It was the week after her birthday that Claire Farron was finally allowed to leave the hospital and return to Shin-Ra HQ.
It was a strange feeling, returning with the knowledge that she had been absent for months. To her it felt like only days.
She definitely felt better now. A lot. She couldn´t believe she had recovered so fast.
Unnaturally fast, actually.
It was only about a week after her discharge from hospital, that she felt almost back to normal. She trained with Cloud and Zack every day and she also spent a lot of time in the gym. She wanted to get back in shape as soon as possible.
She was in SOLDIER after all.
She still had her setbacks tough. Those sudden moments of weakness usually at the end of a training session or whenever she had been overexerting herself.
She would sometimes feel dizzy or faint, even lightheaded as if she was going to pass out.
She guessed that sometimes she was pushing herself too far. She hadn´t fully recovered after all. It would still take some time for her body to heal completely. But besides that, all her efforts seemed to pay off big style. She managed to regain her former strength in no time. And exceed it even.
Lightning didn´t know what they had done to her in the ICU exactly, but sometimes she had the feeling she was even stronger than before.
There were those days when she bested Zack in training without effort, something that had certainly never been an easy accomplishment.
If she recalled correctly her skills had always been level with his at best.
So either her abilities had improved dramatically or he was just going easy on her, Claire Farron couldn´t tell for sure.
However there was more.
It took a few days more for her to realize the other changes.
Subtle changes, she thought at first. But were they?
She was standing in the kitchen of her First Class apartment, warming up the remains of the chicken stir fry Angeal had kindly cooked for her as a welcome home present.
Ready to take in her dinner leaning against the kitchen counter, Lightning couldn´t help but marvel at her comrade´s cooking abilities. Compared to the food served in the dining hall or the hospital, this was heaven.
She hadn´t finished half of it when suddenly she heard voices. Female voices! Conversing loud enough to be standing in her bedroom.
What the actual fuck?!
Abandoning her dinner on the countertop the pink haired female hurried over to check inside the adjoining rooms, but of course there was nobody there.
She could still hear the voices though, loud and clear as if the women were standing right next to her.
It took her some moments to understand that they were actually coming from the other side of the wall.
'No you leave! I arrived here first!' the first voice said, sounding upset.
'I don´t care who came here first! He invited ME! He even sent me a text message!' the other replied furiously.
'Fuck off, bitch! He´s mine!'
'What!? No! You liar! I received a text message! He wanted ME to meet him here!' the first one yelled.
Furrowing her brow in confusion, Lightning couldn´t help but wonder what was going on.
Never had she heard voices from any of the rooms neighboring her own. The walls there were three feet concrete, meant to ensure a lot of privacy.
'Please Ladies... No reason to argue!' There suddenly came Genesis' voice.
Lightning could tell he was drunk again by the way he pronounced the 'S´s'.
'There´s enough of First Class Rhapsodos there for the both of you!' the redhead added suggestively, making Claire Farron cringe.
Ughh...
Please...
She was just having dinner...
Disgusted about what she was being forced to witness, Lightning took a few quick steps backwards, retreated from the bedroom as fast as possible, but it was no use. Their voices still carried over for her to involuntarily listen in.
What had she done to deserve this?!
The two girls on the other side of the wall didn´t seem to have taken her comrade´s last suggestion all too well.
Lightning heard them yell and argue, then the sound of something heavy hitting the floor, glass shattering.
Okay...
That was enough.
Irritated, she hurried to the door and out onto the corridor, intent on giving Genesis a piece of her mind, hopefully ending this bullshit, when suddenly she almost ran into Sephiroth.
Her former sensei had apparently beaten her to Genesis´s door and he was about to knock, his face set in a dangerous scowl.
Lightning could tell that he was furious.
They had probably interrupted one of his paper work sessions.
He always seemed especially annoyed when interrupted during one of those...
No, she definitely didn´t want to be in Genesis' place at the moment, Lightning thought as she watched the First Class General extend his arm to knock.
His gloved fist had barely reached the wood when suddenly the door was thrown into his face, the two emerging fangirls pushing him out of the way as hurriedly they made out into the corridor.
'Back off, you pervert!' one of the girls screamed, hitting Genesis who appeared to be completely naked, over the head with a copy of his precious poetry book.
'No wait... I didn´t mean to...Please!' the redhead stammered, covering his head with his hands to block her incoming blows.
'Not the book!'
'Fuck you!' the skank yelled, then followed the other girl into the direction of the elevators, hurling his copy of Loveless at the first class´ naked feet.
'You´ve got it all wrong!' Genesis cried after them raising his hands in defeat, as he watched their quickly retreating backs.
'Stupid bitches!' he cursed under his breath, bending down to pick up the book from the floor, then turning around to realize he was being watched by his two least favourite comrades.
'What are you two staring at!?' he cried, quickly covering his private parts with the copy of his beloved book.
Lightning could feel one of his infamous tantrums coming up.
'I just came to investigate the cause of the commotion to find your fan girls bursting out of your room...' Claire Farron explained when she realized Sephiroth wasn´t going to answer.
'What commotion?!' Genesis asked, obviously confused.
'I heard your bitches fight in there.' she clarified, his ignorant behaviour going on her nerves.
'Huh?! How could you possibly have heard? Those walls are as thick as a fortress´s!' Genesis said, staring at her as thought she was the one standing naked in the corridors. Looking over at Sephiroth, he just shook his head and returned back to his room, shutting the door behind him with a deafening bang.
Being left there in the corridor with Sephiroth, Lightning couldn't help but feel awkward.
They hadn´t talked once since she´d woken up from her coma, hadn't even met, and they hadn´t gotten along all too well before that either.
She could remember that much.
Her memories from Costa del Sol still came back blank. Everything after the ride from Junon was just a big black void, she couldn't penetrate. Somehow Claire Farron wasn't sorry.
The man in the black leather coat, he finally turned to look at her, intently studying her face.
Lightning found a funny glint of curiosity in his mako green eyes and there was more, something she could not decipher, something she could not read.
Well, she'd never been especially good at reading him, had she? Noone was.
Reminding herself whom she was sharing the corridor with, the pink haired first class quickly forced her features into that familiar emotionless mask that came so naturally now.
Sure. The fact that she had heard Genesis' girlfriends was strange, upsetting.
Still, here was no reason to let the general feel her insecurities. No reason to share to news with him. Him of all people.
He hadn't even visited her at hospital, hadn't bothered to ask her how she was, didn't seem to do so now. Surely she could do without him.
The man facing her seemed to catch on fast.
'Farron.' he greeted with a small court nod.
The curiousity in his eyes was gone. Replaced by the expressionless stare of the killer. His voice was cold.
The sound of her surname spoken with complete lack of emotion, sending awkward shivers down her spine, Lightning couldn´t help but think it felt like he'd spoken an order. An order she had failed to execute.
She couldn´t remember when things had become this formal between them again. The general hadn´t treated her like this since she´d been a Third Class.
Taken completely by surprise, Claire Farron didn´t know what to say. Stood there infront him, rooted to the spot.
The use of her surname sounding like a command had unsettled her, had made her feel weak again, inferior.
She didn´t know how he was always managed to make people feel this way, have them squirm infront him just by saying their names and stuff. Then again coming from his lips everything sounded like a threat anyway.
Maybe it was a gift essential to have for someone in his rank.
Still, somehow it never ceased to startle her.
Raising one of his eyebrows at her lack of response, the silver haired man gave another tight nod before without another word he brushed past her, heading back into his apartment.
From then on, Claire Farron was blessed with the ability of hearing what was going on in Genesis´s apartment as well as in Zack´s, which lay on the other side of her bathroom, which meant she had a TV to listen to whenever he was at home.
It definitely would take her some time to get used to this one, Lightning figured. The sound of nearby movement making her bolt up from sleep more than once, it would take weeks before her subconscious would learn that it was actually just Genesis getting up to go to the toilet on the other side of the her bedroom wall.
It was a few days later, when she went to the sector seven gun range to shoot some bullets that she found she didn´t need to use the rifle scope to hit her targets on the 300 m range.
Yes.
Her eyesight had improved as well.
Dramatically so.
Claire Farron wasn´t stupid.
She knew this kind of feeling.
The feeling of having her abilities enhanced.
She had experienced something similar after her very first mako shot, hadn't she?
She figured they might have used some kind of mako treatment on her in order to heal her wounds or something at the hospital.
Either way, whatever it was, it made her feel stronger and more self-confident than she had ever felt before. Before she had been attacked and almost killed and in coma.
Maybe the old saying was true after all.
What didn't kill you made you stronger indeed.
And sometimes it made you weak. At least that was what General Sephiroth Crescent thought as he cowered in the corner of his shower, letting currents of hot water block out the world around him.
Something was wrong with him. Was off. Had been ever since Hojo's damned experiment. Terribly so. And the silver haired first class didn't know what to do about it, was getting desperate.
The truth was he was weak. Weaker than ever since he could remember. Weaker than he'd been even as a child.
He'd been trying to hide it, had been praying it would get better on it's own. Had been hiding away in his room, had managed to conceal it from anyone who could have seen. But still. Someone was bound to find out someday, was bound to find out soon. Because yes. Soon Shin-Ra would send him out on missions send him into battle. It had to happen. It was the reason he existed after all, was the reason he'd been made. But the first class hero, he was in no condition to fight. No way. Not even close. Wasn't even able to make it up the stairs from the sector 1 trainstation without pausing to catch his breath and it was driving him crazy, was upsetting him to no end.
If there was one thing the proud lean man could not bear it was feeling weak. It wasn't in his nature to be weak. No, not at all. He was made a warrior, a fighter. The complete opposite of what he felt like now.
Of course there was a way to fix this. There had to be. And the answer was obvious really. He was aware. But no matter how he turned it, no matter how often he thought it through, no matter how horrible he felt, how much discomfort he had to endure, General Sephiroth Crescent wouldn't, under any circumstances, go back to see professor Hojo.
No. He would not. Not this time. Not even if his life depended on it. He would not give that bastard the satisfaction, would not give him that chance to drink in his pain, his anguish. The chance to do further experiments or research. He was not his labrat. Not his toy. His plaything. Not anymore. There was a limit. A limit to the bullshit he could bear and that limit had been crossed a long time ago.
Okay.
Hojo had saved Lightning. Spectacularily so. And yes Sephiorth had to give him credit for that. Had to be greatful. Even if he didn't like the means by which it had been achieved. Even if he didn't approve of what Hojo had done, he had still saved her life and somehow that was all that counted. But still... What the professor had done to him, how he had done it...
It gave the silver haired first class goosebumps to even brush the thought. He in fact didn't dare to bring up the memory. It was still to fresh. Too cruel. Too similar to what he had to endure in a past that he had somehow managed to lock away in the deepest recesses of his heart. Too triggering.
No. He would not go to Professor Hojo. No fucking way.
Still, the first class was not stupid. Something had to happen, things could not go on like this forever. There was something he had to do.
Trying to reach out for his Jenova cells again to try and use them in order to restore himself, the silver haired man came back empty. All the cells of his body, Jenova cells included, still felt weak and exhausted, still felt low on energy, as though he'd fought his way through a warzone, had battled a pack of behemoths with his bare hands.
He knew that feeling of course. Knew it all too well. Knew it from coming back from a string of exhausting missions, knew it from that time he'd been accosted by wutai on his way back at new years eve a few years ago, knew it from that horrible bunker where he'd fought that six handed razor armed robot in absolute darkness. It was what he felt like when his body had run out of mako.
He needed a mako shot. And badly so. He was aware. Had needed one the moment he'd woken up down on the operation table in Deepground. Needed it more than anything else.
And mako shots he had ready, hadn't he?
It was for at least the tousandth time since his return from that underground nightmare that the general's eyes travelled back to the set of mako injections sitting innocently on the bathroom counter.
Yes, he still had those of course. He had brought them from Deepground, had gathered them on his way out, just to be on the safe side. But now. Now that the time had come for him to use them, suddenly he wasn't so sure anymore what the safe side was exactly.
Hojo had wanted to inject them. That much Sephiroth was sure of. They'd been prepared there at the table. They had clearly been for him. Why else would the professor have brought them? He'd been the only patient down there, hadn't he? The only subject, rather. Surely those mako injections couldn't have had any other purpose. Surely they were safe for him to take, or where they?
Sephiroth could not be sure.
This could be the average mako injection he was used to receiving. It probably was. But knowing professor Hojo it could also be something else entirely.
Something that would make him sproud extra heads or make him go bersek or simply kill him.
What if those shots were experimental in nature? Nothing that was intended to be used without scientific monitoring, without a trained expert like Hojo ready at the side?
There was no way for him to know for sure.
Just one way to find out for real. Well, at least just one way without Hojo.
It was taking a deep breath that General Sephiroth Crescent turned off the water.
Getting back up to his feet, he slowly made to step up to the sink. There they just set on the counter. Five innocent syringes filled with sickly greenish liquid. They did look like the average mako shot, Sephiroth figured. They really did.
Then again he'd never really taken a closer look any of them before. It wasn't his job, his expertice and he'd had other concerns at that times.
Well. One thing was for sure. He didn't have a lot of options. Not if he wanted to avoid Hojo. And even if he did decide to see him. He'd end up with that same injection anyway. If Hojo had intended it for him he would receive it. This way or the other...
He'd rather have it his way.
Stepping forward the silver haired first class reached out to pick up the first syringe.
This way or the other. Soon the nightmare would be over.
Why wait and suffer any longer?
It was swiftly that he sat down on the cold tiled floor, was without much of a second thought that he grabbed his soldier uniform, made to disentangle his belt.
Hojo always used a turniquet. He needed something to tie off the circulation in his arm so he could find one of his veins. Mako had to be injected directly into the bloodstream, that much the general knew for sure.
Well, his soldier belt would have to do.
Good. It seemed to work.
Now all he had to do is find a vein. Then push the mako inside.
It couldn't be that hard or could it?
He'd received so many injections in his life, had seen Hojo do it countless times. Surely he could pull it off himself. Right?
Right...
Inching backwards until his back had reached the support of the cool tiled bathroom wall General Sephiroth Cresecent began to insert the needle.
It took several attempts until finally he hit home.
Well. No master fell from heaven. Yet.
He was almost there now. All he had left to do was inject the mako.
This was it. The moment of truth.
Leaning his head back against the wall, General Sephiroth Crescent made to look up at the ceiling, slowly made to close his eyes.
It was almost instantly that her face appeared infront his inner eye. Lightning's face. Those pretty pale blue eyes, those soft small pinkish lips, smiling up at Zack Fair happily as they'd sat there at the hospital bed, holding hands.
Well... At least he didn't have anything to loose.
It was just about two weeks after she had been released from hospital that Lightning was assigned a mission again.
Lightning knew she hadn´t recovered completely yet. Although they had gotten less frequent, she still had those problems whenever overexerting herself, but shit, she was in SOLDIER after all.
Whatever you got, life, bring it on!
With her new gained abilities nothing could faze her.
She would fulfill her duty. She had been on standby for far too long anyway.
She really had.
The pink haired female even found herself looking forward to going on a job again. She had started to feel useless already, lurking around HQ all day.
That mission wasn´t going to be much of a challenge anyway, she figured. She was merely sent to investigate some malfunction in one of Shin-Ra´s Mako reactors, assumedly another one of the wutai rebel´s acts of sabotage.
No big deal.
The only thing that bothered her was that unfortunately the reactor was located at the top of Mt. Corel.
Traveling to Corel would lead her overseas again, this time by airship though, bringing her closer to Costa del Sol than she would have liked.
The thought of going there again stirred an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach.
However. She could hardly hide away at HQ for the rest of her life. No, it was time to get back into the saddle.
Looking at some mako reactor didn´t seem a very risky task after all.
Piece of cake, as Zack would say.
Director Lazard was sitting in the office chair behind his desk, busy with paperwork, when suddenly the door was thrown open, almost ripped off it´s hinges in the process, a very irritated looking silver haired First Class General rushing inside.
'You're sending her to Corel?!' he barked, accusation and hate mingled in his voice in a way that would have made any good man cower.
The Director though wasn´t exactly surprised to see him. Wasn´t surprised by the intimidating behaviour the man in front him exhibited. The leather clad first class had acted protective of Farron before. Lazard had actually expected to receive a lecture from his side much sooner.
'Yes, I´m sending one of my best SOLDIER operatives to Corel to investigate another problem with one of our reactors.' he answered nonchalantly, not even looking up into the general´s no doubt angry features.
He knew what soldiers were like.
Especially him.
No.
Director Lazard wasn´t one to be intimidated by his antics.
'She´s barely out of hospital!'
Bringing both of his leather gloved hands onto the director´s desktop to rest them on top of his files, forcing his opposite to look up at him, the silver haired first class leaned in close in an attempt to stare him down.
Looking up into those cat-like killer eyes, the director managed to resist the deadly stare.
He wasn´t impressed in the slightest.
'I don´t care. Either she does her job like the rest of you guys, or I´m afraid there is no place for her in SOLDIER any longer.' he informed, his voice cold as ice.
No. There wouldn´t be any kind of special treatment for Farron. Not as long as he was in charge.
'Then what? You´re planning to get her killed again?!' the general snapped, his mako eyes narrowing dangerously.
'No, of course not!' Lazard tried to appease him.
The general just arched a brow in disbelieve.
The director didn´t even attempt to hide the smirk forming on his lips as carefully he chose his next few words.
'With the Wutai War in full swing again, Shin-Ra cannot afford to lose somebody as... `gifted´ ... as her.' he finally said, slightly inclining his head as he raised his brows suggestively.
Director Lazard had a hard time stifling a laugh watching the general´s brain working behind those usually guarded features and he could see the surprise in those cold mako eyes the second their owner came to understand the full extent of what his words were meant to imply.
Yes, he was well aware of what had happened. Knew of all the things that had been done to her.
The general had probably thought he was oblivious to Hojo´s unauthorized experiments on one of his Firsts.
Hah.
Preposterous.
It was his job to know after all.
He was well informed about everything going on around this place.
That first class general bastard would be surpised.
'That´s why you are going too.' the director informed, ending the conversation as casually he turned back to his computer.
'I don´t want you to leave, Light...'
They were in the common room, Zack and her, alone. It was late and all the others had gone off to bed already.
It seemed as though those words had been waiting to be spoken on the tip of his tongue all evening.
'Zack...'
They were sitting on one of the puffy couches, Zack Fair's sky blue eyes staring at her pleadingly.
'It´s dangerous. You´re not your old self yet.'
His hand reaching out to touch her´s, her fellow soldier gave her´s a tiny squeeze.
'I´ve bested you in training three times...' the pink haired woman pointed ou defiantly, looking up at her comrade with slightly pinkish cheeks.
'Or have you been going easy on me?'
'No...' her friend admitted.
'But still... I.. I just don´t want anything to happen to you again...' Inching slightly closer the caring first class reached out to tug a loose pink curl back behind her ears again.
Somehow Lightning found him doing that more often lately.
She wasn´t exactly sure how they had gotten that close.
Zack had been there when she had woken up from her coma and he´d been with her every waking hour since. It was only reluctantly that he left her side for missions these days or even for the bathroom it seemed.
Somehow Lightning didn´t mind.
Zack Fair´s presence was just so infintely soothing. Made her forget the horrors that were lurking in her subconscious mind. Those tiny moments, just before she'd fall asleep.
'I can´t let anything happen to you again.' the young man said, his forehead set in a frown.
'Zack... I´m fine... I can look after myself.' Lightning tried to assure him. Reaching up she took Zack´s hand to hold it inside both of her´s, where suddenly it seemed to belong.
'Nothing bad will happen. I just know it.'
The dark haired first class only stared at her in disbelieve.
'Please be careful Lightning.' he whispered as he looked into her eyes.
'I couldn't bear to lose you again.'
Watching from the shadows of the doorway on the other side of the room, General Sephiroth Crescent found his heart twist painfully.
It wasn´t as if he were stalking them. It was just that he always seemed to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
No.
He hadn´t found himself able to speak to her yet, to approach her in any form.
It wasn´t that he hadn´t wanted to. He did. He really did.
He just found that however much he tried he couldn´t find the strenght in him to face her.
How was he supposed to talk to her in the first place?!
Whenever he saw her she was with Zack. Zack parading her round HQ, Zack sitting with her at dinner, Zack holding her fucking hand.
What was he supposed to say anyway?
The things he really wanted to tell her where those he could never actually word.
Thinking it through more closely, Sephiroth found that he was actually scared. Scared of facing her. Scared of her finding out the truth about what had happened to her after the incident on the beach. Scared of her finding out what he had done to her.
Yes, he had saved her then. But that had come at a terrible price. For the both of them.
Fingering the tiny scar on his neck she had given him in training what suddenly seemed ages ago, the general quickly let himself vanish in the shadows of the corridor.
Yes. It had come at a terrible price for him too. He had paid for her life down there in Deepground.
And he had payed again on the cold tiles of his bathroom floor. Dearly so.
The mako treatment hadn't killed him. He'd come away with his life. But only barely so, he was aware.
The mako shot he'd admistered onto himself there had had the most severe side effects that he had ever suffered. Had caused him to pass out on his bathroom floor to wake up the next morning with the needle still inserted in his arm, his head pounding and his muscles week. Still. It had helped to restore him to his former self. Well. Mostly.
He'd gotten back his energy, his strenght, his stamina. However, his body was still suffering the after effects of Hojo´s experiments. His joints were still achy his muscles still sore. No matter how often he tried to use his jenova cells to heal them, they never seemed willing to comply. Seemed reluctant to react at all.
Still. It was worth it.
No matter what she thought of him, no matter what she did, Claire Farron was still out there, living, moving, breathing.
And surely that would outweight any troubles he'd had to endure. A little discomfort and pain. It was a little price to pay for her life.
Lightning...
He couldn´t deny that he missed her. Badly so. Missed her presence, missed their connection. That link, his body almost screamed for it, ached for it, yearned for it. The silver haired first class could not help it.
The reunion...
Sometimes he wondered how she couldn´t feel it too. How she couldn't feel the urge of their cells to unite.
Never had he felt anything so clearly.
But still it was Zack´s hand she was holding and not his.
And there was no way for him to change that.
If it was what she wanted, as long as she was happy, he wouldn't stand in her way.
Leaving for the mission in the early hours of the morning, Claire Farron wasn´t surprised to find her former sensei being sent to accompany her. She had already foreseen something like this to happen. Somehow they could never simply send her along with Zack or Angeal, could they?
She still hadn´t talked to Sephiroth since her return from the hospital and she so wasn´t eager to do so now.
Not once had he shown up at hospital, not even at her birthday, not once had he taken the time to ask her how she was, not even that one time she'd run into him in front of Genesis Rhapsodos' door.
Fact was she had barely even gotten a glimpse of him since she´d gotten back to HQ. She had only really been face to face with him on the day Genesis had exposed himself in front of them in the corridor of the SOLDIER floor. And that had been a coincidence.
The first class general had made himself scarce, was probably avoiding her, what for she didn't know.
Maybe he was feeling ashamed of her. She had been his student after all.
General Sephiroth Crescent's student, overwhelmed by a single wutai fighter. It wasn't exactly anything to be proud of.
But what had she expected? Sympathy?
Oh, screw him.
Either way, with things between them as they were, Claire Farron so wasn't looking forwards to spending the ride with him. Or rather the whole mission.
They didn´t talk much on their transfer to Corel.
Her mind set on ignoring the silver haired first class as best as she could, the pink haired female decided to start reading that book Genesis had given to her for her birthday.
It turned out to be the best decision ever. Etro, was she happy to having brought that book with her.
Immersing herself in it's pages was the perfect excuse not to talk to General Asshole lounging in his seat opposite her, leaving the man in front of her to spend his time looking out of the window.
'So... You got infected with Genesis´ addiction for books after all, huh?' the silver haired first class tried at one point, a feeble attempt at starting a conversation, Lightning thought.
But things were quickly resolved with one of her venomous glares she usually reserved for people such as Reno Sinclair and one of the general's resigned sighs.
Forcing her gaze to the letters on the pages, Claire Farron managed to ignore her former sensei for the rest of their journey.
A few months ago she wouldn't have been able to pull it off.
Yes. She was healed.
Finally healed of her stupid infatuation for the silver haired first class.
Suddenly it felt like a huge relief.
It was arriving at Corel, that Claire Farron realized the mission wasn´t going to be as easy as she had anticipated.
Infantrymen positioned all around the place, heavily armed guards everywhere, the two first classes found themselves sent to the center of a warzone, a war that had seemed far away from their safe place in Midgar, but there, out in the shadow of Mt. Corel, suddenly was very real.
Looking up to the tops of the mountains towering above them, Lightning could tell it was going to be a long ascent too before they were going to reach the reactor.
The shadows already growing longer and longer, they decided to delay their ascend to the next morning. It would have been foolish to venture out into unfamiliar territory like that, probably infested with enemies just waiting for the night to fall.
No.
It was quickly decided that they would stay at the local inn instead. It definitely was the most sensible thing to do.
Things seemed to be getting worse and worse the more they learned about that mission and that godforsaken place and it was with utmost dismay that Claire Farron learned that Shin-Ra had supplied them with only one room as usual.
She would have been fine with Zack or Angeal. Maybe Genesis even.
But sharing a bedroom with her least favourite first class general was definitely nothing she looked forward to.
No. She so wasn't eager to spend the night with her former sensei lying right next to her. And it was planning to just go to bed early therefore that she hoped to escape the awkwardness of having to fall asleep in his presence.
She was spared his company though.
A fact she didn´t realize until she woke up in the middle of the night to realize the other side of the bed empty.
Empty and still made.
Her former sensei hadn´t even sat there.
Telling herself not to worry about him, he was a renowned war hero after all, she turned around again, sleep only reluctantly taking her this time.
Their meeting at breakfast the next morning revealed that the silver haired first class had indeed not slept at all.
It was over bread and eggs and bacon that the general filled her in on all the information he had managed to gather on his nighttime stroll while she had been comfortably lying in her bed.
Lightning's suspiscions about the enemy lurking somewhere in the shadows of that night were quickly confirmed.
It wasn't making things any easier exactly.
According to her former sensei the surrounding mountains were stuffed with wutai, hiding, maybe waiting, biding their time until they would be trapped inside the reactor to ambush them.
Maybe...
The general had already expected something like that. Claire Farron was aware.
That was why he´d been out all night, no doubt, scouting the area.
And Lazard...
Sending two of his best soldier opperatives only to investigate some reactor...
Yes, Lazard had anticipated something like this to happen too.
That bastard.
'Maybe we should abort mission and ask for reinforcements?' Sephiroth suggested, looking at his former protégé for advice.
His usually marble forehead was set in a frown and Lightning could tell something was bothering him deeply.
She couldn´t help but wonder what he was so concerned about.
The general asking for reinforcements because of a few meager wutai spies? Never would Lightning have thought she´d live to see him back off from a challenge like that.
'I hardly think that will be necessary.' she quickly cut in, squaring her shoulders and staring her former mentor straight in the eye.
His mako green eyes meeting her gaze in disbelieve, the pink haired warrior could instantly tell he doubted her judgment.
'What? Afraid you can´t handle them?' she challenged arrogantly.
The silver haired first class just averted his gaze.
'I wasn´t thinking about me...' he said, his voice suddenly soft then, sounding slightly hurt.
What, was he pushing this on her now?!
Pretending to suddenly be all protective of her? Using her as an excuse so he could get out of this the easy way?
Insufferable jerk...
She was up from the table in a blink.
Grabbing her things from their place next to the wall, she exited the Inn and started her way up to Mt. Corel, not looking back at the silver haired man trailing a few meters behind.
Reinforcements?!
Puh!
Reinforcements her ass.
She´d show him!
Making their way up to the reactor, Lightning could´t shake of the uneasy feeling that maybe her former mentor had been right after all.
Her enhanced eyesight revealing some wutai spies hidden behind bushes, monitoring their every move from the cliffs above, she wondered whether Sephiroth had assumed correctly. Were they going to attack once they reached the reactor?
Lightning couldn´t help but feel wary and on edge.
Was aware things were getting a whole lot more dangerous than she had expected.
A tiny voice inside her head reminding her of her promise to Zack Fair, it was quickly that the pink haired first class pushed the thought away.
No. She wasn´t going to act like a pussy.
She could handle this.
If Sephiroh wanted to play the coward and run back to Lazard he could do so on his own.
She definitely wouldn´t stop him.
She didn´t need him anyway.
It was early afternoon when finally they reached the reactor.
To Lightning's surprise and relief there was no trace of the enemy in sight.
Maybe things weren't going to turn out that bad after all.
Still, she couldn´t help but think that it was strange.
Something about this was fishy. Really was.
Why would the wutai bother to hide and watch them if they were not going to act?
Claire Farron didn't know.
Never having been inside a reactor before she waited for her former mentor to take the lead.
'Stay close.' he warned, his breath not a tiny bit laboured from the long ascent as quickly he brushed past her and made to enter through the front gates.
The silver haired first class leading the way inside, Lightning followed his back through the plain dark corridors until they reached the main control room. She couldn´t do anything but look around in amazement while her colleague moved over to study some of the gauges and monitors. She had no idea of the workings and going ons of a place like this. None at all.
The way a mako reactor worked, to her it might as well have been magic.
Fascinated by the eerie mako glow coming from the other side of the room, she felt herself drawn to the huge glass fronts, providing the occupants of the control room with the view of the mako reactor´s heart.
Her gaze following the numerous pipes leading down into the depths of green, barely able to make out the bubbling surface of extracted lifestream below, Lightning couldn´t help but wonder.
'Sephiroth... How does it work exactly... The mako plant?' she asked as if in trance, still unable to tear her gaze from the sickly greenish depths.
'Shin-Ra apparently found a way to forcibly extract the lifestream from the planet and process it into mako energy.' the general said absent mindedly, still occupied with studying the gauges attached to some of the pipes on the walls.
'How...?' Claire Farron prompted.
'I´m not a scientist.' came her comrade's voice.
She could tell her questions were starting to annoy him.
Well. He'd never had much patience. Not with anyone. Least of all her.
'So we are practically sucking the life out of the planet so we can watch talk shows on our flat screens 24/7, huh?' Lightning asked somewhat disbelievingly. Somehow the thought of it was making her stomach turn. Or maybe it was just the sight of all the mako.
Her comrade simply shrugged his shoulders.
Assuming that this conversation was over, the pink haired first class turned her attention back to the window again.
There was silence for a few minutes.
'They have apparently closed some of the valves.' the general announced somewhat pensively.
'We´ll have to go inside in order to open them again.'
'Inside?' The pink haired female spun around to face him, not quite sure she had understood correctly.
'Into the main reactor unit.' the man confirmed, motioning at the vast cavernous room in front of them, mako green fumes hanging in the air like smoke.
'Isn´t it dangerous?' Claire Farron asked somewhat warily.
The idea of actually going in there, without respiratory protection equipment and a hazmat suit did not appeal to her at all.
The general was about to say something, but then seemed to think better of it.
Swallowing his original words, he said instead:
'Not to us. Our bodies are already used to higher levels of mako exposure than the average human´s is. As long as we don´t stay in there for too long...'
Trailing off at the last bit, he suddenly turned to look his comrade dead in the eye.
'It´s not the mako fumes that bother me...' he added, his voice suddenly even more serious than before.
Not understanding what her former sensei was implying, Lightning just stared back at him, her puzzled features encouraging him to elaborate.
'I think we´ve got company.' the tall man clarified, slightly inclining his head.
She could see that glint in his eyes again. That predatory glint, that somehow always managed to send a shiver down her spine.
He was right. Once they entered the main reactor unit, the heavy door they´d come through closed, locking itself immediately and the two of them found themselves not only trapped inside, but instantly attacked too.
Wutai fighters in were loads of them.
Coming at them from every direction, their numbers intimidating, Lightning didn´t know where they had actually managed to gather so many people, or where they had actually managed to hide.
Yes, they had carefully prepared this trap.
And it was brilliant.
Not only were the two outnumbered, the wutai also had the advantage of wearing their protective gear, keeping them safe from the reactor's mako fumes.
Not that Lightning observed any adverse effects. No. Not yet at least. But the mako fumes where toxic, everybody knew that and she was not sure how long her mako infused cells would hold against them, or what effects the mako had exactly.
'Our bodies are already used to higher levels of Mako exposure than the average human´s is. As long as we don´t stay in there for too long...' That was what Sephiroth had said.
How much time did they have exactly?
Lightning didn't know.
All she could do right then was hope that the two of them would be out of there before they were going to find out.
With the two of them cut off from any hopes of getting out of the reactor by the way they'd entered, the two of them could do nothing but move forward.
And that was what they did. Accross rickety scaffolds, past wutai enemies and Shin-Ra control panels, down narrow ladders and slippery pipes they decended further and further.
Still, despite all their strenght and skill and special abilities, it took them over an hour to actually reach the lower levels where the valves were located.
The wutai had held them up big style and the mako fumes had gotten denser and heavier the farther down they'd went. Down there close to the surface, they hung like think green fog, making the air acidic, burning in their throat and lungs.
Lightning hadn´t been prepared for something like that. She really hadn't. And she wasn't ready. She so wasn't.
First the steep ascend to the reactor, then all the prolongued fighting and the stress of the environment on her body, it was one level away from their target, the closed off valves, that finally the fact that she hadn´t probably recovered yet was taking a toll on her.
Feeling exhausted and weak, the pink haired first class suddenly had to lean against the railing for support.
They had to have slain hundreds of wutai, men as well as their monsters, on their way down.
They'd been in constant battle, had been under heavy attack for all their decent. That on top of all the climbing action, suddenly it was all too much.
An then there was the mako. Burning in her eyes, her mouth, her nose, making her feel nauseous and light headed.
There in fact seemed hardly any air at all, among those thick green mako fumes.
The truth was she was not back to health, not fully.
And she had been pushing her limits too far again. Well, it wasn't as though she'd had a say in it.
'Lightning, what´s wrong?!' she heard the general´s voice, so full of concern, as if from somewhere far away.
She was feeling dizzy again.
It was becoming a familiar feeling. Was something she'd experienced at least a dozend times since her release form the hospital.
It definitely wasn´t the best moment for one of her weakness spells, that much was true. Yet there was nothing she could do to help it.
Black dots dancing in front of her vision, her hands shaking like mad, Claire Farron felt her heart race away under her ribcage as though she´d been running a marathon.
Her body threatening to collapse any second, it was struggling hard to not headfirst fall into the processed lifestream below, that she clasped the metal rails there tightly.
'Lightning!'
Her body leaning forwards dangerously, the mako slowly coming up to meet her, Claire Farron felt the First Class General´s hand on her shoulder, preventing her from tumbling to her certain death.
Oh yes, the lifestream´s surface was dangerously close down here.
The general's grip, for a moment it was all that kept her from tumbling into it.
It was turning away quickly, that she roughly pushed his hand away.
The pink haired female, at that moment she wished for nothing more than just lying down and curl into a ball on the floor to wait for the spell to pass, but she couldn´t afford to show weakness now. Not in front of him. Not in here. Not with hundreds of enemies waiting to attack any second again.
Panting heavily, she quickly tried to compose herself.
'It´s nothing!' she managed to choke out, glaring daggars at her comrade as she forced her upper body to straighten up again.
How dare he put his hands on her?!
'Just stay here, I´ll check out the lower levels. There has to be an emergency exit somewhere around there too.' the man next to her offered.
His voice was gentle, caring. She could tell that he was worrying about her current condition.
It somehow didn´t suit him. Not at all.
'No way...' the girl protested, as carefully she made to take a few wobbly steps forward.
The man in the black coat offering her his hand for support, she quickly pushed him away again.
What, did he think she couldn´t walk on her own?!
Or course she could. She was a first class after all. Not one of his stupid fangirls.
'I´m alright!' she assured him acidly.
Taking a few deep breaths, she continued down their path, just to revert back to clutching the railing again to prevent herself from collapsing only few meters further.
'Are you sure you are okay?' The general insisted as quickly he moved up to her, giving her a worried glance.
It was a stupid thing to ask.
They both knew that she wasn´t. She so wasn't.
It was without a word that she quickly shook her head.
No. She so wasn't okay.
'I can't breathe.' was all she manage between heavy gasps as she looked up at her comrade with huge watery eyes.
It was only upon saying it that Lightning realised that it was true.
Her lungs clasping desperately at the mako fumes, there was not enough air in them to keep her body running.
General Sephiroth Crescent only stared at her in horror.
Miraculously the man right next to her did not seem to be effected by the mako much. It was typical again. How could life be so unfair?, the pink haired woman thought somewhat bitterly. The silver haired first class, nothing seemed to faze him, ever.
Pondering their options, Lightning caught the silver haired first class reaching forward to touch her again. It was at the last moment that he seemed to think better of it. Pausing mid-action to let his arm drop to his side.
Good.
She wouldn´t accept his help anyway. There wasn't much he could do to help her in the first place, was there?
'We have to get you back to higher ground.' he urged instead, expression tense.
'The fumes are less dense there.'
It was true of course, was the only option that she had. But it also stood in direct conflict with their mission, the opening of the valves just one or two levels below them.
And there were still the wutai of course, laying in wait for them above.
'Go on without me.' Claire Farron managed to choke out. 'You have to open the valves.'
'No way, I can't leave you here. We have to get you upstairs.' the general insisted.
'No. Go. This is what we came for.' Lightning made up her mind.
'I can manage on my own.'
The man in the black leather coat did not move an inch.
'Go!'
It was in obvious turmoil that the silver haired first class tore himself away form her. It was with shaky shallow breaths that Claire Farron watched his back vanish in the veil of toxic mako fumes.
Those fumes...
Fuck she had to get herself out of there!
Finally managing to get herself together, forcing her body to respond, she pushed herself back to her feet, used the railing to her aid as she inched back into the direction she had come from.
Oh yes, she needed to reach higher ground indeed.
It was about ten minutes later that General Sephiroth Crescent reached the bottom to find that the wutai had destroyed the valves beyond repair.
Fuck.
He had almost expected it.
It was that very moment that he found himself attacked again. Wutai troopers decending upon him from the walls and pipes above, it was without a second thought that he turned and bolted.
He had to get back to Lightning. Had get back to Lightning fast.
Reaching the spot where they had parted he found the scaffold empty, no trace of his fellow first class anywhere.
Shit.
Gazing up to the levels above, he quickly fell into a run again, the wutai troopers hot at his heels.
It was leaning heavily against the railing for support that Claire Farron made her way upwards. Her legs still weak, still feeling dizzy it was with her lungs still burning crazily that she forced her body forwards.
The few levels that she'd gained, they didn't seem to make any difference for her breathing problems. Maybe the mako had already damaged tissue irreversibly? Claire Farron didn't know.
The only thing she knew was that she had to get out of there. And fast.
The sound of commotion telling her the wutai had found Sephiroth somewhere on the levels below, the pink haired female let herself sink against the next post of the railing.
Maybe they wouldn't make it out of there. Maybe they would just die there.
The sound of a hundred footsteps approaching fast, Lightning had to acknoledge that she was not fit to fight. She was't even fit to run.
Yes they would die in there.
At least she would.
There it was, her second chance at life, going down the drain.
If only she hadn't given Zack that promise...
It was a second later that Sephiroth kneeled in front of her and a wutai gasmaks was shoved into her hands.
It was about thrity minutes later and with a relieved gasp of air that Claire Farron burst out of the mako reactor, throwing the wutai gas mask into the thicket of the nearby bushes.
Sure that thing had saved her life, but fuck, it felt good to get some fresh air into her lungs again.
There was no time to catch her breath though.
Her silver haired general following only a few feet behind, it was dashing past her that he grabbed her arm to pull her with him.
'We have to get back to the village! Fast!' the general yelled from in front of her and it was as fast as their legs would carry them that the two of them flew downhill, the wutai in hot pursuit.
Lightning didn´t know how they had managed to get to the emergency exit and all the way up and out of the reactor again alive. It had been a miracle they had even reached the stairs.
There had been no time for another one of her recent breakdowns. And there definitely wasn't now.
Once out of the reactor, they had to fight their way through another army of wutai troopers in order to make it back to Corel.
It was a matter of life or death.
Well, death was certainly not an option.
Not really.
By the time they reached the safety of the well guarded village Lightning felt like dying.
Ready to collapse any second, she urged her feet to move forward.
She needed to get back to the inn, back to their room, back to that bed.
Exhausted and worn, she couldn´t wait to fall onto her matrass, not caring with whom she´d have to share it with. Not caring at all.
The few meters from the village border to the inn, suddenly they seemed like lightyears.
Reaching the inn she concentrated hard on making her way up the stairs.
Every step she felt like conquering a mountain. Another Mt. Corel.
She was almost there.
Just up those stairs...
Forcing herself to lift one foot after the other she clutched the handrail as if her life depended on it.
Yes. She just had to make it up to their room and into their bed.
There she could collapse, pass out and die, or whatever it was her stupid body had in store for her.
All she had to do was make it up those stairs.
Just a little further...
It was the last thing she thought before suddenly her legs gave way and she collapsed.
Her mind bracing itself for the impact that never came, she barely registered the pair of strong arms catching her from behind before the world around her got swallowed up by darkness.
General Sephiroth Crescent couldn't help but worry.
Lightning.
He had been watching her all mission and he knew she was on the verge of breaking.
It was when they finally made their way up to their room that watching her stagger up the stairs, the general made sure to stay close behind in order to be there and ready when the inevitable would finally happen.
He knew better than to try and support her. Knew she wouldn't want him to.
He had offered help earlier and she had angrily pushed him away.
No. He had no intention of annoying her further.
She didn´t want his help.
Well, he guessed that wasn´texactly about him either.
She was proud in a way.
She probably wouldn´t have let anybody help her, he was sure.
Noone, except for maybe Zack.
Somehow Sephiroth could understand. He was exactly the same after all.
Either way, he was there and ready, when suddenly she tumbled to the ground. Was there to catch her before her body could hit the florrboards.
It was without further ado that he picked her up into his arms and carried her unconscious form up to their room.
Sitting down on the bed with her, he cradled his comrade's body against his chest.
Having her so close for once, suddenly the silver haired first class found he couldn´t simply let go.
Her head leaning on his shoulder, he could feel puffs of weak irregular breath against the skin of his neck.
Burying his face in her hair he held her closer.
The situation resembling so much that incident on the beach, the silver haired man suddenly felt overwhelmed with emotion.
But this time it was different.
This time she was safe.
Exhausted, weak, maybe. But safe.
Alive.
Soft pained moans escaping the pink haired soldier´s throat, General Sephiroth Crescent felt her body shiver in his arms.
If only he could help her, if only he could somehow make her feel better.
Unable to help her once again, her, the only one who mattered, the silver haired man felt useless and pathetic again.
Her body still fighting the Jenova cells, the degeneration not 100% complete, there was nothing he could do to help her really.
Still... The fact that she had had such trouble with the mako, it had taken him off guard. He himself had had no problems whatsoever.
Then again he was used to much higher mako concentrations than any living thing on the entire planet. Maybe his resistance didn't have anything to do with his jenova cells after all. Maybe his body had just gotten used to the toxins.
Giving a long resigned sigh he made to place his comrade on her side of the bed.
Assuring himself that she was okay and just in need of some rest, he checked her pulse and breathing, then moved to take off her combat boots. Rearranging her position on the bed in what he hoped was a comfortable way, he covered her with the thick white blanket.
She was going to be fine. He knew it.
She only needed time.
Sitting down on the bed right next to her, he moved forward to remove a strand of pinkish hair sticking to her forehead just to realize how cold she was.
Damn Lazard.
He knew she hadn´t been ready.
Knew she shouldn´t have come.
Had known so all along.
Still. None of his regrets would help now.
All he could do now was try and keep her warm. Make sure she got the rest she needed.
It was acting out of instinct that the silver haired first class made to lie down next to her.
He hadn´t realized how exhausted he was himself until that very moment.
Crawling under the blanket next to his female comrade, he put his arm around her unconscious form in an attempt to keep her warm.
Taking her hand into his own he allowed himself to caress the back of her hand with his thumb.
And there he felt it again.
The link.
It was there and ready, as if it had been waiting to be established all along.
Well, he had definitely been waiting to feel it again.
It just felt so infinitely soothing, felt so right.
Burying his face in his comrade's pinkish strands, he inched a little closer, held on tightly to the weird connection their jenova cells had formed, their secret bond. His secret really.
Oh how much he wished he could be that close to her when she was awake.
How much he wished that she would want him to.
Well. He simply wasn't that lucky. Had been stupid to consider it in the first class. Stupid to allow himsef to hope.
Maybe it was all Angeal's fault, pep talking him like that, infusing his heart with false hopes...
That was what he'd gotten from it.
A whole lot of pain and unfulfilled wishes.
Propping himself up on his arm he made to study his comrade's features, tried to memorize them, every tiny detail of them.
Lightning.
The fact that she was implanted with Jenova cells too did nothing to dissuade the feelings he´d developed for her. No. If anything it made them even harder for him to ignore.
The knowledge that she was just as messed up as he was, that they were the same really, one of a kind... It was making him feel drawn to her even more.
Suddenly there was someone who could understand what it felt like. Suddenly he wasn´t alone anymore.
Except that he was.
He so was.
Holding on to their bond a little longer, he waited for her breathing to even and her shivers to subside. Figuring he´d been pushing his luck too far already, afraid she might wake up and find herself in his arms, he pushed himself up into a sitting position.
That bond of their's, their whole Jenova secret, it had to stay with him.
Never could he let her find out. Ever.
Their secret. It was his burden to bear. His resposibility.
He didn´t want her to live with that knowledge. Didn't want her to live with the knowledge of being a monster.
It was bad enough he knew himself.
No.
He wanted her to live without that.
Wanted her to be happy. As happy as she could be.
Pushing his painful thoughts away the silver haired first class got up to his feet.
Pulling the blanket up around his comrade's body, making sure that she was properly covered, he slowly stepped away and made his way over to the door.
It was late and he still had some work to do after all.
Lightning was shaken awake at the dawn of the next day by a slightly disheveled looking silver haired First Class General.
Sephiroth.
He looked even paler than usual, dark circles under his eyes telling her that he hadn´t slept for the second night in a row.
'Hurry, we need to get out of here. Now. ' he said. Despite the apparent urgency, his voice calm and commanding as always.
Trying her best to get up, squinting against the first rays of the sunlight, Claire Farron found her limbs heavy and weak.
Oh how much she wished she could just stay under the warm blanket and go back to sleep for another four or five hours! It felt like only seconds had passed since she...
Wait!
How had she gotten into bed?!
Removing the blanket from her body she found herself fully clothed in her first class uniform. Well... Except for her chunky combat boots that was.
It somehow was a huge relief.
'Come on now, we´ve only got 2 minutes!' Sephiroth´s voice cut through her musings.
He was picking up their stuff and double checking every corner of the room and under the bed.
Two minutes?!
Claire Farron barely had time to probably tie up her combat boots, when the general yanked her up by her arm, dragging her out of the room.
'Go!' he urged. 'We have to reach the helicopter, south of the village! 1:30!'
It was then that realization hit her and Lightning broke into a run.
Adrenaline kicking in, she raced down the stairs and pushed through the Inn´s entrance hall to make it out into the open.
Hurrying down the main street the two of them made toward the heli which was waiting for them near the end of the village, the noise of approaching aircraft announcing the upcoming inferno that Shin-Ra was going to release upon this place merely seconds from then.
Why did they always have to bomb the hell out of everywhere?! Claire Farron thought somewhat irritatedly. And why did they always leave them so little time?!
They made it to the heli moments before the first bombs fell.
The silver haired first class pulling her up inside as the heli started to rise, it was the blast from the first explosions that almost made them crash into the nearby trees.
It was only thanks to Rude´s excellent flying skills that they managed to escape alive.
'What about the people who live here?' Lightning blurted as her sensei pushed her into her seat, hastily fastening her seatbelt.
'No time for evacuation...' the general murmured.
Lost for words, Claire Farron couldn´t help but stare into those emotionless green mako eyes. They were the cold calculating eyes of a killer again.
Yes. The man facing her, he seemed completely unaffected by the cruel fate of all those civilians, all those lives. She guessed he really didn´t care.
Pondering his lack of compassion, Lightning realized she did not care either.
Did not care at all.
