Bright Seraphim
Sixteen

"Jamie, are you sure about this?" Katie asked in a whisper. She and her nephew approached the garage entrance at the other end of the building and three floors down from the entrance hall.

"Well, Jaz didn't have time to say where to meet, but she wanted to leave," Jamie responded. "So they'll come to the garage, I guess."

"Great." Katie looked up at the security camera over the desk. "They must be really busy; nobody's come looking for us yet."

Jamie tugged at the handle of the glass door. "It's locked."

"Just a minute," Katie said, searching her coat pockets. "I've got... here." She produced a bobby pin, and used her teeth to remove the plastic coatings on its ends. "It won't be locked for long..."



While wending their way back through the basement, Jaz and Sephiroth ran across a cleaning closet with a sink. Jaz waited inside the door, nervously watching the shadows outside, as Sephiroth cleaned himself as best he could.

"Um," Jaz began, and stopped. Her voice sounded loud, and she could've sworn that it echoed in the concrete hallway. Neither of them had spoken since they'd heard the shots and the scream, and Sephiroth had barely glanced at her since then - he walked with Masamune drawn, keeping her behind him.

She tried again. "Um... what are we going to do? That... thing... Scissorman. It's out there, and it's after me, isn't it? So we should get out of here. We can't go to the police. We have to get out of here. So we should go get Katie and Jamie and drive out of here..." She trailed off and began to search her coat pockets. "Uh... great. No car keys. Okay, Katie can drive..." She took a breath. Sephiroth had looked up at her, but said nothing. She nodded. "Glad that's settled. We'll need to get upstairs, hopefully without attracting the cops' attention, so we've got to find a different stairwell. There's the stairs at the front and the stairs with the elevators in the Atrium by the ballroom, and there's another set at the back by the parking garage, where we came in..."

Sephiroth finished, patting himself dry with a somewhat grimy towel that was hung above the sink. At least he wasn't covered in blood any more. He tucked his near-ruined gloves into his belt, picked up Masamune from where he'd leaned it, and turned to look at Jaz again. She was speaking, almost to herself. She was afraid.

He touched the side of her face, and she fell silent, looking up at him with her cat-green eyes. He smiled in spite of the situation, but said nothing - only took her hand and, after carefully checking the hallway, led her further into the basement. Sooner or later, they'd find another set of stairs.

Sooner or later, he'd have to admit to himself that Jenova was right - Jaz was, for now, his. Perhaps he could even make himself believe that he only wanted to keep her because of Jenova's dislike for her. At least while Jenova was occupied with Jaz, dangerous as that was, she wasn't up to something worse...



"Katie, you've been at this for a while now," Jamie said, leaning closer to watch his aunt trying to pick the lock. "Can I try?"

"No."

"Please?"

"No, Jamie, I've almost got it," Katie growled. "There... almost... got it!"

The door clicked.

A red light next to the security camera began to flash, accompanied by a loud buzzing.

Jamie rolled his eyes. "Way to go."

Katie threw the bobby pin to the floor, growling something else, but yanked the door open anyway. "I'll warm up the car."



A loud buzzing suddenly filled the dim concrete hallway; Jaz jumped. "Somebody set off an alarm," she said out loud.

They rounded a corner to find a metal door. A flashing red light was reflected through the door's window.

Jaz and Sephiroth stopped in front of the door. Sephiroth looked behind them, frowning, his grip on his sword tightening slightly. Jaz glanced at him, then pushed open the door...

...which opened into the bottom of a stairwell. There was another door opposite them - the red light came from there. Jaz cautiously looked through that door's window, then without hesitation shoved that door open. "Jamie!"

Jamie whirled around. "You made it! Katie went to get her car -"

"Freeze! Police!"

"Oh great, now they show up," Jaz groaned, ducking down behind the open stairwell door and motioning Sephiroth to stay behind her. "Jamie, you and Katie get out of here!"

"But -"

"I said freeze!"

"Just get going!" Jaz pulled the door shut behind her, and she and began to run up the stairs. Sephiroth hesitated only a moment before following her.

Jamie turned, saw the angry-looking police bearing down on his right, and ran for the door. He opened it and ran into the garage.

A gray Ford screeched to a halt, a foot away from hitting him. Katie opened the door. "JAMIE! What do you think you're -"

Jamie ran to the passenger side and jumped in. "No time! Cops! Jaz said go!"

Katie reacted to his words before fully processing them. She jammed the car into gear and headed for the exit ramp as fast as she could. Several cops spilled into the garage behind her.

"Strap in," she snapped at Jamie, making the turn onto the exit ramp at as high a speed as she dared. The front bumper scraped against the concrete wall on the turn; Katie gritted her teeth.

After the turn, it was a straight run up to the exit. "Yes!" Jamie almost squealed. "Go! Go!"

Katie floored it. The car sped toward the exit...

...And, on the slope a few feet inside the opening, stopped.

Jamie gripped his seat belt. "What -"

"Ice!" Katie yelped.

The front of the car twisted to one side and slid backward. Katie took her foot from the gas, but couldn't react in time to stop the car as it wedged itself sideways in the ramp tunnel.

With a dazed expression on her face, Katie unfastened her seat belt and opened her door, staring in horror at the damage. "My car..."

"Don't move!"

Three cops were standing a few feet away, guns drawn and aimed her.

Katie gave a weak smile. "Uh... Hi."



Seven floors up, Jaz finally slowed down, breathing hard. Even Sephiroth was showing a little fatigue. "We need to get back to my suite to get my car keys," she told Sephiroth, cautiously opening the door into the seventh floor hallway. "But... but let's take a breather, okay?" She almost staggered to the water fountain opposite the stairwell, and drank deeply.

She stood back, motioning for Sephiroth to drink. There was a sudden rumble - the elevator next to the stairwell was being used. Both of them watched it warily for a moment, then Sephiroth turned and drank as well.

"It wouldn't be the cops," Jaz reasoned. "I don't know if they saw me, and even if they did, they wouldn't know what floor to stop at with the elevator, so they wouldn't have taken it, right?"

She looked at Sephiroth for confirmation, knowing that she wouldn't get it. He turned and smiled at her reassuringly; he had no idea of where she was leading them now, but he would stay with her and protect her anyway.

Jaz just stared for a moment as he turned away again, looking up and down the hall. He frowned for a moment, closing his eyes and raising a hand to his face as he turned away - then shook his head, murmuring something. "~~Jenova...~~"

Jaz noticed, as Sephiroth turned, that his hair was still untangled and smooth. Probably more magic, she decided, feeling slightly giddy. What a convention this was turning out to be...

The elevator chimed.

Both of them jumped, backing away to the left as the doors began to open. The light inside the elevator was off.

Sephiroth caught Jaz's arm, beginning to raise his sword.

The doors opened just barely enough for a person to pass through.

A misshapen form burst out of the dark elevator, preceded by the open blades of a giant pair of scissors.

Sephiroth brought Masamune up in a parry, twisting so that the scissors were wrenched from their wielder's grip. As soon as the sword was free of the scissors, he was turning, pulling Jaz with him as he began to run.

They turned the corner at the end of the hall, and skidded to a halt. It was a dead end; this short hallway ended in a tall set of windows.

The lights in the hallway flickered, then went out.

Down the hall and around the corner, the sound of excitedly rasping metal approached.

Sephiroth let go of Jaz, walked several paces back down the hall, and stood to block the way. He held Masamune poised, shining in the glow of the city lights outside the window.

Jaz focused on the window, pounding at the lock, trying to force it open. There was a ledge outside.

The dark, animalistic shape rounded the corner, then moved to the middle of the hall, making grunt-like noises that could have been laughter.

The scissors opened and closed. Even in this darkness, they looked sharp.

Jaz kicked at the window. It was supposed to open like double doors, but the latch was rusted shut on the outside. She turned, the panic rising in her throat. "Sephiroth -"

He looked back at her, then at the approaching Scissorman. If this attacker disabled him for even a moment, it would have a clear shot at Jaz, and she'd have nowhere to run.

He spun around and slashed at the window twice, and kicked it, sweeping Masamune onto his back in one smooth motion. With the hinges and the latch severed, the left half of the window fell outward.

There was no time. He leapt lightly out and onto the ledge along the wall outside, reaching back to take Jaz's hand.

With a roar, Scissorman lunged.

Sephiroth pulled hard as Jaz stepped through the window frame; she lost her balance and swung outside. The Scissorman followed a little too quickly - the grotesque thing howled and plunged seven stories down to the snow-filled alley below.

Sephiroth pulled Jaz up so that she could get her footing on the windowsill and crawl back inside; he followed as soon as she was in.

He turned and looked down at the black shape in its crater of snow far below. Jaz stood next to him, then almost unconsciously ducked under his arm and wrapped her arms around him, laying her head against his chest as if she could hide there.

He took a breath as if to protest, then thought better of it and allowed his arm to fall around her shoulders. "~~Your world is nearly as strange as mine,~~" he said softly. "~~More deceptive, I think.~~" He knew that what he said was unimportant; it was the tone of his voice that would calm Jaz.

For once, Jenova was silent. She'd said nothing to him since stalling him in the kitchen. Directing this murderous creature must truly have drained her strength. Just before the elevator had opened, he'd felt something - as though Jenova had called out, but not to him - but that was all.

Sephiroth was reluctant to leave the window, but it was cold, and Jaz drew him away. He couldn't shake the feeling that Jenova hadn't given up yet.


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.