This is my first FFVII fic, written about a year ago, although not
finished yet. There's about seven chapter of this story so far and they will
all be posted after a bit of revision.
Part I
The lights of Midgar became a blur before his eyes, his grip of the
railing grew
firmer. A soft breeze touched his face and slowly he allowed himself to
breath
again. He knew his young apprentice was standing behind him, hidden in
the
shadows, watching him. He silently cursed the boy for his concern, he
wasnït
happy with the fact that someone had seen him in this condition. But the
mako
treatment always did this to him. It made the world fade away, it made
him lose
control of himself, of his feelings, and his actions. He hated those
moments, he
hated not being in total control, it made him feel like, like...just
anyone.
"Don't sneak around like
that Cloud," he said as he turned around. He could
hear the boy flinch in the darkness.
"I'm...I'm sorry master, I saw you and I thought
that...that...that...," Cloud
desperately sought the right words.
"What did you think?"
"I just wanted to see if you had some new information regarding our
departure
tomorrow." That was a lie. The boy had followed his mentor out on
the rooftop of
the Shin-Ra building because he was worried for him. He had seen him
exit Hojo's
laboratory with pain and suffering reflecting in his eyes, somehow he
had
thought he would be able to help. He wanted so badly to ask the
legendary
SOLDIER if he was alright, if there was anything he could do for him,
even
wanted to comfort him. But now, as he was standing before Sephiroth,
everything
he wanted to do for the silver-haired man seemed like impossible deeds.
All the
stories he had heard about the warrior rouse in him and became fresh to
his
memory. They made him realize there was nothing he could do. The Great
Sephiroth
didn't need him, he didn't need anyone. How could he have been so stupid
to
believe that he could acctually be of any help to the young general.
Cloud
sighed and looked up at his master again. Sephiroth narrowed his eyes
and
studied him quickly before he once more turned his back to him. The
glance set
of a stream of shivers to run down Cloud's spine.
"We will set out as
planned, "Cloud snapped out of his thoughts and for a
moment he couldn't remember what his question had been.
"Yes sir," he answered, it was always a good answer.
"Now leave me. Get some sleep, it's late," Sepiroth
continued.
"Yes sir," Cloud replied again. He looked at his master trying
to catch his
masterïs eyes before he left. But it was useless, Sephiroth did not
move. His
stare was locked to the lights of Midgar that lay beneath him.
//Chaos, destruction, annihilation. A force racing through the Planet,
or maybe
towards the Planet. Everyting that crossed it's path came to a sudden
end.
Darkness, then small dots of lights glowing. Glowing like...like...the
lights of
Midgar. But they grew stronger, brighter, until they where blended
together to
an insufferable shade of white. Suddenly the emptiness is filled with
screams,
cries of terror and death. Then, silence, darkness, a short moment of
relief,
reaching for salvation. Serenity fills the air. But then, the world
explodes
into flames and screams even more horrible than before, and there, in
the middle
of it all is...is...//
Sephiroth woke up in fear, barely able to keep a scream back in his guts
from
where it has been slowly rising during his hours of sleep. He sat up in
the bed
and reached for Masamune. His whole body was shaking uncontrolably. He
rested
his forhead against the handle of the sword and closed his eyes. How
long did he
hold that position? Minutes, maybe hours, time had never seemed more
realtive to
him than now.
A knock on the door ripped
him out of the trance he had slipped in to.
"Sir, are you there?" he heard Cloud's insecure voice from the
other side of the
door, although it seemed more distant. Sephiroth swallowed hard before
answering, making sure his own voice was steady.
"I'm on my way, meet me out front." Sephiroth got up, still
not in full control
of his body and mind.
'Damn Hojo,' he thought,
'these mako treatments will be the end of me.'
He lifted his hand to his face, covering his eyes. This was something he
would
never allow himself to do in the presence of any other human being, it
was a
gesture of weakness.
'No, I can't blame Hojo. Or the
treatments, without them I would
be nothing.' He let his hand fall and sighed. Within the next minutes he
had
left the room.
Some young SOLDIERs greeted
him as he passed them by in the hallway.
"Have a safe journey sir," one of them said and got a simple
nod in return from
the mysterious war hero. The young SOLDIER would remember this day for
the rest
of his life with pride.
Cloud was anxiously waiting outside the Shin-Ra building for his
teacher, his
face lit up as he saw him come out through the main entrance. From where
Cloud
was standing you would not be able to distinguish one specific person
that
stepped through the doors to Shin-Ra. Everyone seemed to blend into a
big mess
of heads, arms and legs. But Sephiroth was easy to spot even from that
distance.
With his long silver-hair and exceptional heigt he could not be mistaken
for
someone else. He didn't halt as he reached Cloud's side, he just
gestured to his
student to follow him.
"I have arrenged for a
truck to take us to Junon, from there we will
continue to Costa del Sol. We will spend the night there and from there
on...
Well, we just have to wait and see," he explained to Cloud who was
half running,
half walking to keep up with Sephiroth.
Sephiroth glanced at the boy
and a smile split his face for a brief moment.
"We all have to live in our own pace," he said.
"Yes sir," Cloud said, pretending to understand.
The way to Junon had been long but now they were finally on the boat
heading for
Costa del Sol. They
were in their cabine. Sephiroth sitting in the middle of his
small bed, his legs crossed, bent over a book with his hair falling into
his
face. Cloud silently studied his mentor, this peaceful side of him had
never
been revealed for him until now and he was quite surprised to see
Sephiroth so
relaxed. Still Cloud was pretty sure Masamune would be out of it's
shield within
the blink of the eye if an unwelcomed person stepped through the door.
He
quiverred. The strenghts and powers of the man infront of him where
truly
unbelievable, even the stories told about the famous SOLDIER and his
powers
didn't come close to what was reality. Suddenly Sephiroth looked up,
obviously
disturbed by the boy's questioning stare.
"Why don't you go out and look around," it was not a question
Cloud could tell.
"Be back in an hour and we will practice."
"Yes sir." Cloud disappeared out the door but reappeared
before the door even
had closed. He grabbed his Buster Sword from the bed, silently cursing
himself
for almost forgetting it and then he was gone. Sephiroth sighed. He knew
Cloud
was a sharp-minded boy but he seemed to be nervouse whenever they where
in the
same room. But then again, Sephiroth knew his presence usually made
people's
blood run faster through their veins, so why should Cloud feel any
differently.
He was still staring at the door through which his student had
disappeared. He
was glad the committee at Shin-Ra had approved of his suggestion to take
on a
student. They hadn't cared to much of who he chose, they just liked the
idea of
having another SOLDIER with Sephiroth's skills. However, Sephiroth had
always
had his heart set on training Cloud, he had notice a lot of potential in
the boy
the very first time they met. What had surprised him more about the
committee
was that they didn't object when he told them he wanted to take his
student with
him on a journey for six months in order for him to devvelope and train
in
differentenviorments. His own reasons was to get out of Midgar for a
while, and
away from Hojo and his experiments. Since the war ended there wasn't
much for
him to do in Midgar. That was why he had been given this opportunity and
he had
greatfully seized it.
An hour had nearly passed, Sephiroth rose from the bed and left the
cabine to
search for Cloud. He found him almost right away, hanging over the
railing of
the ship.
"Sea sick?" Sephiroth asked.
"No sir, never," Cloud smiled vaguely even though he seemed a
bit green in the
face. "I was just watching the waves."
Sephiroth raised a brow quizzically but reminded himself that Cloud was
still a
boy, barely fifthteen.
"I found a room for us to practice in," he said and Cloud
followed him
immediatly.
"We will only use our swords, no magic, we donït want to
accidentally sink the
ship," Sephiroth said, trying to make a joke to get Cloud to relax
a bit. He
sighed as he saw it had only had the opposite effect.
"Ready?" he asked.
"Yes," Cloud tried to hold his voice steady, seeking comfort
in the fact that
Sephiroth knew what he was doing and the chance of him accidentally
injuring him
were highly unlikely.
They both drew their swords,
taking their positions. Cloud holding his
Buster sword infront of him in a defensive manner. Sephiroth let the
edge of
Masamune point at his opponent as usually, ready to attack at any
moment. Cloud
stared at the sharp point of the mighty sword which was almost as famous
as it's
owner. Then Sepiroth lunged towards him.
©Starla 2001
FFVII is the property of Squaresoft.