Author's Note: Alright, this is short, but because I want to make a chapter on it. Kind of a Chapter Ten treat. The next will be up probably in the next few days. And 'taint over yet.
Silver Rose
by Reno Spiegel
Dante@towernetwork.net
Unknown X, XXXX
Dream World. Hall. Ancient Church. X:XX ?.?.
"We'll be kings, Gast!" - Hojo, ShinRa lab to Professor Gast
I'm standing in a church. A new church, or maybe just a large hall. Pillars support the top of it, fifty feet in the air at least, and the faces of different gods stare at me from the walls. An altar is infront of me, over the white marble floor with no carpets in sight, and I see Aeris' back to me. One of the god statues looks like it's reaching out, infront of her, a pearl white hand curled slightly and almost touching the top of her head, a gold pot in its other arm. Praying.
A Cetra has to be religious, I'm sure. Praying to and for the Planet, listening to its replies as she told me she could.
Two shots. Two shots are all I hear, except for my quick gasp, but the bullets. They go by slowly, like the movies make them do in a slow-mo scene. At a crawl they go. I try to reach out and pluck one from the air. It goes right through my hand, even leaves a charring hole the size of a golf ball. They're aimed for Aeris. I run forward, try to jump infront, but something holds me back. Not like wrapping around me and pulling, nor some invisible wall I crash into.
It's mental. A feeling I absolutely can't get less than ten feet away from her. I don't know what it is, or why I'm there. I can walk, but I'm forced away from that "barrier." Maybe they'll go through her. I look at her head from the hole in my hand, and hope the same happens. It doesn't. The statue, the god infront of her. Its porcelain hand reaches out, grabs her by the hair, and throws her directly at the two bullets.
She collapses, bleeds like a syringe, and hits the floor with the sound of a glass breaking. Dear God. My silver rose, my pillar of strength, the woman I half-believe I love to the extent of my powers, is dead infront of me, and I can't even move to hold the body. I turn. It's the first time it occurs to me to look at the source of the bullets.
Reno.
Ever-cocky, redheaded, completely-sober Reno, stands with a gun in his holster and a blank look in his eyes, just feet away from me. No regret. Nothing at all in those eyes. "Why?" I wonder, I ask.
He walks forward, past me, and the body is gone into thin air. He walks directly past my barrier, to the god statue, and reaches out, touching its face lightly. "The gods, the supreme rulers, are said to have created what we are, what we were, and what we will be." There's depth, almost kindness in his voice. "Listen, don't speak. This tale could very well save you from your fate.
"When the gods created everything, they had a utopia in mind. A perfect place filled with happiness, love. Void of hate and greed. When the gods created the first humans, the first animals, and the first plants, they knew not of how big a mistake they had made. When that also became clear, they made a new being. A Cetra, or an Ancient. A being of only kindness and love, a being that could rule their world as well as the humans'.
"But the Cetra were rejected, called the gods' favorites. And this angered humans and animals alike. So the geniuses, the best humans they had, pulled together and created, on their own, one last thing. A Jenova.
"The Jenova were destined to be mortal enemies of the Cetra. The Ancients, the fools they were and the fools they will cease to be when she is killed, tried to make peace with the Jenova, offer them friendship. But the humans, in the hate they had created contradicting their original plans, had created the Jenova to hate even deeper than they ever could. They made armies of Jenova by enjecting the original creation cells into humans and making them reproduce. Jenova can spawn, when in peace, every two weeks.
"Then there came about Mako. Mako was pulled from the Planet's soil and originally used as a drug. It gave people hallucinations and super-powers for a limited time. By using their primate brains the gods had chosen for them, they figured out to enject a Jenova being with Mako, creating, as you can guess, super-beings. And not to mention, Mako meant almost-instant death to many of the Cetra if they came in contact with it.
"Cetra were forced to make weapons, armor, and battle strategies when the Jenova started killing their kind. As soon as they started fighting, the gods never forgave them. Brtraying their original intentions had made them. . .sinful. The humans were not the same. The humans were allowed to fight.
"The war lasted thousands of years, and eventually, once machinery and such was invented, the Jenova overtook the Cetra and then burrowed deep into the Planet to hide. Barely any Ancients made it out alive, and those who did were shunned by the humans and cast away. They went into hiding as well and slowly dwindled until three remained.
"And then Professor Gast stepped in.
"The man, tutorring Professor Hojo at the time, captured the three remaining Cetra, and took them in for studying purposes. He fell in love with one of them, and a daughter was born some ten months after the first words were exchanged. Aeris Gast.
"Your father was enraged. He believed the gods had an ultimate plan, and in order to fufill it, humans and Cetra had to despise each other. He devised a plan behind Gast's back, and soon killed him. But he had enough to carry the project. Ifalna and Aeris were put to tests. Hojo even reproduced with another Cetra, Subject AA4 according to him, to create a half-Cetra like Aeris. But not through love. Only through hate.
"Your sister was half-Cetra, Sephiroth.
"And there was a third. A third, a half-Cetra of the original colonies, who took great interest in Hojo. All three were women, the subjects. Ifalna, Project AA4, and Lucrecia. No stranger to that name, are you? No, I didn't think so.
"He fell in love with her, contradicting himself, but then mind-wiped the woman to make her believe she was an assistant, and not a Cetra. They were married, Hojo never feeling guilt for his actions, and she had a brief affair with a man. A man who lived in Midgar, a fellow assistant to the Professor, and one who insisted on having her. Vincent Valentine, leader of the Old Elite Turks.
"Nine months later, with Hojo always thinking he was the father, another was born. A fourth-Cetra, who never knew, who could never hear the Planet because he was not even half the ancient race, one who the gods scowled at for fouling their plans and sicced a huge amount of misfortune on. And he never knew.
"He stayed around the lab, but never made friends with the subjects, the Cetra, because he'd read the Book. And the Book stated that humans and Cetra were enemies. His father believe the Book, so he did, too. And then, the rest of the story you well know."
I'm stun-still. Reno had been pacing as he tells me this, and I drink in his words. I want more. I want to know more about the little boy in the lab, who never knew his true heritage. It all makes perfect sense. The attraction to Aeris, the dreams. The eight-foot creature that didn't speak human tongue. A Jenova hallucination, super-powered, caused by my one-fourth reaction to living around Mako for so many years. And my bad luck.
"There will be another child. A three-fourth Cetra, Nine months, the parents both part of the original race, no matter what fraction. He or she will be the most Cetra-hereditary in more than fifty years."
Reno turns and grins at me, but it's no like he used to. He means it now. "I know you killed Tseng, but no one else needs to. Congratulations, Sephiroth."
My head spins. It can't be real. There's no proof it is real.
"Oh, but it is," his voice rings. He chuckles. "You can wait the entire nine months to find out, or you can believe me now and tell Aeris. Tell her everything I've told her. There will be a note, when you wake up, on the nightstand. Read it and let her read it. Be happy with yourselves, Sephiroth. Coincidence has brought you together, love will keep you that way."
"Reno," I gasp. He was raising his hand, most likely to cast me back into the real world, if this place is real. "What. . .what are you?"
He smiles, hand raised at eye-level with me. He's sending me home. He's sending me back to the bed, probably to wake me up with Aeris next to me. "Me? I'm just a reject, Mako-enjected, Jenova descendent who knows the truth and a lot more than he should. See you soon."
And then, just like that, the floor slips away and I'm back to the real world.
Nine months.
A new Cetra.
, . .I'm smiling in my sleep.
Silver Rose
by Reno Spiegel
Dante@towernetwork.net
Unknown X, XXXX
Dream World. Hall. Ancient Church. X:XX ?.?.
"We'll be kings, Gast!" - Hojo, ShinRa lab to Professor Gast
I'm standing in a church. A new church, or maybe just a large hall. Pillars support the top of it, fifty feet in the air at least, and the faces of different gods stare at me from the walls. An altar is infront of me, over the white marble floor with no carpets in sight, and I see Aeris' back to me. One of the god statues looks like it's reaching out, infront of her, a pearl white hand curled slightly and almost touching the top of her head, a gold pot in its other arm. Praying.
A Cetra has to be religious, I'm sure. Praying to and for the Planet, listening to its replies as she told me she could.
Two shots. Two shots are all I hear, except for my quick gasp, but the bullets. They go by slowly, like the movies make them do in a slow-mo scene. At a crawl they go. I try to reach out and pluck one from the air. It goes right through my hand, even leaves a charring hole the size of a golf ball. They're aimed for Aeris. I run forward, try to jump infront, but something holds me back. Not like wrapping around me and pulling, nor some invisible wall I crash into.
It's mental. A feeling I absolutely can't get less than ten feet away from her. I don't know what it is, or why I'm there. I can walk, but I'm forced away from that "barrier." Maybe they'll go through her. I look at her head from the hole in my hand, and hope the same happens. It doesn't. The statue, the god infront of her. Its porcelain hand reaches out, grabs her by the hair, and throws her directly at the two bullets.
She collapses, bleeds like a syringe, and hits the floor with the sound of a glass breaking. Dear God. My silver rose, my pillar of strength, the woman I half-believe I love to the extent of my powers, is dead infront of me, and I can't even move to hold the body. I turn. It's the first time it occurs to me to look at the source of the bullets.
Reno.
Ever-cocky, redheaded, completely-sober Reno, stands with a gun in his holster and a blank look in his eyes, just feet away from me. No regret. Nothing at all in those eyes. "Why?" I wonder, I ask.
He walks forward, past me, and the body is gone into thin air. He walks directly past my barrier, to the god statue, and reaches out, touching its face lightly. "The gods, the supreme rulers, are said to have created what we are, what we were, and what we will be." There's depth, almost kindness in his voice. "Listen, don't speak. This tale could very well save you from your fate.
"When the gods created everything, they had a utopia in mind. A perfect place filled with happiness, love. Void of hate and greed. When the gods created the first humans, the first animals, and the first plants, they knew not of how big a mistake they had made. When that also became clear, they made a new being. A Cetra, or an Ancient. A being of only kindness and love, a being that could rule their world as well as the humans'.
"But the Cetra were rejected, called the gods' favorites. And this angered humans and animals alike. So the geniuses, the best humans they had, pulled together and created, on their own, one last thing. A Jenova.
"The Jenova were destined to be mortal enemies of the Cetra. The Ancients, the fools they were and the fools they will cease to be when she is killed, tried to make peace with the Jenova, offer them friendship. But the humans, in the hate they had created contradicting their original plans, had created the Jenova to hate even deeper than they ever could. They made armies of Jenova by enjecting the original creation cells into humans and making them reproduce. Jenova can spawn, when in peace, every two weeks.
"Then there came about Mako. Mako was pulled from the Planet's soil and originally used as a drug. It gave people hallucinations and super-powers for a limited time. By using their primate brains the gods had chosen for them, they figured out to enject a Jenova being with Mako, creating, as you can guess, super-beings. And not to mention, Mako meant almost-instant death to many of the Cetra if they came in contact with it.
"Cetra were forced to make weapons, armor, and battle strategies when the Jenova started killing their kind. As soon as they started fighting, the gods never forgave them. Brtraying their original intentions had made them. . .sinful. The humans were not the same. The humans were allowed to fight.
"The war lasted thousands of years, and eventually, once machinery and such was invented, the Jenova overtook the Cetra and then burrowed deep into the Planet to hide. Barely any Ancients made it out alive, and those who did were shunned by the humans and cast away. They went into hiding as well and slowly dwindled until three remained.
"And then Professor Gast stepped in.
"The man, tutorring Professor Hojo at the time, captured the three remaining Cetra, and took them in for studying purposes. He fell in love with one of them, and a daughter was born some ten months after the first words were exchanged. Aeris Gast.
"Your father was enraged. He believed the gods had an ultimate plan, and in order to fufill it, humans and Cetra had to despise each other. He devised a plan behind Gast's back, and soon killed him. But he had enough to carry the project. Ifalna and Aeris were put to tests. Hojo even reproduced with another Cetra, Subject AA4 according to him, to create a half-Cetra like Aeris. But not through love. Only through hate.
"Your sister was half-Cetra, Sephiroth.
"And there was a third. A third, a half-Cetra of the original colonies, who took great interest in Hojo. All three were women, the subjects. Ifalna, Project AA4, and Lucrecia. No stranger to that name, are you? No, I didn't think so.
"He fell in love with her, contradicting himself, but then mind-wiped the woman to make her believe she was an assistant, and not a Cetra. They were married, Hojo never feeling guilt for his actions, and she had a brief affair with a man. A man who lived in Midgar, a fellow assistant to the Professor, and one who insisted on having her. Vincent Valentine, leader of the Old Elite Turks.
"Nine months later, with Hojo always thinking he was the father, another was born. A fourth-Cetra, who never knew, who could never hear the Planet because he was not even half the ancient race, one who the gods scowled at for fouling their plans and sicced a huge amount of misfortune on. And he never knew.
"He stayed around the lab, but never made friends with the subjects, the Cetra, because he'd read the Book. And the Book stated that humans and Cetra were enemies. His father believe the Book, so he did, too. And then, the rest of the story you well know."
I'm stun-still. Reno had been pacing as he tells me this, and I drink in his words. I want more. I want to know more about the little boy in the lab, who never knew his true heritage. It all makes perfect sense. The attraction to Aeris, the dreams. The eight-foot creature that didn't speak human tongue. A Jenova hallucination, super-powered, caused by my one-fourth reaction to living around Mako for so many years. And my bad luck.
"There will be another child. A three-fourth Cetra, Nine months, the parents both part of the original race, no matter what fraction. He or she will be the most Cetra-hereditary in more than fifty years."
Reno turns and grins at me, but it's no like he used to. He means it now. "I know you killed Tseng, but no one else needs to. Congratulations, Sephiroth."
My head spins. It can't be real. There's no proof it is real.
"Oh, but it is," his voice rings. He chuckles. "You can wait the entire nine months to find out, or you can believe me now and tell Aeris. Tell her everything I've told her. There will be a note, when you wake up, on the nightstand. Read it and let her read it. Be happy with yourselves, Sephiroth. Coincidence has brought you together, love will keep you that way."
"Reno," I gasp. He was raising his hand, most likely to cast me back into the real world, if this place is real. "What. . .what are you?"
He smiles, hand raised at eye-level with me. He's sending me home. He's sending me back to the bed, probably to wake me up with Aeris next to me. "Me? I'm just a reject, Mako-enjected, Jenova descendent who knows the truth and a lot more than he should. See you soon."
And then, just like that, the floor slips away and I'm back to the real world.
Nine months.
A new Cetra.
, . .I'm smiling in my sleep.