Bright Seraphim
Twelve

Eventually the water in the bathtub cooled down enough for Jaz to notice. She got out and drained the water, slowly drying herself off.



Sephiroth crept out of a stairwell and down the hall on Jaz's floor. He reached the corner and crouched, removing Masamune from his back. He slid the tip of the sword along the floor, out past the corner, and looked into its narrow reflection.

There was Jaz's suite. There were two men in uniforms guarding the door. He slowly drew Masamune back, trying to figure out how to make them leave; killing them would only draw attention that he didn't want, as well as keep Jaz afraid of him, he suspected. Sephiroth only had a problem with killing when it worked against him.

Somewhere down the hall, a woman screamed.

Sephiroth jumped and turned the corner before he realized that the scream hadn't been Jaz's. He heard Jenova hiss something unrepeatable about timing, and her presence faded away; she was exhausted.

The two men who had been guarding her door were running down the hall, presumably toward the source of the scream. They didn't see him at all.

Sephiroth wasted no time. He ran for Jaz's door, pulling the key card from his glove before he reached it. As soon as he was inside, he closed the door and locked it.

Jaz wasn't in the common room. He walked to the partially open bedroom door, holding Masamune at ready, and pushed the door the rest of the way open.

There. The bathroom door was slightly open; she was in there. Drying off, from the sound of it.

Sephiroth pushed the bedroom door shut. He knew that she couldn't understand him, but if he waited here, perhaps he could find some way to explain to her...

There was a sudden sound of splintering wood.

Jaz didn't have time to turn around; she saw only a glimpse of movement behind her in the mirror. The door behind her quickly and silently swung open, and a black clad arm shot through, and the forearm covered her mouth. The other hand, which had been controlling the door, snaked around her waist. She was dragged backward a few feet, then to the left into open the bathroom closet. Jaz squirmed, trying to hold her towel over her front with one hand and pry at the arm over her mouth with the other. She tried to scream, but with her mouth covered; the sound couldn't escape. She bit the arm instead, and tried to kick at her captor's legs.

The man holding her made a very slight hissing sound, but did not release her mouth. The arm around her waist left and pulled the closet door shut, then returned, clamping her firmly against her attacker's body. The hand closed around her arm with which she held her towel with surprising gentleness.

The arm across her mouth moved upward, forcing her head tilt back. It was Sephiroth - she caught a glimpse of his face, illuminated in horizontal streaks from the slatted closet door. He held her head so that it rested against his collar bone, her cheek against his jaw.

Jaz knew that her life was now ended; it would only be a matter of time before he killed her. She just hoped that he'd cut her throat before he began to remove pieces of her like the girl in the stairwell. In desperation, she began to kick more furiously.

She realized her state of undress, and that she could feel his mostly bare chest against her back, and her cheeks suddenly felt very hot. He probably wouldn't just kill her...

There was another scream of rending wood - the bedroom door, from the sound of it. She heard Sephiroth whisper something very quiet and very urgent. Her struggles ceased as she tried to piece together what was going on.

A sudden movement outside of the closet caught her attention. A dark, shuffling shape made its way into the bathroom; she could hear the thing's muffled breath, the rasp of metal on metal...

Sephiroth watched the movement intently; Jaz could just see his left eye, gleaming with its own dim light in one of the shadows cast by the door's slats. His breath was silent and even - practiced.

Jaz realized that she wasn't breathing, and began to make an effort to exhale softly.

The thing stopped near the closet door. She could hear it sniffing, see it raise what seemed to be its head as it tested the air. She began to inhale as slowly as she could, almost choking on the humid air, still heavy with the scent of her bubble bath.

There was suddenly a sharper sound of sliding metal that raised goose bumps on Jaz's skin. She heard a rustling sound. The dark thing seemed to be inspecting the shower curtain.

Then it moved back the way it had come, back out into the suite.

Neither of them moved for what seemed like a very long time, except for Jaz's shaking. Sephiroth eventually lowered his arm from her mouth, and whispered something else.

Jaz raised her head and realized that his awkward position - holding his arm across her mouth - had been because he was holding Masamune with that hand. The sword was braced with its tip against the floor, so that anything coming through the closet door would've hit the blade before it hit Jaz.

He let go of Jaz's arm, releasing her completely, and cautiously slid open the closet door. He stepped out, sword at ready.

Jaz hesitantly followed, still unconsciously holding the towel over herself, though it was just barely useful at the moment. Her blood was pounding in her ears; she didn't feel so well. As Sephiroth peered out into the bedroom, she braced her hand on the opposite wall of the bathroom and stood with her back to him, breathing hard.

After a few moments she stood by herself and thought to wrap the towel around her body so that it would provide more cover.

Sephiroth returned from inspecting the rest of the suite and said something else, in a normal tone of voice this time. He smiled slightly at her, uncertain, then shook his head. He then turned and gestured at the shower curtain.

The curtain had been bunched together at the back of the bathtub. The top half of it still dangled there - but the bottom half had been cleanly sheared off and lay in a heap next to the tub.

Jaz felt dizzy. She sank to her knees next to Sephiroth, who was studying the severed curtain. He ran one gloved finger along the finely cut edge and made a comment.

Jaz started to say something, but the room seemed to be growing dark. She looked up to see what was wrong with the light - then pitched forward in a dead faint.



"Jaz?"

She opened her eyes, but it seemed to take a moment for them to remember how to function. It didn't help that the image before them made no sense to her. It looked like she was lying on the floor, looking at the base of the bathtub.

"Jaz?"

Someone seemed to be stroking her hair. She turned her head and looked up.

Sephiroth was leaning over her. His hair fell to one side, dimming the light above her like a curtain. He smiled in relief when she focused on him.

Curtain. Shower curtain. The shower curtain was cut very cleanly in half, as though with scissors. But she'd only heard one sound that could account for the cut...

The thought hit her like nightmare ice. Scissors large enough to sever a gathered shower curtain with one cut.

She sat up, narrowly avoiding Sephiroth's head. He dodged back just in time, but didn't leave her - instead he placed one arm around her back to help support her, still stroking her hair with the other hand.

Jaz waved him away without thinking, getting to her feet and almost losing the towel covering her in the process. "What's going on here?" She said out loud, almost breathlessly. "There was this one game that I saw Jamie playing once where the villain was this little monster guy with giant scissors. It was called Clock something. Clock Tower. The guy with the scissors - Scissorman - went around killing people like some dumb horror movie..." She was pacing back and forth between the bathroom and the bedroom, her voice rising as she continued. She slid her fingers under her damp hair, tightening them painfully, trying to wake herself up. "What is this, are Playstation villains just out to get me now or something? What is going on?!?"

Sephiroth was suddenly in front of her. He placed his hands on her shoulders, forcing her to sit on the edge of the bed, and pulled her clenched hand down from her head. "Jaz...?"

She looked into his worried face and made an effort to calm down. "I'm - I'm sorry. I'm all right. I guess I fainted back there. Sorry. This is all just... really weird..." She took several deep breaths, looking away. He was stroking her hair again; she put up a hand to stop him. "I'm okay now," she said as reassuringly as possible, moving his hand away. She looked up to his face again.

It struck her that he'd been afraid for her, and that he'd probably saved her life. She sighed. "It wasn't you that - that killed that girl, was it?"

He didn't respond - of course not - but he backed away slightly, allowing her to stand. He said something softly, looking slightly embarrassed (or was that for her benefit?), and walked to the broken bedroom door. He stood there, with his back turned.

"Oh yeah," Jaz said, blushing. "I guess I should get dressed."


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.