Bright Seraphim
Seven

When Jaz awoke, she was curled up on the floor. She stretched out, wondering for a second why she was there. The events of the previous night stampeded back into her mind, and she lay still for a little while, trying to decide how much had been a dream.

She noticed that the shower was running.

She did a quick mental check to make sure that she hadn't forgotten anything that had happened during the night, and sighed with relief when she found no particular missing time. She remembered watching him fall asleep...

The shower switched off; Jaz decided to find a way to keep her attention away from the partially open bedroom door. She folded the comforter she was wrapped in and laid it on the couch next to the blanket that Sephiroth had used.

She crossed to the suite's bar and called room service from the telephone there, ordering bagels and cream cheese and tea. She wasn't sure why she ordered tea in particular, but she was certain that he'd like hot tea.

At the sound of her voice he had emerged from the bedroom, waving vaguely in greeting. His hair was inexplicably dry; Jaz got the idea that water would sheet off of his hair as it would from duck feathers. Worse yet, his hair still showed absolutely no signs of tangling.

Jaz picked a small tangle from her short hair as she hung up the phone, sighing. He was wearing nothing but those black pants of his again. "What have you got against shirts?!?"

He looked confused, but she waved the question away as she passed him, heading for the shower herself. "Nevermind."

One short shower later, Jaz answered the knock at her suite's door, still furiously rubbing at her hair with a towel.

The young man delivering the room service glanced past the bathrobe-clad woman who answered the door. There was a half-clothed man seated in the common room. "I'm sorry, I wasn't told that this was a honeymoon suite," he quickly apologized.

"It's not," Jaz responded without thinking, opening the door wider for him.

"I'll have them send up the complimentary -" the man cut himself off in mid-sentence and his face went red. Without a word, he stepped inside only long enough to set the tray on the table. He slipped out again without meeting Jaz's eyes again, mumbling some pleasantries as he closed the door behind him.

Jaz stood for a moment, realized what had transpired, and stepped to the side of the door to bang her head against the wall. She tried not to laugh too hard.

A hand touched her shoulder; Jaz spun around, surprised by the contact. Sephiroth was looking at her, obviously concerned.

"It's okay, don't mind me," Jaz said between giggles. She gestured toward the food. "Breakfast. Eat."

Oddly enough, Sephiroth seemed to recognize bagels, and he apparently did like tea - though he chose a tea bag completely at random from the provided selection.

Jaz watched him as they ate, speaking between bites. "I still don't know what I'm going to do with you," she mused. "I guess I'm going to drag you around with me for the convention, but after that... hmm, maybe I should get another job so that I can afford my own apartment. Or at least pay for more than one room in the house... It's not like me and Katie make much money with the used book store..." She got lost staring at him for a moment; it occurred to her that he'd stick out like a brilliant sore thumb no matter where she took him. Unless...

When they finished eating, Jaz stood and handed him his coat and shoulder armor. "This is the only way that you'll blend in at the convention," she grinned, proud of her quick mind. She picked up her garment bag and went to change.

A few minutes later she re-appeared, wearing her convention costume. Her hair was held back with a wide leather headband; she wore a bloused black shirt under a stiff, patterned black bodice, with the sleeves of the shirt neatly tucked into leather arm guards that matched her headband. Black stretch cotton leggings and knee-high, moccasin-like black suede boots covered her legs, and her belt pouch and ornamental dagger completed her outfit. She'd done most of the sewing and leather work herself.

In her hands, she gently carried Masamune, which she held out to him. "People won't think you look right without it," she smiled. "And if I'm going to take credit for you, then you'd better look right. We'll have to wire it to the harness, though..."



Jaz led Sephiroth downstairs and into the dealers' room, each of them carrying a box of books. The dealers' room was off the central atrium of the hotel, an open shaft lined with balconies that culminated in large skylights, which were currently grey with snow cover. Sephiroth looked up at the skylights with a sudden sense of vertigo - the image of the interior of a Mako reactor clouded his vision. He shook his head to clear it and concentrated on following Jaz.

"Good morning," Jaz called as she approached Katie's table.

Katie looked up as they set the boxes down inside the semicircle of tables. "Good... morning," she answered, her eyes suddenly tracking Sephiroth's movements.

"Wow, cool!" Jamie exclaimed. "He came with the sword!"

"I thought that he'd be easier to hide if he was in costume," Jaz grinned.

"Very good idea," Katie said approvingly. "It's a beautiful... costume, mind you..."

Jamie, who was already setting up his Playstation with a small color TV at the back of their dealers' space, beckoned Sephiroth to sit on the floor cushions in front of the television. "C'mere, Seph, I'll show you how to play Tekken 2 like I said. And wait 'till you see Soul Blade..."

Jaz watched him go, impressed by the grace with which he maneuvered with the long sword attached to his back. At a small sound from Katie she snapped out of her trance, blushing slightly.

The day passed quickly. Katie's dealing tables consisted of a large selection of fantasy, science fiction, and mystery books from the rare and used book store that she and Jaz ran, a few large photo albums that showcased Jaz's costume work, and a small rack of stock Medieval/Renaissance/Fantasy costume pieces for Jaz to sell. Jamie taught Sephiroth how to play a variety of games, mostly fighter-style, and enjoyed himself immensely even though he soon began to consistently lose.

Jaz received a startling number of compliments on Sephiroth's costume, which she said was a prototype and therefore not in her catalogue yet. Yes, she did custom costumes - little else, really. No, she hadn't done any other video game based costumes, yet. Yes, she'd be happy to take orders, that was why she was here. No, she didn't know where he got the sword - ask him later, he's concentrating on whipping Jamie's butt at Tekken 3 right now. It's a custom made wig. He ordered the contact lenses on-line... they're prescription, very expensive...

When Katie left to bring them lunch, Jaz was nearly overwhelmed.

One overweight fellow, wearing a Star Trek: Voyager T-shirt, claimed that he'd seen better wigs. He then went back to angrily debating with his friend the merits of Star Trek Vs. Babylon 5. His friend, wearing complete Klingon armor and the appropriate makeup, rolled his eyes. ("Most patient Klingon I've ever seen," Katie commented.)



At about six o'clock, most of the crowd cleared out - it was time for one of the convention's key guests to speak and sign autographs. Jaz and Katie breathed a sigh of relief.

"Tired yet, oh magnificent creator of costumes?" Katie asked, sinking down into a folding chair.

Jaz stuck out her tongue, folding her arms on the table and laying her head down.

The dealers' room would close in another half an hour; Katie began to pack books away for the night. "Are you still going to the movie marathon tonight? Two and a half more hours..."

"I guess so... I don't know..." Jaz raised her head and reached for a batch of books to put away.

There was a sudden thump behind them; Jamie squeaked. "Seph - Sephiroth? Umm..."

Jaz and Katie turned. Sephiroth had fallen back on the cushions, eyes closed. Jaz immediately jumped up.

"Jamie, what did you do?" Katie yelped, looking at the television. The Final Fantasy VII logo was fading in on the screen.

"I... I didn't," Jamie stammered, close to tears. "I just wanted to know what would happen... He saw Aeris..."

"Shut that thing off," Jaz snapped, prying open one of Sephiroth's eyes. His pupils were so contracted as to seem invisible, and his breathing was nearly non-existent.

"Well, now you know what would happen," Katie sighed.

"Hey, is he all right?" The dealer at the next table asked, pausing in his own packing.

"He's fine," Katie instinctively called back. To Jamie, she added, "No more of that game, all right? Not now." She pushed the power button on the Playstation, turning to Jaz before the screen went blank. "Is he all right?" She asked in a low voice. "What do we do?"

"I don't know -" Jaz felt his neck, looking for a pulse.

Sephiroth's hand was suddenly in the way, grabbing her wrist as he drew a deep gasp and opened his eyes.

As soon as he focused on her, his grip eased. "Jaz," he breathed, letting go of her hand.

She pulled away slowly, her mind suddenly reeling. The way he said her name... "Um. I think he's okay now," she said belatedly.

"You should definitely go to the movie marathon," Katie commented, looking back and forth between Jaz and Sephiroth. "For your own good. I don't think you two should be left alone together for any longer than can be helped."

When Jaz glared at her, she only grinned.


Disclaimer: Final Fantasy VII, its story, and characters (particularly Sephiroth) are the property, copyright and trademark of Square Electronic Arts L.L.C., and no ownership or claim on said property, copyright or trademark is made or implied by their use in the work(s) of fan fiction presented here. This fan fiction constitutes a personal comment on the aforesaid properties pursuant to doctrines of fair use and fair comment. This fan fiction is non-commercial, not for sale or profit, and may not be sold or reproduced for commercial purposes. The same goes for Clock Tower, Tekken 2, Soul Blade, Star Trek, Dark Shadows, Lost in Space, Pepsi, and any other games, television shows, movies, etc. mentioned in this fanfic: all belong to their respective owners. Clock Tower, its story, and characters (particularly Scissorman) are the property, copyright, and trademark of Ascii Entertainment.