Bright Seraphim
Seventeen

Jamie made himself as small as he could, perching like a spiney black sparrow on a stool behind the hotel's front desk. "I really would like to be with Katie," he said, twisting back and forth nervously. The desk was in the front hall of the hotel, and the hall was high ceilinged and naturally dark.

"The detectives want to question you two separately," the rookie assigned to guard him said. "It's gotten pretty messy here, so you just stick with me, okay? I'll make sure that nothing happens to you, and then the detectives will come get you and talk to you, and then you and your aunt can get back together."

"You don't understand," Jamie sighed in despair. "We can't be apart. I shouldn't be out here with just you, there should be more of you cops here."

"There's plenty of us here, but we've got to search the hotel," the rookie said. He glanced up at the hotel's glass front doors and frowned. He thought that he'd seen movement... probably just snow blowing around. "It's a big job. There's a killer loose here, and we have to find him."

"It's not the guy with the silver hair," Jamie said, as he already had several times since his and Katie's capture. "It's someone else. It's a monster called Scissorman."

"Yeah, kid, I gotcha," the rookie sighed. Poor kid probably had a screw loose to begin with...

Jamie suddenly gasped, pointing. "Behind you!"

The cop spun around. There was nothing there. "What?"

"There! The screensaver!"

The rookie looked at the monitor on the desk behind him. The screen was black, and the word "KILL" was spelled out in red letters, bouncing back and forth on the screen.

The rookie groaned and reached back to turn off the monitor. "There, happy? Now we know what the desk attendants here think of their work. That's all it is, kid."

The power went out.

Jamie squeaked.

"...Great, just great," the cop muttered, reaching for his flashlight. "Come on, don't be scared. Probably just a car hit a pole or something, knocked the power out - I'm surprised it didn't happen sooner, what with the snow and all..."

Jamie sat stock still, terrified. He began to sniffle.

The cop began to feel distinctly uncomfortable. "Awww, c'mon, kid, it's just a black out," he said, switching on his flashlight. "Can't I do anything to cheer you up?"

"Probably not," Jamie whispered.

"Here, check this out," the man said, remembering something he'd seen on television once. He held the flashlight above and to the side of his face, giving himself a soft spotlight. "Romance -" he quickly shifted the flashlight to underneath his chin, accentuating every shadow on his face. "- horror movie." He shifted the light back to above his head, and back under his chin again. "Romance, horror movie. Romance, horror movie..."

Jamie stopped sniffling, relaxing slightly.

"There, see?" The rookie said. "Don't worry. It's not a -" he moved the flashlight under his chin, made an "Urk!" sound, and pitched forward.

The flashlight twirled in the air, then illuminated a latex face that didn't need the extra lighting to be grotesque. "Horror movie," Scissorman's guttural voice snarled. One hand held the flashlight, and the other held the giant scissors, with the cop's blood running down the blades.

Jamie jumped from the stool, giving an inarticulate yell. Landing on the desk counter, he sprinted down its length, jumping the powerless computer monitor. He paused only to kick the monitor toward Scissorman. At the end of the desk he jumped, rolling as he hit the hard marble floor, and ran for the short flight of stairs leading to the main elevators and the conference room where Katie was again being questioned.

He could hear the scissors rasping behind him.

Jamie tried doors; most were locked, and a few were too heavy for him to spend time opening. The fact that the hallway was pitch dark, illuminated only in spots by the dimming emergency floodlights, did not help matters at all. He wanted to avoid taking more stairs if he could; that would only tire him out faster.

One door opened easily: the bathroom. In the game Clock Tower, Scissorman had been rather slow to catch on to the bathroom - you could hide in stalls repeatedly. Then again, in the game, Scissorman had been rather slow, period - but had eventually caught on to his prey hiding in bathroom stalls.

Jamie gave the door a good shove so that it would loudly bang shut. He then ran down the hall, into the central atrium, and down the emergency access hallway next to the ballroom. At the hall's end he ducked into the ballroom rather than taking the stairs.

He wished that he were with Katie.



The power went out.

"That's all we need," Detective Ramsey snapped impatiently, pulling his flashlight out. This woman Katie still insisted that she and her live-in friend had heard about the murders from a mysterious blonde woman that morning, and even though both of them had earlier fingered a hitch-hiker that Ms. Zelazney had brought to the convention, Katie now denied that he'd had anything to do with it. Even though this stranger was apparently holding her friend hostage, though he himself hadn't yet arrived for that bit of excitement. Then Katie had tried to flee with her nephew...

Ramsey had long since decided that Ms. Zelazney, Katie, her nephew, and anyone involved with them was of questionable sanity.

"Malloy, Brazen, go see what's going on now," he instructed two of the officers in the room. "Now, Ms. Sanderson, tell me everything you remember about this informant of yours," he continued.

"Again?"

"Again."

"Okay... blonde woman, big round blue eyes. She dyed her hair, you could tell because her eyebrows were dark. She had long hair in pigtails when we saw her, but she was in costume at the time..."

"Sailor Moon. Yeah, we got that part..."

"Sir!" The two officers had returned rather quickly.

"What is it now?" Ramsey whirled around angrily to face them.

"Fisher's been murdered too, sir -"

"Fisher?"

"The rookie we had watching that boy," the other officer said. "He was stabbed -"

"That's it," Ramsey growled, turning to the assembled officers and detectives. "Fan out again, in groups. Each group take a stairwell." He glared at Katie. "Ms. Sanderson, you'll come with me. We'll watch the atrium."



Jamie crouched on his hands and knees under a table in the ballroom. He peered out from under the tablecloth, breathing as quietly as possible, heart pounding. He'd seen the front door of the ballroom open soon after he'd hidden; Scissorman lurked somewhere in the room's vast darkness.

He heard voices. Someone was in the emergency access hall.

He heard shuffling, then saw the door to the access hall crack silently open.

Whoever was out there was going to die.

Jamie screamed as loudly as he could. In the red emergency lighting of the hall, he saw Scissorman's face, turning to glare balefully in his direction. The hallway's door was yanked open from the other side. Cops.

Jamie rolled out from under the table and ran the other way, going through the door opposite the emergency exit. This door led to a catering area for the ballroom, similarly lit by dying floodlights.

He saw something on the far wall that made him breathe faster with hope - a sliding metal door. He crossed the room and opened it.

Yes! It was a dumbwaiter.



Scissorman stood over the rapidly cooling bodies of two more cops. It looked to the right.

Stairway.

Seventh floor.

Quickly.



Sephiroth and Jaz sat in the hallway around the corner from the broken window. Jaz was snuggled against his chest, sleeping from exhaustion; he held her loosely, falling asleep himself.

Sephiroth's eyes snapped open. He realized that he'd been dozing, and that he could feel Jenova's presence - fading now, but she'd been there... He stiffened, sitting more upright, turning his head slightly. He could hear something else now.

Jaz jolted awake upon feeling him tense. "What...?" she whispered, pulling away. Then she heard it too. Voices.

The floodlights that had come on when the power died were losing strength - they weren't meant to be used for so long. By their dimming glow, Jaz and Sephiroth stood and made their way to the other end of the hall.

The hallway opened out onto the balconies lining the atrium in the center of the hotel. The voices were coming from the first floor.

One voice suddenly stood out. "I'm telling you, Jaz has nothing to do with it! You've got it all wrong!"

"Katie!" Without thinking, Jaz ran past Sephiroth to the edge of the balcony.

"Jaz?" Katie called back, coming into view on the balcony across and several floors down from them. "Where have you been?!? Have you seen Jamie? What's -" She stopped as Sephiroth joined Jaz at the railing.

"Scissorman attacked," Jaz called back. "We haven't seen Jamie since the garage -"

"Scissorman?!"

"You stay right there, Ms. Zelazney!" Ramsey barked, flashing a badge. "Pittsburgh Police -" He noted Sephiroth's protective stance slightly behind Jaz. "What kind of a freak show..." he muttered before shouting, "And you with the white hair. Put the pig-poker down."

A door behind Katie and Ramsey suddenly burst open. Jaz yelped. Ramsey whirled and waved his pistol in that direction, failing to be surprised by the intrusion. "What now?!"

"Jamie!" Katie rushed forward, scooping up the figure that tumbled out of the service closet. "Where have you been? Your Dad's going to kill me -"

"I-I used the dumbwaiter," Jamie panted. "I was looking for you - Scissorman's downstairs in the ballroom with some cops..."

"That would be Malloy and Brazen," Ramsey mumbled. He was about to shout something else to Jaz and Sephiroth, but they had disappeared. "Dammit," he growled, then pulled out his walkie-talkie. "Malloy, Brazen, what'cha got down there?"

Static.

"Malloy, come in..." He banged the walkie-talkie with his hand, then swore softly.

"It's like some weird episode of Scooby Doo," Katie said with an oddly vacant expression. "I'm Velma, Jaz is Daphne, you're Fred, and Sephiroth must be the guest star, 'cos he's sure not Shaggy..."

Ramsey glared at her.

"Who does that make me?" Jamie jumped in.

"You're Scooby," Katie sighed. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine as long as I don't think too much," Jamie answered, fear lurking behind his eyes.

"Good," Katie said. "Don't think. I tried, and I've pretty much lost it..."

"I think I'll have to agree with you there," Ramsey muttered.


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.