Pain
Act 1
Bobo was the Valentine family's Black chocobo. It was fast and obedient, and the Valentines liked him well.
Sether and Katai were riding on the animal at full speed, Sether at the reigns and Katai behind him, arms around his stomach.
It was dawn, and they would probably make it to Corel before noon if all goes well.
They reached it in the late afternoon, since, as fate would have, all did not go well.
"You're crazy, you know that?" Katai shouted from the back of the chocobo, trying to overcome the rush of the wind and Bobo's loud thumping.
Sether did not reply.
"You're just planning to go and face Weapon? And then what? You'll die for sure!"
Again, he didn't reply. Katai contorted her face,
"Are you giving the silent treatment?"
Silence.
Katai scoffed and rolled her eyes. She then bent over and tried to peek into Sether's stern face.
He was looking forward with that resolute frown of his, though it was a little deeper than usual. He was probably angry with her.
Again.
"Aww, c'mon Seth!" She tightened her grip around his stomach briefly in an attempt to get a response from him. He stiffened with the gesture, but did not talk to her.
"Okay, okay." Katai admitted at long last, "So what I did was a little dirty."
"A little?!" Sether barked, not looking at her, "A little?? What you did was totally inexcusable."
"Jeesh, sorry." She mumbled. Why was he taking it so seriously? She wasn't really going to do that, doesn't he know? She just wanted to come along.! "You want me to go back or what?"
"I can not let you go back now." He hissed with anger, "I can not trust you enough anymore."
So that was it, was it?
She betrayed his trust?
It sent a pang of guilt through her, and she chewed on her lower lip.
'.You're the only one he trusts.'
Sephiroth said that.
Now, was the trust he had in her gone forever?
Her gloomy thoughts were cut short by a freezing drop on the tip of her nose.
She looked up.
It started raining pretty hard. It was almost as if the skies just cracked open as an egg would, spilling it's contents on the world and not caring if it were to break the yolk.
Sether cursed silently as he urged the bird to go faster.
Within moments, both of them were drenched to the bone. The rain was freezing and the fierce wind only caused the rain to get into the eyes, and the cold to bite hungrily.
Luckily for them, the world was just filled with forests, and they quickly diverted from their path into a nearby jungle-like forest.
Sether would usually prefer to avoid the many clusters of trees he found along the way. He was told many times that monsters in forests were harder than the monsters outside. Training there was obviously better, and the seclusion always seemed inviting, though.
Once they were in the relative dryness of the forest canopy, Sether dismounted and led the chocobo on foot. Katai, not knowing what to do, and frankly, too cold to move, stayed on the bird as they went deeper into the trees.
1 Act 2
Sether was clearly aware that staying in the freezing wind when totally wet was a bad idea. The rain not only managed to dampen him through and through, but also miraculously managed to dampen his already gloomy spirit. He had things to do! Now was not the time for silly things like weather to act up. He was very, very annoyed.
He tugged the reigns as the bird was reluctant to go further.
Was there something up ahead?
Katai sneezed, and he continued on nonetheless. There had to be a cave or a shelter nearby, there had to be!
He trudged on, pulling the reluctant animal after him and trying not to slip on the wet forest ground.
He was used to forests being a very useful cover from rain, but the storm now was so powerful, even the forest canopy could not withstand it.
After but a few moments he thought he saw something curiously gray amidst the trees. He hastened his pace towards it and was mighty surprised to discover an old building.
"It's huge!" Katai exclaimed, still not getting off Bobo. The bird warked with concern.
It looked like an old castle, but Sether presumed it was something from the Shinra days. Its condition was bad, but not bad enough to be ancient. As Katai had pointed out; it was very big. Everything above the first floor was ruined, but the ground floor seemed to be totally usable. It also gave off an 'inhabited' air, so Sether approached slowly and was sure to knock on the heavy wooden door before anything else.
After a few seconds, the door opened.
Sether's eyes widened.
The pair of eyes under the black hood of the Sephiroth's clan robes widened as well.
He just walked into the Sephiroth clan's base!
"Run!" He shouted, Bobo warked in alarm and started running away.
Sether was close behind.
He heard shouts after them, and cursed the dreadful mistake he had just done.
"Holy!" Katai shouted, looking sideways at Sether. He was running at the same speed as the chocobo.
The Sephiroth clan knew the territory, and Sether didn't have a clue.
They were speeding towards an unknown direction, just following the chocobo's instincts. Sether did not mount the bird because he knew it would only slow it down, and as long as he could run at the same speed, that's what he'll do.
He hated running away. Hated it with passion. But what he hated even more was a bunch of totally insane people thinking he was Sephiroth and chasing after him.
He didn't want to know what they would do to him, especially when he was not Sephiroth. Where was his brother anyway?! He hadn't seen him in several days.! He hoped that everything was okay with him, and hoped that his dead brother might show up and help. Probably not a good idea for Sephiroth to appear near the Sephiroth clan. Nevermind, then.
They were just running pointlessly around, and Sether suspected they were running in circles. Chocobos, while known for their care and love to their masters, were not renowned for their intelligence or sense of direction. That last bit was proven to Sether when they reached a clearing in the forest. It was a bald spot where the rain pounded fiercely on the ground.
It was the wrong place to reach. If so, even worse than knocking on the castle's doors.
Sether skidded to a halt.
Now they stumbled right into a gathering of the people in black robes. They were in the middle of some ceremony, and were annoyed that someone had just disturbed them.
As if things weren't bad as-is.
All eyes turned to the intruders, and Sether found himself staring right into a bemused pair of violet eyes.
"Don't look back!!" He shouted before grabbing the reigns and wrenching them so the bird would turn and then smacked the bird's tail feathers. This caused the bird to start running again at an amazing speed. Katai just yelped and tried not to fall from the bird.
Sether started running after them when his head blew up and he fell to his knees with agony.
His head was still in one piece, though, he could feel it as his hands lashed up to grab the sides of it. At least in one piece from the outside.
Inside, the pain was incredible.
He clutched his head and grit his teeth. This was no time for an attack! Especially not the strongest one yet!
"Warn Corel!" He managed to shout, hoping Katai will hear him.
He thought he heard her voice yelling something before everything turned black.
The owner of the violet eyes smiled.
2 Act 3
He felt arms grabbing and carrying him, but could not do a thing about it. His head hurt so much that he couldn't do anything, anything at all, but feel.
Thinking was too painful.
He woke up and didn't feel a lot better.
Even before he opened his eyes, his body told him what was the situation:
He couldn't move his arms; he was tied to the wall, both arms spread.
His legs were free, but they felt too heavy to lift.
His head was pounding from the attack.
He was also sweating slightly and having trouble breathing: he was in a small room.
He opened his eyes to see that everything was as he thought it would be. The only good thing was a small window on the left wall. Dim light came in from outside. Rain was still pouring outside and Sether gathered that he must have been out for an hour.
He looked around.
He was tied to the wall in a crucified position, two metal hoops held him down, attached to the wall behind him. By the stony look of the wall, he must be inside the castle they had seen earlier. The room had four bare walls, and couldn't have been much bigger than 10 feet across. The ceiling was low, and the floor was stony and dark. There were no light sources in the room save the small window with its old shutters open, as well as no other visible air source. Just what Sether loved most; no air, no light and no room.
He felt so stupid! He actually knocked on the door of the Sephiroth clan! Holy, how was he to know?!
He bowed his head in shame. Katai shouldn't be far from Corel by now. He wondered if she would ask for help in Corel and come to rescue him. The cruel version of his lopsided grin twisted his lips.
Here he was, a damsel in distress captured by the evil people and waiting for his knight on a black chocobo.
A bitter chuckle.
The door opened a few moments later, and Sether's head snapped up. He instantly wore his most defiant frown and hid all expressions of discomfort and despair.
The person in the black robes who had just entered looked at Sether thoughtfully for a long moment while Sether looked at him with annoyance.
The person took off his hood to reveal the slander face of their leader. His grass-green hair was unkept and bounced in messy strands.
"Hello there." He smiled politely. His eyes were narrow, and had a vicious glint in them, but they somehow managed to look kind in a way, as well as dreadfully tired.
Sether said nothing, and followed the man with his eyes as he approached him.
He studied Sether's face a long moment before sighing,
"Am I correct to assume that you are not Sephiroth?"
Sether still did not say anything. He glared at the leader, though his eyes darted ever so often to the window. He needed his sanity right now and thinking about open spaces and light was the only thing he could do to keep it with him.
The leader widened his smile. He seemed relieved,
"Thank goodness," He said, "I wouldn't know what to do with you if you were Sephiroth."
Sether couldn't help but raise his brows at this.
The evil glint was gone from the leader's eyes and he started laughing,
"I am here for the power of leadership." He said, leaning on the bare wall under the window to Sether's left and smiling, "I am not one to be fooled by the false promises of the Sephiroth clan."
Sether blinked at him in confusion,
"You do not believe in what you preach?"
"Nay." The man said, then smiled at Sether again, "I go by the name of Luchian. You?"
Sether hesitated. He wasn't Sephiroth, and he didn't have any plans of becoming him. What danger was there in telling this man his name? He thought about it and could not reach any definite danger that might come with it.
"My name is Sether." He said.
"Nice to meet you." Luchian extended his hand to Sether, and received an angry glare. He laughed again, "My apologies.!"
".Will you let me go, now that you know that I am not Sephiroth?"
Luchian frowned, "I wish it were that simple. You see, I am the leader of the Sephiroth clan, and you, my friend, look just like him."
Sether listened and said nothing. His eyes continued to be drawn to the window. Luchian inhaled and paced around the room. He explained,
"You see, I never really liked Sephiroth to begin with." He glanced at the door, as if trying to see that no one was listening.
"I don't believe in this 'Coming' nonsense one bit. But I get to be in charge of a lot of people who zealously believe in me, and I get to kill as much as I want." He smiled at Sether's scowl apologetically. "The Sephiroth clan was the perfect place for me."
He showed Sether his left hand, on which the number two was tattooed.
"I am now their leader, and therefore must provide them with reasons to believe in Sephiroth's coming, and in me." He watched as Sether dislodged his eyes from the window and looked back at him. "Sephiroth was number one, and I am number two. That's the way it goes around here. My second is actually the third and so forth."
Sether swallowed hard. He was having trouble following the man's explanations because he was busy with trying to keep his brains from falling apart in more than one way. He knew that his position was bad; he couldn't think straight and couldn't even listen to what people told him. Not to mention that it was plainly obvious that he was suffering by his ragged breaths and sweat beads.
The leader looked at him thoughtfully again before continuing,
"I guess I have two options. I could kill you ceremoniously as an imposter, or I could release you when nobody's looking and say that you were a mirage that foretells the Coming is near or some babble such as that."
Sether frowned deeper. He had seen enough movies to know what Luchian will decide. It was never easy, was it?
"I presume I shall let you go."
Sether stared at him.
"What?"
The leader smiled,
"You see," He said, "If I try to kill you, you might resist." His smile turned apologetic again, "You look like I should not want to see you resisting."
Sether actually smiled at this. And Luchian approached the dumbfound Sether and produced the key for the restraints. He was about to free Sether's left hand when a dagger flew and lodged itself inches from Luchian's finger, namely, in the middle of Sether's left palm.
He clenched his teeth and muffled the cry of pain.
Luchian turned around in utter surprise. His second, the woman with the shining violet eyes stood there with an aura of murder about her.
"What on Planet are you saying?!" She screamed with fury and entered the room.
Sether sagged in his restraints. It wasn't the pain alone that got to him; he was this close to solving things peacefully.
Blood dripped from his palm.
Act 1
Bobo was the Valentine family's Black chocobo. It was fast and obedient, and the Valentines liked him well.
Sether and Katai were riding on the animal at full speed, Sether at the reigns and Katai behind him, arms around his stomach.
It was dawn, and they would probably make it to Corel before noon if all goes well.
They reached it in the late afternoon, since, as fate would have, all did not go well.
"You're crazy, you know that?" Katai shouted from the back of the chocobo, trying to overcome the rush of the wind and Bobo's loud thumping.
Sether did not reply.
"You're just planning to go and face Weapon? And then what? You'll die for sure!"
Again, he didn't reply. Katai contorted her face,
"Are you giving the silent treatment?"
Silence.
Katai scoffed and rolled her eyes. She then bent over and tried to peek into Sether's stern face.
He was looking forward with that resolute frown of his, though it was a little deeper than usual. He was probably angry with her.
Again.
"Aww, c'mon Seth!" She tightened her grip around his stomach briefly in an attempt to get a response from him. He stiffened with the gesture, but did not talk to her.
"Okay, okay." Katai admitted at long last, "So what I did was a little dirty."
"A little?!" Sether barked, not looking at her, "A little?? What you did was totally inexcusable."
"Jeesh, sorry." She mumbled. Why was he taking it so seriously? She wasn't really going to do that, doesn't he know? She just wanted to come along.! "You want me to go back or what?"
"I can not let you go back now." He hissed with anger, "I can not trust you enough anymore."
So that was it, was it?
She betrayed his trust?
It sent a pang of guilt through her, and she chewed on her lower lip.
'.You're the only one he trusts.'
Sephiroth said that.
Now, was the trust he had in her gone forever?
Her gloomy thoughts were cut short by a freezing drop on the tip of her nose.
She looked up.
It started raining pretty hard. It was almost as if the skies just cracked open as an egg would, spilling it's contents on the world and not caring if it were to break the yolk.
Sether cursed silently as he urged the bird to go faster.
Within moments, both of them were drenched to the bone. The rain was freezing and the fierce wind only caused the rain to get into the eyes, and the cold to bite hungrily.
Luckily for them, the world was just filled with forests, and they quickly diverted from their path into a nearby jungle-like forest.
Sether would usually prefer to avoid the many clusters of trees he found along the way. He was told many times that monsters in forests were harder than the monsters outside. Training there was obviously better, and the seclusion always seemed inviting, though.
Once they were in the relative dryness of the forest canopy, Sether dismounted and led the chocobo on foot. Katai, not knowing what to do, and frankly, too cold to move, stayed on the bird as they went deeper into the trees.
1 Act 2
Sether was clearly aware that staying in the freezing wind when totally wet was a bad idea. The rain not only managed to dampen him through and through, but also miraculously managed to dampen his already gloomy spirit. He had things to do! Now was not the time for silly things like weather to act up. He was very, very annoyed.
He tugged the reigns as the bird was reluctant to go further.
Was there something up ahead?
Katai sneezed, and he continued on nonetheless. There had to be a cave or a shelter nearby, there had to be!
He trudged on, pulling the reluctant animal after him and trying not to slip on the wet forest ground.
He was used to forests being a very useful cover from rain, but the storm now was so powerful, even the forest canopy could not withstand it.
After but a few moments he thought he saw something curiously gray amidst the trees. He hastened his pace towards it and was mighty surprised to discover an old building.
"It's huge!" Katai exclaimed, still not getting off Bobo. The bird warked with concern.
It looked like an old castle, but Sether presumed it was something from the Shinra days. Its condition was bad, but not bad enough to be ancient. As Katai had pointed out; it was very big. Everything above the first floor was ruined, but the ground floor seemed to be totally usable. It also gave off an 'inhabited' air, so Sether approached slowly and was sure to knock on the heavy wooden door before anything else.
After a few seconds, the door opened.
Sether's eyes widened.
The pair of eyes under the black hood of the Sephiroth's clan robes widened as well.
He just walked into the Sephiroth clan's base!
"Run!" He shouted, Bobo warked in alarm and started running away.
Sether was close behind.
He heard shouts after them, and cursed the dreadful mistake he had just done.
"Holy!" Katai shouted, looking sideways at Sether. He was running at the same speed as the chocobo.
The Sephiroth clan knew the territory, and Sether didn't have a clue.
They were speeding towards an unknown direction, just following the chocobo's instincts. Sether did not mount the bird because he knew it would only slow it down, and as long as he could run at the same speed, that's what he'll do.
He hated running away. Hated it with passion. But what he hated even more was a bunch of totally insane people thinking he was Sephiroth and chasing after him.
He didn't want to know what they would do to him, especially when he was not Sephiroth. Where was his brother anyway?! He hadn't seen him in several days.! He hoped that everything was okay with him, and hoped that his dead brother might show up and help. Probably not a good idea for Sephiroth to appear near the Sephiroth clan. Nevermind, then.
They were just running pointlessly around, and Sether suspected they were running in circles. Chocobos, while known for their care and love to their masters, were not renowned for their intelligence or sense of direction. That last bit was proven to Sether when they reached a clearing in the forest. It was a bald spot where the rain pounded fiercely on the ground.
It was the wrong place to reach. If so, even worse than knocking on the castle's doors.
Sether skidded to a halt.
Now they stumbled right into a gathering of the people in black robes. They were in the middle of some ceremony, and were annoyed that someone had just disturbed them.
As if things weren't bad as-is.
All eyes turned to the intruders, and Sether found himself staring right into a bemused pair of violet eyes.
"Don't look back!!" He shouted before grabbing the reigns and wrenching them so the bird would turn and then smacked the bird's tail feathers. This caused the bird to start running again at an amazing speed. Katai just yelped and tried not to fall from the bird.
Sether started running after them when his head blew up and he fell to his knees with agony.
His head was still in one piece, though, he could feel it as his hands lashed up to grab the sides of it. At least in one piece from the outside.
Inside, the pain was incredible.
He clutched his head and grit his teeth. This was no time for an attack! Especially not the strongest one yet!
"Warn Corel!" He managed to shout, hoping Katai will hear him.
He thought he heard her voice yelling something before everything turned black.
The owner of the violet eyes smiled.
2 Act 3
He felt arms grabbing and carrying him, but could not do a thing about it. His head hurt so much that he couldn't do anything, anything at all, but feel.
Thinking was too painful.
He woke up and didn't feel a lot better.
Even before he opened his eyes, his body told him what was the situation:
He couldn't move his arms; he was tied to the wall, both arms spread.
His legs were free, but they felt too heavy to lift.
His head was pounding from the attack.
He was also sweating slightly and having trouble breathing: he was in a small room.
He opened his eyes to see that everything was as he thought it would be. The only good thing was a small window on the left wall. Dim light came in from outside. Rain was still pouring outside and Sether gathered that he must have been out for an hour.
He looked around.
He was tied to the wall in a crucified position, two metal hoops held him down, attached to the wall behind him. By the stony look of the wall, he must be inside the castle they had seen earlier. The room had four bare walls, and couldn't have been much bigger than 10 feet across. The ceiling was low, and the floor was stony and dark. There were no light sources in the room save the small window with its old shutters open, as well as no other visible air source. Just what Sether loved most; no air, no light and no room.
He felt so stupid! He actually knocked on the door of the Sephiroth clan! Holy, how was he to know?!
He bowed his head in shame. Katai shouldn't be far from Corel by now. He wondered if she would ask for help in Corel and come to rescue him. The cruel version of his lopsided grin twisted his lips.
Here he was, a damsel in distress captured by the evil people and waiting for his knight on a black chocobo.
A bitter chuckle.
The door opened a few moments later, and Sether's head snapped up. He instantly wore his most defiant frown and hid all expressions of discomfort and despair.
The person in the black robes who had just entered looked at Sether thoughtfully for a long moment while Sether looked at him with annoyance.
The person took off his hood to reveal the slander face of their leader. His grass-green hair was unkept and bounced in messy strands.
"Hello there." He smiled politely. His eyes were narrow, and had a vicious glint in them, but they somehow managed to look kind in a way, as well as dreadfully tired.
Sether said nothing, and followed the man with his eyes as he approached him.
He studied Sether's face a long moment before sighing,
"Am I correct to assume that you are not Sephiroth?"
Sether still did not say anything. He glared at the leader, though his eyes darted ever so often to the window. He needed his sanity right now and thinking about open spaces and light was the only thing he could do to keep it with him.
The leader widened his smile. He seemed relieved,
"Thank goodness," He said, "I wouldn't know what to do with you if you were Sephiroth."
Sether couldn't help but raise his brows at this.
The evil glint was gone from the leader's eyes and he started laughing,
"I am here for the power of leadership." He said, leaning on the bare wall under the window to Sether's left and smiling, "I am not one to be fooled by the false promises of the Sephiroth clan."
Sether blinked at him in confusion,
"You do not believe in what you preach?"
"Nay." The man said, then smiled at Sether again, "I go by the name of Luchian. You?"
Sether hesitated. He wasn't Sephiroth, and he didn't have any plans of becoming him. What danger was there in telling this man his name? He thought about it and could not reach any definite danger that might come with it.
"My name is Sether." He said.
"Nice to meet you." Luchian extended his hand to Sether, and received an angry glare. He laughed again, "My apologies.!"
".Will you let me go, now that you know that I am not Sephiroth?"
Luchian frowned, "I wish it were that simple. You see, I am the leader of the Sephiroth clan, and you, my friend, look just like him."
Sether listened and said nothing. His eyes continued to be drawn to the window. Luchian inhaled and paced around the room. He explained,
"You see, I never really liked Sephiroth to begin with." He glanced at the door, as if trying to see that no one was listening.
"I don't believe in this 'Coming' nonsense one bit. But I get to be in charge of a lot of people who zealously believe in me, and I get to kill as much as I want." He smiled at Sether's scowl apologetically. "The Sephiroth clan was the perfect place for me."
He showed Sether his left hand, on which the number two was tattooed.
"I am now their leader, and therefore must provide them with reasons to believe in Sephiroth's coming, and in me." He watched as Sether dislodged his eyes from the window and looked back at him. "Sephiroth was number one, and I am number two. That's the way it goes around here. My second is actually the third and so forth."
Sether swallowed hard. He was having trouble following the man's explanations because he was busy with trying to keep his brains from falling apart in more than one way. He knew that his position was bad; he couldn't think straight and couldn't even listen to what people told him. Not to mention that it was plainly obvious that he was suffering by his ragged breaths and sweat beads.
The leader looked at him thoughtfully again before continuing,
"I guess I have two options. I could kill you ceremoniously as an imposter, or I could release you when nobody's looking and say that you were a mirage that foretells the Coming is near or some babble such as that."
Sether frowned deeper. He had seen enough movies to know what Luchian will decide. It was never easy, was it?
"I presume I shall let you go."
Sether stared at him.
"What?"
The leader smiled,
"You see," He said, "If I try to kill you, you might resist." His smile turned apologetic again, "You look like I should not want to see you resisting."
Sether actually smiled at this. And Luchian approached the dumbfound Sether and produced the key for the restraints. He was about to free Sether's left hand when a dagger flew and lodged itself inches from Luchian's finger, namely, in the middle of Sether's left palm.
He clenched his teeth and muffled the cry of pain.
Luchian turned around in utter surprise. His second, the woman with the shining violet eyes stood there with an aura of murder about her.
"What on Planet are you saying?!" She screamed with fury and entered the room.
Sether sagged in his restraints. It wasn't the pain alone that got to him; he was this close to solving things peacefully.
Blood dripped from his palm.
