FALLOUT

Sephiroth had managed to find a nice little spot just inside the forest that he could go to be alone, or at least away from Layla and her constant watch. He really was getting tired of it all. He sat on the ground, his back against the trunk of a tree near his little garden plot he'd built. He'd been through the forest digging up nice flowers and replanting them where he wanted them. Now he sat under the tree reading a book he'd swiped from the library when no one was looking.

The sunlight streaming between the leaves above flitted on the pages as Bakara hid among the flowers and pounced on shadows. He'd finally figured out that the kitten was a female but he still called her Bakara. A light breeze blew though the forest, tickling his hair across his neck.

His mind returned to just that morning when a kid had come up to him. Sephiroth had seen the young boy many times before, but never had been asked a question by him.

"Why do you wear black all the time?" the boy asked innocently, his eyes wide. "Mommy says black is for bad people and morning, but you wear black all the time. Are you bad?"

Sephiroth glanced around then crouched in front of the boy, "I wear black because I'm sad."

"Whacha sad fer?" the boy asked, clasping his hands behind his back and digging his toe into the ground a little.

"Because I- lost a lot of things," Sephiroth replied, looking down at the ground a moment.

"What'd ya lose? Maybe I could help you find it! I don want you to be sad!" the boy replied, his brown eyes watering a little.

Sephiroth tweaked the boy's cheek, "Just talking to you helps, but I just don't think I'm likely to find what I lost, because I never had it in the first place."

The boy was extremely confused. "How could you lose it then?"

"I just know it's not there, is all, I know where it is... I see it all around, everywhere, but I just can't get any for myself and that makes me sad," Sephiroth replied softly.

The boy looked around, "What is it? Maybe I could get some for you."

Sephiroth chuckled, "Its not that easy... at least I don't think it is."

"But what is it?" the boy insisted.

"Beauty."

"Beauty? But why do you want that?" the boy asked, his little face contorted in thought.

"You'll understand someday... but right now your mother is looking about ready to hurt me, so you'd better get back to her."

The boy looked back at his mother who was glaring, "Okay," he said and dashed back to his mother, babbling at her about what he'd just talked about with Sephiroth.

With a sigh, Sephiroth pushed himself up, glancing around again. Everything was bright and innocent seeming, yet Sephiroth felt he remained a dark patch in the glimmering picture of beauty. He felt out of place. He remembered his days in Hojo's lab, in Shinra. "No... I will not go back there," he said firmly to himself. "I may not belong here, but I won't go back there." He turned and stalked off, the young boy's mother still watching him warily.

Sephiroth shook himself back into reality, realizing that someone was yelling, frantically. "Billy!" it was a woman. Sephiroth got to his feet and started through the trees, picking up the small shovel he'd brought out as he passed his garden. He knew that Bakara wouldn't run off, or if she did, she'd show up again the next time it rained. "Billy!!"

He silently made his way through the undergrowth and came upon the mother of the little boy he'd talked to that morning. He was standing behind her, the leafy ground under his feet muffling his booted steps. She, however, was crashing through the woods, bound to waken a monster. He lurked behind her, out of sight.

Moments later, just as he'd expected, a monster bounded out of the undergrowth, hitting the woman and knocking her to the ground. She shrieked, fighting feebly with her arms to keep the monster from tearing her throat out.

The monster was at least twice the size of the woman with a thick hide and fur. Not to mention that it was hungry. Sephiroth sprang then, landing on it's back and gripping it with his knees, bringing the shovel down into the back of it's neck. There was a crack then blood gushed upward, soaking Sephiroth's front. The monster sagged down on top of the woman and she screamed again.

"Be silent. It's dead," Sephiroth snapped, his temper getting the better of him. He kicked off the beast and landed lithely. Crouching down, he took hold of the monster and shoved it to the side and off the woman.

She slowly got up, staring at Sephiroth as he pulled her arms away from her chest. "Nothing serious," he stated then glared at her, "What in the world were you doing out here all alone? And shouting like that, for the love of..." he bit off his words, gesturing at the monster, "You should know better then to go thrashing around in the woods screaming! That's just begging to get attacked by something even worse then that. You're just lucky I heard you first. I could have completely ignored you and been within my rights. Come on," he grabbed her wrist and dragged her back toward the town. Her frightened stare hurt worse then any wound he could have received from anything.

She was somewhat comely but with effort, she could be beautiful. Her eyes were brown and large like her son's, her hair a golden blonde, hanging down her back in a thick braid. Her bangs were swept back from her rounded face, her chin the only sharp point other then her cutely upturned nose. Her body was well shaped, taller then most women with a thin layer of muscle, she had curves as well, but she had them hidden under her plain dress.

They came back into town, Sephiroth dragging the woman behind him by her wrist, he was met by half the town's guards. "Oh God! What happened?" Roscoe asked, rushing up. "We heard the screams- are either of you hurt?"

"She has some scratches. I suggest gathering the kids and having a long talk about not going into the forest and making a lot of noise," Sephiroth snapped at Roscoe, feeling rather peeved that he was once again covered in blood.

"What about you S-Joseph?" Roscoe asked, his eyes wide, looking at how Sephiroth dripped blood and his hair was matted with it.

"Like that thing would hurt me," Sephiroth snorted, stalking away, leaving the people there to gawk as he went back into the forest.

"Billy! He's run off and I don't know where! I thought maybe he'd gone into the forest!" the woman gushed at Roscoe, explaining what had happened and how Joseph had come to save her.

He went back into the forest, feeling something in the back of his mind, something that was where Jenova had once resided, egging him on to kill more and more. He heard a young shriek and followed the sound though the tangled forest, finding a pack of Jenova monsters surrounding the boy he'd talked to earlier, feeding off his fear and tormenting the boy. Sephiroth surveyed the situation, finding it possibly a better idea to charge in and sweep up the boy and dash back to the town, leading the back so he could kill them- or so the other guards could kill them.

Sephiroth waited a moment then sprung into the pack, planting his foot on one cat-like monster's head, driving it down to the ground and possibly killing it. He didn't spare a moment, just swept the boy up and continued his forward motion, his knee slamming into the mouth of a monster that tried to bite him.

He circled though the forest, headed back toward the village, knowing full well that the monsters, who were like large cats, were following him. He broke though the remaining trees, skidding to a stop and handing Billy over to a soldier and stealing the sword from his belt just as the pack came bursting out of the trees at full speed. None of the soldiers reacted and Sephiroth was firmly disgusted at them. He leapt quickly into action, single handedly killing the entire pack of twenty monsters before three minutes were even over.

The people of the village came out slowly as Sephiroth looked at the sword in disgust, throwing it to the ground and stalking away. He entered the little hospital where he sill lived, pending the Council's approval of him getting his own house. He worked at getting his rent and bloody shirt off as he walked in, ignoring the fact that Layla was tending Billy's mother. Layla's eyes lifted to see him and he threw the bloody shirt in her face, "See if you can clean that," he snapped at her, anything to keep her from fawning on him. He was unhurt, only in a foul mood.

Putting one hand against the wall, he pulled his boots off and threw them aside, kicking the door to the bathroom closed and stripping the remainder of his clothes off. He quickly got himself washed off and returned to the in-patient room where he got new clothes to pull on. These new clothes were black, just like the ones he'd been wearing before. He toweled his hair dry and stalked out of the in-patient room to find Layla and Billy's mother talking, finished with bandaging her arms and some of her chest, apparently. He ignored them as they stared.

"Joseph-" Layla started to ask but was cut off when the door closed behind Sephiroth and he made his way back into the forest. Layla looked down, tears shimmering in her eyes, "How can I tell him anything when he does that to me?" she asked Billy's mother. "All he does is order me around and never listens to me!"

"I don't know..." the young mother replied, pulling on a jacket to cover her torn dress. "I need to go see if they found Billy..." Layla nodded and wiped her eyes as the young mother slipped out the door.