a hole in the wall, but Sephiroth was starting to adjust his stance like he expected a fight, as if he really thought Zack would treat him like he saw himself. A monster.
Zack shut his eyes and took a deep breath, releasing it in a loud whoosh. Once he was certain he wouldn't shout, he said, "When we took this mission, you told me you were thinking about leaving Shinra." Sephiroth nodded slowly, thrown off by the change in topic. "I haven't told anyone that, I know it's personal to you, so now I'm going to trust you with something personal and I need you to promise not to tell anybody, especially anybody in Shinra."
Now fledgling concern was peeking behind Sephiroth's apathetic mask as the man swore. "What you say will not leave this room without your explicit permission."
Zack snorted, corner of his lips flicking up for a second. "Pinky swear?"
Sephiroth's face turned blank, and Zack realized the man had no idea what he was talking about.
"O-okay," Zack cleared his throat. "I'm just going to take that as an 'I promise'." The smile dropped and his forehead wrinkled as he admitted. "I know another Cetra, you've seen her, she's my fiancé."
Sephiroth's eyes expanded and his shock didn't fade as his gaze ran over Zack like he expected to find a sign he was joking. When Sephiroth found no tells, a feverish desperation pierced his catty irises, which were brighter than a neon sign as he went up to Zack and demanded. "Are you certain?"
Zack's head bobbed. "Remember how I came back from a date with those violets in my hair? Aerith got them from her garden, the only place in Midgar where flowers grow. Didn't those textbooks say something about Ancients cultivating the land?" Sephiroth's mouth fell open slightly as his head jerked in agreement. "And didn't it say the Cetra have a special connection to the Planet? Aerith hears the Planet speaking sometimes, not very clearly, I think 'cause she's only half-Ancient like you."
The general froze and his gaze lowered as an abashed look draped over him. "My apologies, I did not intend to insult your wife-to-be."
Zack ran a hand through his front hair. "I appreciate that, but I didn't stop you just for her."
Sephiroth turned aside, but the younger First wasn't done. "Like I said, you are not as alone as you think, friend." He smiled and raised his hand as he began to exit the room. "Get some rest, take a shower, just do something that isn't reading all night. I mean, we're almost outta books to read anyway and it might do you some good to look over the research with a fresh pair of eyes tomorrow."
"I do not tire like most."
Zack sighed his trademark "I'm disappointed in you" sigh and purposely dragged his feet as he entered the hall. "Yeah, I know, I know." He hoped his pout was audible.
Yet when he heard the desk chair creak and a page flip behind him, Zack frowned more genuinely as he walked up to the staircase, only pausing as his sensitive hearing picked up one phrase.
"I am not a..."
A monster?
Alone?
Sephiroth didn't finish, but Zack stood a little taller anyway. The whispered words didn't mean Sephiroth would take a break or Nibelheim was saved, but Seph's mindset was changing and that was one more step in the right direction.
Unfortunately, the moment Zack reached the mansion gates he realized it was going to be a long night as Cissnei waved to him from down the road.
"Cloud and Tifa are missing, I think they're heading to the reactor," she said upon reaching him.
"This late?" He only asked because Tifa always went straight home after helping out in the library, not wanting to worry her dad who she seemed rather close to. Although she may have gone home and snuck out without her father's knowing.
Cissnei crossed her arms. "Tifa has been asking to go inside the reactor for days, but you know the rules. She asked again tonight and I told her no, but when I got out the shower, Cloud was gone and wouldn't answer his PHS. I got suspicious when I noticed your keys to the reactor were missing. You don't have them, do you?"
Zack numbly shook his head as his heart pounded against his ribcage, beating to an inharmonious tempo that was speeding up the more he thought about the reactor. The plague. She's there, waiting. She'll kill us all.
Zack's hand itched to grab his sword and cut Jenova in two, start a fire and watch her burn.
"-ck? Zack?" Cissnei snapped her fingers in his face.
"I'm fine." Noticing the concern swirling in her cinnamon eyes, he screwed on a smile. "We should hurry."
He rushed down the path, boots flopping on the dirt and gravel as his skin tingled with the negative thoughts and feelings of the Voice.
"What's bugging you?" Cissnei suddenly strode alongside him as he started up the Mt. Nibel path, moonlight shinning off the silver necklace peeking out from under his uniform and attached to the engagement ring bouncing against his chest.
He needed to finish this mission, needed to return to his angel, and could not let that parasite get Cloud. Don't let her touch him.
"Cloud is in trouble," Zack frowned as he spoke, feeling disconnected from the speech tumbling out his mouth. "Maybe Tifa too." It wasn't what he meant to say, but he couldn't stop the outpouring of thoughts. Perhaps they weren't his own, originating from the Voice, but they felt so natural and aligned with his own feelings so well he didn't bother to fight them.
Cissnei scrutinized him before her lips slanted upwards. "Overprotective much?" She hummed, bemused. "I doubt any monsters will give them trouble as long as they're careful."
Zack stopped short and whirled on her. "You don't understand!" Cissnei leaned back from the venom lacing his tone. "Jenova hates Cloud for defeatin-" Zack suddenly groaned, head bowing and clutching it as a migraine sent shivers of pain down his spine and caused him to stagger.
Cissnei called to him, but her words were indiscernible as what felt like a particularly vicious Tonberry stabbed his brain from the inside until it cracked open and white hot pain ravaged his skull.
Hello-ooo!
A jovial voice, the Voice, crackled and sparked like a broken transmission, hardly audible over the inferno in his brain.
Hey, younger me! You finally getting this? Can you hear-
Cool fingers padded on Zack's cheeks, thumb tracing his scar, and he opened his eyes to the doe-like brown ones on Cissnei's face. Her forehead wrinkled as she searched his expression and he raised his hands to set them atop hers, gently prying her off.
"Sorry, the Voice was messing with me." The Voice being their term for the foreign thoughts Zack and Cloud heard in the reactor, though everyone agreed they likely weren't hearing the same Voice. Who they were hearing, well, Zack was starting to get an idea.
Cissnei grew grim. "What did it say?"
Zack sighed and massaged his temples. "I'll tell you after we catch up to Cloud and Tifa. I'd rather not repeat myself."
They both knew that wasn't the whole truth, that he had no plans to tell anyone what he thought he heard, but Cissnei nodded and didn't question him again as they resumed their trek up the mountain path. Although she did shoot him looks whenever she thought him preoccupied.
Wanting to clear the air, Zack batted a weakened Death Claw with the side of his buster sword, sending it tumbling over the mountain ledge, and asked, "So how is my marriage to Aerith going to impact the whole Turks watching her thing?"
Cissnei sprinted around another Death Claw, shuriken in hand, and sent a barrage of swift cuts to the back of the monster's pincers, severing three of them until the monster fell back with an unholy screech and perished. "I'm not sure." Cissnei stared up at the stars and shrugged. "The boss hasn't given new orders."
Zack sped ahead, charging a trio of Bombs before they noticed him. He smashed them into the earth, killing one instantly, and ducked under a burst of flame before rapidly splicing the fiery duo with octoslash. "Care to speculate?" He huffed once they were down, resting his sword on his shoulder as he faced her.
Cissnei twirled, shuriken spinning through the air and heading for Zack's head, only to curve around the wide-eyed First and strike the not dead yet Bomb that been soaring towards him. As the monster fell to the earth, Cissnei caught her shuriken and walked up to the gaping Zack. "I guess we'll keep watching Aerith and indirectly watch you too." She bared her teeth in a feral smirk. "Looks like you could use a little Turk protection." She laughed as she passed him.
Zack blinked, then slumped and pouted at her. "Are you telling me some Turk might be hiding in my wedding cake? And they'll like pop out during the reception?" He tossed his hands in the air to emphasize his indignation.
Cissnei glanced back. "Only if you want me too." She winked.
Zack stomped his foot. "Be serious!" The Turk kept walking so he whined. "Cissneiii!"
"Not my real name."
Zack recoiled, utter shock stamped across his face as Cissnei stopped and set her hands on her hips. "Maybe if you behave," her lips curled up on one side, "I'll tell you it one day."
"Wha-?!"
Cissnei giggled as she moved on and the First could only stare at her, wondering if one could ever truly understand what went on in a Turk's head. Though seeing Cissnei was no longer in his line of vision, he shook off the question and jogged ahead until she came into sight along with the mako rector in the distance.
"There was no sign of them on the path." Cissnei offered as they started up the reactor's metal staircase.
"Which means they're inside." Zack stepped up and tried the door.
It didn't budge.
He frowned. Cloud must have locked it, but why? Surely he knew a locked door couldn't slow down a SOLDIER.
"Let me." Cissnei stepped up with a determined slant to her jawline and that was when they heard it.
The scream piercing the air.
Was that Tifa? Zack never got to ask as gunshots rang out behind the doorway.
She found them. Jenova found Cloud, she'll kill them!
Cissnei leapt aside as Zack tore out his sword and swung at the door. The metal was red and steaming where it was cut diagonally and it crashed forward in two pieces with a clang. Zack leapt over the debris as another gunshot thundered in his eardrums and Cissnei wasn't too far behind while the First slid down the chain ladder and landed in a crouch.
A bullet came at him so quick he barely threw up his sword in time and Tifa shouted. "Stop, that's Zack!"
The SOLDIER lowered his sword, holding it at ready while he entered the room. Tifa quickly jogged over and Cissnei came running to his side, yet Zack noticed neither, nor did he see the twisted scraps of metals at his feet. He ignored the pods that were dislodged and cracked, mako leaking out their exposed tubes and slathered all over the staircase, as he spotted Cloud standing in front of an undamaged pod on the lowest ledge. He growled at the pod's mako shine dyeing Cloud neon green while the boy held his injured arm close to his body.
Get him out! He's not safe here, she'll kill him!
Zack ran up to Cloud so fast he must have blurred because Cloud jumped as he latched onto the cadet's shoulders. "Are you alright?" He didn't wait for a response before casting cure, frowning as more green glittered over Cloud.
"Um, yeah." The blond's eyes were glassy and wide. "It was just my arm." Somehow his eyes grew bigger. "W-where's Tifa?" He searched around Zack and the First let him go so he could run to the girls quietly conversing behind them.
Or at least they were quiet until Cloud reached Tifa and Cissnei shouted. "I-impossible! He's dead!"
Zack raised a brow, seeing the incredulity twisting the Turk's expression and was that...reverence in her voice?
"Correction."
Zack threw himself in front of Cloud and raised his sword, glaring up the staircase.
"I was dead."
A man cloaked in crimson with eyes the shade of blood glided down the stairs, raven hair swaying and golden gauntlet gleaming burgundy under the overhead lights. Zack's hands tightened on his sword as the man stopped on their level and his clawed fingers clinked around his silver pistol while his eyes met Zack's mako blue.
"My name is Vincent Valentine," he cocked his gun. "Take me to Sephiroth." Vincent hissed.
"Jenova isn't an Ancient." Cissnei crossed her arms, leaning against the library bookshelf. She appeared at ease, but her smile was rigid and her every move calculated.
Maybe Sephiroth could tell too for he narrowed his eyes, standing tall behind the desk. "According to the research-"
"Then the research's wrong." Cissnei cut in and the two Nibelheimers gasped from the corner they occupied. He didn't blame them, not even President Shinra had the guts to defy the great Sephiroth.
"Or it's purposely unfactual, written to mislead." Vincent leaned against the library hall doorway, stance identical to Cissnei's. It seemed Turk mannerisms hadn't changed much over the decades, which was a crazy thought yet Zack's entire week been crazy sooo...
Sephiroth's eyes were silts as he appraised Vincent. Zack got the feeling the SOLDIER distrusted the ex-Turk even after Cissnei's, and Tseng's via the phone, vouching that the man looked identical to photos of the presumed dead Turk and was privy to details about the Department of Administrative Research only the real Vincent Valentine would know. It helped that the man's every move was Turk-like, from his graceful strides to his carefully sculpted apathy.
Zack himself was won over when Cloud and Tifa said they wouldn't have survived at the reactor if Vincent had not helped them fight off the horde of monsters that erupted from their pods and swarmed the duo.
Maybe out of gratefulness alone, though Zack also really didn't want to be caught in the crossfire of two Turks versus a SOLDIER elite, he said, "I think they're right, Seph." He approached the desk and tapped the black and white photo of the creepy, parasite of a silver-haired woman floating in a tank, which Vincent procured while guarding the scientists assigned to the Jenova Project. "Aerith is an Ancient and she doesn't look anything like this. No bony, wing thingies sticking out her back or eyeballs on her chest."
The room hushed abruptly and Zack lifted his head, Tifa and Cloud staring back with weirded out expressions while the others remained stony.
Then it hit him and pink speckled Zack's cheeks as he squeaked. "N-not that I checked!"
"We believe you." Cissnei dryly agreed, not at all reassuring before moving on. "So we agree Jenova isn't an Ancient, she's not Sephiroth's mother, and she's a threat to the town."
"You cannot prove she is not my mother." Sephiroth crossed his arms, looking wearier than Zack ever seen. "Tseng found no records of a Lucrecia Crescent."
"Considering my own 'death' was covered up, are you certain you can trust your father's words on your mother's identity?"
Sephiroth rounded on Vincent and was looming over him in two strides. "I am not proposing faith in Professor Hojo," the disdain dripped of the scientist's name like molten lava. "But tell me, why should I trust you?"
Vincent blinked slowly, seeming almost bored when Tifa stomped her foot. "He saved our lives!" She marched forward, Cloud's gentle call going unheard as she set her fists on her hips and scowled. "He might have saved the whole town from those Jenova monsters!"
Sephiroth didn't look away from Vincent as he asked, "And who is to say he didn't summon those creatures just so he may defeat them and earn our trust?"
Zack bit his lip, having not considered that possibility, however, Vincent merely tipped his head and admitted. "You have every right to distrust me." Sephiroth shifted back, surprised though his feelings didn't show.
"I could not save you or your mother and for those sins I must atone." Vincent's eyes burned into the general's. "Although, Professor Hojo is the one who turned his son into an experiment," Sephiroth tensed and the beginnings of a snarl stretched the skin of his face before he calmed.
"He shot me for trying to stop him." Vincent's hand flexed as he growled. "And may very well have buried the mother of his child for simply wanting to hold her baby just once." Sephiroth flinched, stricken, and the rest of the room openly gasped. Zack felt sick and Cloud trembled while his face contorted from rage to pity, and settled on horror.
"Ask yourself, who sent you to Nibelheim, the place of your birth, and didn't bother to hide the evidence?"
Cissnei pushed off the shelf, revolted by the realization. No one told them to stay away from the mansion or to ignore the research within it. All the secrets Sephiroth may have sought to unearth his entire life were just waiting to be found in Nibelheim.
"Who desired for you to find these lies and mistake them for truth?" Vincent's flat inflection dipped into quiet rage. "Who would savor your reaction, disregarding the potential loss of life, and observe you like some specimen?"
Sephiroth's chest rose and fell rapidly, hands grasping his head and eyes screwed shut.
"You don't have to trust me." The ex-Turk surveyed the whole room, speaking to them all. "But you don't have to be a Turk to recognize a set-up for what it is."
Sephiroth's eyes popped open, facial muscles spasming as he exhaled a shaky breath. For a moment Sephiroth looked unhinged, wild, perhaps mad enough to set the town ablaze, but then there was breeze and Sephiroth was gone.
Zack blinked, stunned as he always was upon witnessing Sephiroth's supernatural speed. The others were equally shocked, Tifa even asking Cloud if Sephiroth had teleported.
"I'll keep an eye on him." Vincent stood, and in a crimson flash, he was gone too.
Left behind was Tifa looking distressed, her hand curling over her heart, Cloud staring at the ground, expression hidden, Cissnei a stone statue, and Zack...
Zack was concerned.
Cloud tried not to worry as he stood on the porch of his childhood home, smoke graying his vision and the afterimages of an inferno layered over his house. The stench of decay and ash, his mother's burning flesh, was stronger than ever today. It was his own fault for thinking so much about Sephiroth, yet how could he not? The general had been missing since last night along with Vincent.
Where could they be? The Shinra Mansion was vacant, no one in town seen the general, and neither Cissnei nor Zack saw him as they cleaned up the mess in the mako reactor. So where was the general? Was he on the verge of a breakdown? Was Vincent with him? And why did today feel so, so wrong?
"Don't worry so much." Zack clapped his shoulder, mouth curved up. "Cissnei's got the whole town bugged, Seph has gotta turn up soon."
"And when he does?"
"We'll talk, make sure he's okay, call in a ride back to Midgar, and then I'll destroy Jenova," his voice darkened on the last bit.
Cloud started to respond, but the door opened and Ma stood shorter than he remembered, her dress blue as the sky while her eyes grew huge. "Cloud?" she gasped, eyes misting over and a smile erupting across her rosy cheeks.
"Mom." He smiled a little awkwardly until she caught his arms and guided him into a tender hug. His chin resting on her shoulder as he inhaled her mint tea aroma, Cloud wanted to cry because it been so long and suddenly all his troubles were forgotten as he finally came home.
At the dinner table, Zack was tame enough he didn't regret bringing him along, though he could have gone without the hair ruffling directly in front of his quietly amused mother. Or the, "Is that a marital ring?"
Zack beamed. "Oh, this?" He gladly showed off the silver band hanging of his chain necklace, which Cloud was seeing for the first time. Huh, could that be why Zack kept going into town all week? He was searching for a chain to put his ring on?
"It's actually an engagement ring from my angel Aerith." A dopey-lovesick expression spread over his face and he cheered. "We're going to have the biggest, awesomest wedding bash Midgar's ever seen once I'm back!" Of course this proclamation led to talk of Cloud's love life, or lack thereof.
Regardless, the hour passed by too quickly and once it was time to go, Cloud hugged his mother hard, let her kiss burn his cheek, and shoved on his helmet before anyone could see the wet sheen over his eyes.
"Your mom's nice and a great cook!" Zack nudged him as they rounded the water tower, but Cloud's throat was chock full of feelings and smoke so he just nodded.
The First's PHS beeped, making Cloud jump while Zack rushed to check it. The levity drained from his face. "Sephiroth is at the reactor, one of Cissnei's bugs picked up his voice there. Me and Cissnei are gonna talk to him."
"I'll come with you."
"That's a bad idea and you know it."
Cloud shrunk at the reprimand, never having Zack upset with him.
His anger faded fast and sympathy took its place. "I'm sorry, Cloud, but you know Jenova is there and wants you dead."
Cloud frowned. He was aware Jenova was after his blood. It wasn't hard to put together after he was electrocuted and swarmed in the reactor bearing her name, especially after Zack admitted his Voice heavily implied Jenova was an evil entity lurking in the reactor with a vendetta against Cloud. For what reason, both Zack and Cloud's Voice neglected to say. Really, Cloud's Voice hadn't made a peep since his rant to Sephiroth, except for that brief moment before Vincent showed up and Cloud and Tifa were surrounded by those monsters.
I'm sorry, Zack, Aerith...Tifa. I thought I could save you this time.
The Voice had sounded as guilty as Cloud felt now. He never should have taken Tifa inside the reactor, it wasn't worth confirming Tifa was in the reactor once or would be in the reactor one day as this was the future they were dealing with.
"I'll be back soon." Zack started to walk off, yet paused to toss back. "If you get bored, visit Tifa! I think she likes you." He smirked and Cloud would have scowled at him if he wasn't busy covering his blush.
It was only after Cloud calmed that he realized Zack distracted him and was now long gone.
Cloud didn't get to sulk properly as smoke tickled his nose and fire crackled in his head. He sighed, sick and tired of being plagued by a future that was all but averted at this point. He trudged towards the inn and whipped out his PHS. He hadn't heard from Aerith all week and his calls weren't going through, but he promised to try so he selected her name off his contact list. He just started typing when the body hit him.
Cloud barely held onto his phone as the innkeeper fell into his arms, smelling of smoke and coughing out her lungs. It seemed she tripped until her head jerked up and her tear-streaked face cried. "Fire! It's on fire!"
Cloud figured he was imagining the "future" again, just like he been seeing afterimages of flames over the town all day when he looked up and saw the inn engulfed in blood red flames stretching up to the dark dusk sky and smoke billowing beside it.
The inn keeper shook him, screaming at him to do something, but there was a crash as the fire burst out the inn windows and then Cloud was flying. His helmet cracked against solid wood, his body went numb, a man yelled, a baby wailed, and then Cloud was hit by something cold and flaky as his vision went black.
'
'
'
'
Cloud woke up hacking out decay-flavored water, skin bruised and blistered under his damp uniform. His helmet was missing, which explained why sweat coated his scalp and matted his hair to his head while heat shimmered in the air. He wheezed as a gust sprinkled ash over him and dug his nails into the damp dirt below to scrabble into a sitting position.
Blackened stumps of wood and shards of melted glass littered the ground while skeletal structures of what were once homes and businesses encircled him.
Yet the fire was gone.
Cloud was dumbstruck as he scanned the wreckage for twirling flames and bloody corpses, for a sky blotted out by smog and ashes, yet it was silent. Did he imagine the fire? No, no, the town was burnt to the ground, but why wasn't it still burning? And where were the bodies? Tifa screaming for vengeance and his mother's blood crying out from the earth?
He turned to his and Tifa's house and saw they were singed, windows busted and water puddled on their roofs, but not destroyed. What was this? Why was his house still standing? Where were the people, the fire, the pandemonium?!
Boots crunching through the dying embers and soot abruptly came his way. As the boots stopped beside him, Cloud's eyes trailed up the shoes and uniform until Sephiroth's impassive face stared him down. Cloud was speechless, joints frozen and tongue tied as Sephiroth reached down and pulled him by the elbow to his feet. Green light washed over Cloud, his cut skin stitching together and smoke addled lungs clearing, while Sephiroth lowered his cure materia. The general looked him over and hummed as if satisfied while the dam finally broke and Cloud screeched. "What did you do?!"
Sephiroth replied. "I set Nibelheim ablaze." Before Cloud could punch, scream, or run at him, Sephiroth continued. "Then I cast ice to settle the flames while Vincent led the townspeople to the trucks."
"T-trucks?!" Cloud's mind was exploding, his every thought chewed up and spat out wrong. "What are you talking about?!"
Sephiorth turned, and heading towards the Mt. Nibel path, said, "I will explain as we travel to the reactor."
Cloud didn't move, indecisive, but after a moment he stumbled and followed the SOLDIER up the stairs.
It turned out Sephiroth had been holed up in Tifa's house since last night. Tifa never found out, Sephiroth having talked to her father, the mayor, behind closed doors. The general requested the entire town be evacuated, telling Mayor Lockhart it was because the mako reactor was unstable, and while they could repair it, if anything went wrong there would be a chemical spill that would reach and destroy Nibelheim in less than a minute.
"The mayor refused. He is stubborn like his daughter."
Cloud was too tired to agree, too tired to move, and yet here he was climbing Mt. Nibel once more. Heading straight to Jenova once more.
To kill her once and for all.
"Ever since we arrived in Nibelheim, I felt like this area was familiar, that I been here before."
Cloud recalled the day they arrived, how Sephiroth stared out the inn window saying, "This landscape...I could swear I've seen it before."
In light of learning Sephiroth was born in Nibelheim, Cloud thought the man simply remembered his brief childhood here. Now it seemed Sephiroth, like Tifa, had been sensing the future.
"I started having visions after that day we were in the reactor. I saw images of me and fire, slaughter and madness. Learning about Jenova, and believing her my mother at the time, only furthered my belief I was a monster. It's why I disputed all of you for telling me she was not my mother. At that point, I simply could not view myself as anything but a monster birthed from two monstrous beings."
Sephiroth stopped on the ledge the rope bridge was formerly attached to. His head angled towards the night sky, the moonlight highlighted his gaunt and weary face. His body sagged, shoulder pauldrons acting like anchors on the man whose mind and heart been wrung too many times this week. Cloud wanted to pity him, but his emotional tank was on E and he just couldn't care.
Though this all changed as Sephiroth turned to him and admitted, "I may never have saw reason if not for you." Cloud's breath hitched, eyes saucers from the appreciation warming Sephiroth's tone. "What you said in the reactor, Zack's words too. I owe you both."
Cloud, flattered, looked away while Sephiroth straightened and resumed walking. "After my failed attempt to evacuate the town, I located the Turk Valentine and told him my plan."
Sephiroth recorded his voice on his PHS and left it playing in the mako reactor. This led Zack and Cissnei away from the town while Sephiroth started the fire at the inn.
"It was the only way to get the townspeople to safety in time before we deal with Jenova."
"Why couldn't it wait?" Cloud's tone hardened, slowly accepting what he witnessed. His hometown was in pieces, his mother's life uprooted, and it was Sephiroth's fault. "We could have left and came bac-"
"Jenova would have been relocated by the time we returned." Sephiroth's eyes shined with rage. "She is a plague, a monster. Although I'm uncertain of the exact extent of her powers, based on her ability to summon monsters and order them to swarm you and Tifa, I assume she is highly dangerous. Therefore," the general hissed, "She must die tonight."
After Vincent gathered enough water and non-perishables to last the townsfolk for days, they loaded up a few stolen trucks and burned the town. Sephiroth didn't strike it all at once, giving people enough time to flee their homes while Master Zangan and a few others helped the elderly and young escape. Vincent then led the terrified townsfolk to the trucks, Cloud's mother and Tifa included, before the drivers headed to Rocket Town.
"At worst, some were injured and irreplaceable heirlooms were lost, however, once Shinra arrives we will begin the rebuilding process and the townspeople will eventually be returned to their newly-restored homes."
Cloud couldn't refute him, even the Voice agreed Jenova needed to be dealt with now. So Cloud followed Sephiroth into the reactor and ignored the adrenaline filling his veins as they entered the main room.
Vincent had been talking to a grim faced Cissnei and Zack when they walked in, but Cloud stiffened upon spotting Tifa among them. He whipped around to Sephiroth, yet the man was already striding over to Tifa and asking, "Why are you here? I was told you departed with the others."
Tifa wilted under Sephiroth's glare, yet raised her fists, and determined scowl on her face, replied. "I need to see her die. I need to know Jenova won't ever hurt anybody again."
Sephiroth pulled back somewhat, surprised, while Zack marched over to him. "What were you thinking?!" The First jabbed a finger in the general's face, sounding frantic as he paced in tight circles and grasped his hair. "You set the town on fire, people could have died!"
"A necessary risk." Sephiroth crossed his arms.
Zack looked ready to scream, but the general held up his hand. "A town can be rebuilt, objects replaced, but a life lost is forever gone."
Zack stopped, then mouth twitching, his hands flew up and he cried. "Gaia! I want to be mad at you, but the stupid Voice in my head agrees!"
Sephiroth's eyes narrowed. "Voice?"
Cissnei suddenly came between them, shaking her head. "No, no, we are not going through this again."
Cloud didn't know why she was upset, he was the one who had to explain the whole Planet visions deal three times.
"Fine," Sephiroth dismissed. "I will hear the explanation after we destroy Jenova."
Zack balked. "How did you know we planned to burn her tonight?"
Sephiroth pulled out Masamune and it gleamed under the burgundy lights. "I did not, but I'm pleased we are in agreement." He waited for everyone to nod before storming up the staircase.
Cloud felt a pang in his abdomen at the sight of Sephiroth wielding his sword since Masamune ran him through and the agony was unending as Sephiroth raised his blade, but the pain passed as Zack took out his buster sword and started up the stairs. Cissnei, shuriken in hand, and Vincent with his gun, followed while Cloud quickly chased after them so Tifa would have to trail behind the group. He didn't want her anywhere near Jenova, though since she was already here, the best he could do was shield her.
A hand brushed against his palm and Cloud stiffened as Tifa's fingers intertwined with his, but he didn't stop walking or look back. There was a stupid ridiculous smile on his face though as they reached the peak, and ducking his head to hide his blush, Cloud only heard the sonic boom as Sephiroth sliced through the locked doors. He and Tifa talked more in the past week than they ever did as kids, and even if their talks were always work-related, they felt personal. Maybe it was because they always sat or stood near enough to feel each other's body heat and sometimes if Cloud was lucky her hand would find his just like now.
"Well," Zack disrupted Cloud's daydream, his head cocking as he stared up the large red tube leading up to the silver statue of a woman with wings. "She's shinier than I expected."
"That's clearly not her, Zack." Cissnei huffed, though she was smiling. "It looks like a shrine, she must be behind it."
"Allow me." Sephiroth darted ahead so fast he created wind turbulence as Masamune cut through the shrine and the sound of wires snapping and electricity sizzling irritated Cloud's ears. Though Tifa grounded him as she squeezed his palm, and he risked a peek at her.
Her eyes were fixed ahead, lush lips thinning while mako blue shone on her face as Jenova was finally revealed to them. Even glaring, Tifa was stunning and Cloud suddenly wanted to ask her to join him in Midgar. Not forever, just while Nibelheim was being rebuilt, and after that Cloud didn't know what would happen, but as long as Tifa was with him, everything would be perfect.
"Stand back." Cloud turned forward as Sephiroth, holding Masamune in a two-handed grip, created a windstorm that made Cloud squint as the general swung at the entrapped creature.
"Cloud!"
Tifa's hand tore away and he whipped around in time to see Masamune slice across her chest, agony marring her face and blood raining in the air as she soared out the door. His scream cut off abruptly as a gloved hand wound around his neck and lifted him, Cloud kicking out and tugging at the noose while Zack shouted his name.
"I've waited eons for this day." Cloud choked as Sephiroth, eyes iridescent green and smile showing teeth, turned him. "The day I make you suffer all over again."
He brought Masamune down on Cloud's head.
It took all of four seconds for Aerith to realize she was cold. Another two to recall Zack equaled warmth and the body she held radiated no such thing. It took no time at all to realize the man she held wasn't Zack.
She released him immediately and stepped back, blinking until the world didn't look like an oil painting, all the colors bleeding into each other and borders curving every which way. The black hair lightened, changed shape and gleamed silver, dark uniform morphed into plum purple, and sky blue vanished entirely. Soon Aerith was staring at a helmeted SOLDIER Second, indistinct from any other in his rank and fidgeting ever so slightly, no doubt discomforted by her over exuberant greeting. His unseen gaze swept over Aerith, taking in her rumpled dress and frizzy hair, and she batted away the urge to excuse her appearance.
"I-I'm sorry," her voice cracked while she commended herself for not falling apart on the spot. She thought Zack came home, for one glorious moment hope flowered in her heart and the end to her torment was within her grasp, but the moment came and went. Now she was freezing more than ever, sinking in the depths of a frozen lake and winter brewing in her lungs.
Aerith couldn't stop her teeth from chattering as she said, "I thought you were someone else. Can I help you?" Wisps of frigid air tinged icicle blue escaped her mouth and her insides frosted over, snowflakes coating her heart.
The SOLDIER dipped his head. "It's fine," he grinned a sunny smile far too reminiscent of her Zack, setting her nerves on fire even as she was buried three feet under snow. "Actually I, well," he scratched the back of his neck, mulling over his words, then abruptly started over. "My name is Kunsel, I'm one of Zack's friends."
"Oh." She squinted while forcing herself to remember memories of Zack, the gentle timbre of his voice whispering sweet nothings in her ear and rumbling laughter echoing up to the plate, until she recalled Kunsel's name leaving Zack's lips. "Yes, he's mentioned you." She pushed a polite pleasantness to the forefront of her expression, and it must have worked since Kunsel grinned.
"Great, it makes things easier if you know who I am." He stretched out his hand and let it hang until Aerith set her slim hand in his, finally remembering what a handshake involved after three beats.
"It's nice to meet you, Aerith." Mirth bubbled in Kunsel's voice as they shook. "Congratulations on the engagement. Wish I could have seen Zack's face when that happened." He suddenly leaned in conspiratorially and she imagined him winking beneath the helmet. "Tell me, did he faint or did smoke come out his ears as his brain short-circuited?"
Aerith laughed, short and sharp, before slapping her hands over her mouth. She frowned beneath them, eyes wide with shock. It been so long since anything amused her, been an eternity since she laughed. An eternity since Zack left.
Kunsel pulled back, sensing her need for space although the smile never left his lips. He gave her a minute to gather herself and she was as grateful as she was embarrassed that he witnessed her fragility. Then again, maybe that was why he made her laugh. He realized she could use one.
"Kunsel doesn't miss a thing!" Zack cheered.
"So," the SOLDIER lightly interjected. "Are you busy tonight?"
No, she hadn't shown up for work all week, one more skipped night wouldn't kill her.
She smiled at her private joke, though it stretched her dry lips. "I'm free. Do you have plans, Mr. SOLDIER?" The tease slithered out like a grease-covered snake, and a part of her thought she shouldn't have dared. The last time she teased somebody, he didn't come back, but inside spider web cracks were appearing all over the ice and she wanted it gone gone gone!
Kusnel's lips curled wryly as he offered his hand. "Well, I had plans to take my friend's girl out to this cafe so I could glean some juicy blackmail material off her to use against my pal during the wedding reception toast. Only thing is I'm not sure she'll come."
Aerith held up her hand and quickly grasped his so he wouldn't notice its trembling, and though he probably saw anyway, he didn't mention it. "Of course, she'll come. She needs some juicy details herself, one never knows when it might come in handy." She winked and the ice shattered, shards pooling in her belly.
Still her smirk matched Kunsel's as he led her out the church and dropped her hand. He was already talking about the cafe menu options and stepping down the stairs when Aerith frowned. She stared at the hand Kunsel had held, flexing it as she walked, and a crisp gust breezed through her lungs at the sight of it barren.
Though, it was easy to ignore the cold nipping her fingers and toes once she got a steaming cup of tea in her hand and sat under the violet lights emitted by the tiny lightbulbs strung up around the cafe, dyeing Aerith's pink dress oceanic blue. They sat at a little table by the window, Kunsel sipping his expresso coffee as he mentioned having patrol later tonight and she stared down the chocolate muffin sitting by her teacup since Kunsel insisted the muffins here were to die for. She gulped a mouthful of tea and carefully bit into the sugary crust. Swallowing it together, the solid food didn't taste too bad, at least, it didn't taste like ash.
"Good, right?" Kunsel asked between inhaling his coffee.
Aerith nodded, smiling, and the fakeness of it made her shiver as icicles gathered on her lashes. She wanted the cold gone already so asked, "You ever take that off?" She tapped her temple and Kunsel chuckled.
"Only for bed and sometimes on dates." He was grinning, although the words rang oddly true. "So," the grin faded as he tipped his head towards the window. "Just out of curiosity, are the Turks following me or you? To the left, in the pharmacy." He sipped his coffee while Aerith peered into the dark blue underworld of the slums and noticed flaming red hair atop a Turk slinking between the aisles of the pharmacy across the street.
Aerith shrugged. "Probably me, since I am an Ancient." She sipped her tea and was unfazed by Kunsel nearly spitting out his drink.
Silently she reveled in startling him, her own hot breath billowing through her veins and warmth creeping in.
"You're Iflana's daughter?!"
Now Aerith was the one choking down her tea before it could erupt from her mouth. She hadn't heard her biological mother's name in years and certainly didn't expect a SOLDIER to know it. "How?!"
Kunsel calmed somewhat. "This guy in the science department I arrested tossed out her name. It got me curious so I did some research, found out Iflana wasn't alone during her...stay at Shinra Headquarters."
The tea cup clinked on the table and Aerith felt feverish, her palms sweating and face flush. She giggled to cover up the memories of captivity seeping in, letting the volume grow until the bleary-eyed cafe barista looked up from his dish washing.
Kunsel's invisible gaze bored into her as she explained. "It's funny, I thought we were here to trade Zack's secrets, not our own."
Kunsel didn't respond for a while, likely still determining whether she was going to have a breakdown, but soon he smirked. "Zack has a girly blonde wig in his room that he won in some squatting competition and won't throw it away because he thinks if he ever has to disguise himself he could pull off a silk dress."
Aerith blinked, slowly drank the rest of her tea, carefully set down her cup, rose and said, "I think we should leave."
Kunsel chugged down his remaining coffee, stood and placed the mug on the table. "It must be killing you to hold it in."
Aerith barely heard him as she stepped out the cafe and unladylike snorts burst out of her, accompanied by cackles. Even once she got a hold of herself, the occasional snicker slipped out and Kunsel was no help since he kept adding funny tidbits to the story.
Her middle ached like she ran a marathon by the time she got home, SOLDIER in tow and staring past her house.
"Those flowers are breathtaking." Kunsel smiled at her garden, then turning to her, said, "I saw your broken flower wagon in the church."
Aerith's blood ran cold and she internally whimpered over winter's return when Kunsel continued. "Zack made three flower wagons." The chill fled as her eyebrows leapt up. "He gave you the one he thought you'd most like and stored the other two in his room. I've got a spare key to his place, so if you want I could drop them off at your church. Say tomorrow evening?"
Aerith stared wide-eyed at the man, and though she was relieved he didn't offer to fix her decorated wagon since Zack was going to fix that eventually, she had to ask, "Why?"
Kunsel tilted his head towards her garden. "Zack said you sell flowers, I think Midgar could use them, and it would be easier for you to sell them with a wagon."
It sounded logical, a list of simple facts, but Aerith's mind was clearer than it been in weeks so she picked up on the strain in Kunsel's voice. She noted the fact he only just met her, didn't seem to know much about her till tonight, yet was hanging outside her house like there was no place else he rather be. He could have gone drinking with his SOLDIER buddies above plate, could have took on extra assignments if he was bored, but instead he stuck around a broken young woman and tried to glue her back together.
For the first time it occurred to Aerith she wasn't the only one missing Zack, wasn't the only one seeking out the tiniest resemblance to her SOLDIER and clinging to it with all her might. Kunsel had done the same tonight, finding a piece of Zack in the girl he was engaged to, and she couldn't fault him for that.
Aerith nodded. "Yes, you can leave them at the church anytime." She beamed, hoping Kunsel understood he was welcomed at her church anytime too, for within the Second there was a little piece of Zack and she didn't want to let go either.
Kunsel's head bobbed. "They'll be there by noon." He started to leave. "See ya around, Aerith."
"See you, Kunsel." She waved from inside the doorway, living room light painting her dress sunny yellow.
Her mom was staring as she shut the door, so Aerith mentioned making a new friend before skipping up the stairs. Once she was snug in bed, Aerith beamed at the ceiling. The cold, the ice, was gone, frigid temperature no match for the heatwave toasting her skin. Finally, for the first time in weeks, Aerith fell asleep bundled in warmth.
'
So of course the next morning she received word of Zack's death.
'
Thanks for reading! I hope it was a fun ride :)
As always, feel free to comment or ask questions and thanks for all your support so far!
