DISCLAIMER: I bet you expected me to say I'm now the new and exhilerated owner of Sephiroth? No, I'm sad to say he, like the other FF7 characters, still belong to the mighty Squaresoft.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Finally, the fourth chapter I've so eagerly awaited.. Seriously, this is an important chapter for me. This is the point where the story begins.. But that's not the only reason I loved writing this chapter - urgh, better not spoil it for everyone. Has anyone missed my strange habit of inserting quote's? They're back.. *insert creepy melody* As always, enjoy!!
CHAPTER 4.
O Rose, thou art sick!
The invisible worm
That flies in the night,
In the howling storm,
Has found out thy bed
Of crimson joy:
And his dark secret love
Does thy life destroy.
- William Blake -
"He's brilliant.. A perfect being.." Professor Hojo spoke, boasting about his work as always. "So how could it be, that him, a combination of my intelligence and Jenova's strength, was harmed so severely?" Hojo's voice was suddenly filled with anger. "It's because of her, I know it! Petty revenge from beyond the grave, that threatens the continuance of my work! My life!" Hojo proclaimed, hitting his fist against a wall to blow off steam. "It's because of her weakness.. the sickness of her genes.. that my own flesh and blood.." Hojo said, walking back and forth, finally stopping to stand next to Sephiroth's body. "Will ultimately fail.." His voice was nearly loving, as he leaned over Sephiroth's face.
"Awake are we?" Hojo asked the silver-haired man, who was staring at the ceiling with an empty look in his eyes. "Not quite." Hojo chuckled, correcting his eye-glasses out of an old habit. "Let us hope I am mistaken.." Hojo spoke again, checking the condition of the drip that was connected to Sephiroth's arm. "The President still believes in you." Hojo said, more to himself than to Sephiroth. "So I have nothing to worry about. As long as they believe I have already created a perfect soldier.. I have time to make more experiments." Hojo whispered into nothingness. "You see, my dear boy.. You're the reason I can keep doing this. Ironic, isn't it?" Hojo continued, looking into Sephiroth's eyes. "It won't be long now, so don't worry. And you won't remember a thing.." The Professor said, humming a familiar tune as he took yet another blood sample.
* * * * *
"Aeris, has anyone ever told you, that you might be a little too trusting?" Red asked cautiously, his tail straightened.
"Y-yeah, well maybe once or twice.." Aeris swallowed hard, staring at tip of Masamune's blade, that was positioned under her chin. "S-sephiroth.." She whimpered, afraid her breathing too loudly might cause Sephiroth to use his sword.
"Yes?" Sephiroth tilted his head, smirking. He found the situation quite amusing. As if untying him hadn't been stupid enough, this girl had also given him back his sword.
"Do you think you could maybe reconsider this.. And maybe.. not kill us?" Aeris fidgeted. "Perhaps." Sephiroth said, holding the unnaturally long-bladed sword with his left hand with hardly any effort at all. In Sephiroth's hands, the sword seemed more like an extension of his body than a mere scary-looking weapon. Aeris couldn't detect even the slightest tremor of hesitation, as Sephiroth pressed the blade against the skin of her throat.
"H-hey, let's not rush into anything, OK? Just take it easy.." Aeris tried to soothe Sephiroth's mind. She could not begin to understand why Sephiroth had suddenly raised his sword against her. Everything had went perfectly, they had talked, she seemed to have been making progress with him.. Aeris was only glad her mother wasn't around, she had left shopping with Marlene as soon as Sephiroth began to show signs of waking up.
"Who are you, in fact?" Sephiroth asked both Aeris and Red, studying the red-furred beast with his eyes. "What are you..?" He asked Red, getting an annoyed sigh in response.
"I really wish people would stop asking me that.." Red muttered under his breath.
"We're with the AVALANCHE." Aeris said, her eyes locked to Sephiroth's sword. "Could you put that thing away?" Aeris pleaded, but her words had no effect on Sephiroth.
"AVALANCHE.. The resistance group.. That's why you were locked up then?" Sephiroth said, looking at Aeris' eyes fixedly.
"No." Aeris answered him, uncomfortable with the direction the conversation was going to. "Hmm?" Sephiroth pressed the blade harder against Aeris' throat, making her wince in pain. "Shin-Ra's been searching me for years, for some tests.. I only recently joined AVALANCHE, you see.." Aeris spoke quickly, a look of relief on her face as Sephiroth pulled the Masamune back a little.
"Why, what's special about you? Your strange habit of freeing and arming your prisoners?" Sephiroth chuckled.
"No, no.. They just know I'm a little.. different." Aeris told Sephiroth in a quiet voice. "Different, as in weird?" Sephiroth sounded suddenly interested. "I g-guess you could say that. Since you're still holding that sword on my throat and all." Aeris felt a little angry at Sephiroth. How dare he, of all people, call her weird!
"Hojo always liked the weird one's.. I've heard his late wife was a child prodigy or something.." Sephiroth said, smiling mischievously.
"Oh, what are you implying!" Aeris stared at him, shocked to the core. To her surprice, the silver-haired man let out a fit of laughter, finally lowering his sword. "Oh, nothing." Sephiroth said, resting the blade of the Masamune against his shoulder. His expression soon returned to neutral and emotionless, but his outburst of normality left both Aeris and Red stunned.
"So what's in Kalm?" Sephiroth asked.
"The other AVALANCHE members." Aeris said, glancing at Red. It didn't seem like a good idea to tell Sephiroth about Cloud, not right now anyway.. Red appeared to be thinking the very same thing.
"You were supposed to bring me along.. Why?" Sephiroth continued his interrogation.
"No reason." Aeris fidgeted. "Oh really?" Sephiroth raised a brow. "They thought you might be of some use, against Shin-Ra.. You're not with Shin-Ra anymore, are you?" Aeris asked Sephiroth, wondering how he might react to the knowledge of who the other AVALANCHE members were, exactly.
"No. I'm sort of a freelancer, at the moment." Sephiroth answered, smiling spitefully. "Oh." Aeris nodded at him. "So will you keep your promise, will you come with us to Kalm?" She inquired, even though the expression on Red's face told her it was probably not a wise question to ask.
"Sure." Sephiroth nodded, a smug grin on his face, "It's on my way anyway."
* * * * *
"So who's that?" Scarlet asked, the sound of her high-heeled shoes echoing in the small laboratory.
"Oh, you must be referring to Zenobius, my latest little project.. He's the first successful Jenova-Human hybrid." Hojo's voice was very content. "Unfortunately, he still requires a little work.. And some parts." The Professor continued.
"Eww. I dare not ask what parts are missing.." Scarlet looked at Hojo disgusted. "Anyway, what I really wanted to talk to you about is General Sephiroth." She continued, walking towards the silver-haired man lying on an examination table, on the opposite side of the room.
"Yes, what about him?" Hojo asked.
"The President want's to know what are you going to do with him.. You can't keep him here, drugged up forever.." Scarlet sighed, a little dissappointed shiver in her voice.
"I'm aware of that.. But nobody misses him. He's assumed dead.. And now that the two test subjects collected from the Niebelheim reactor have escaped, I'm.. quite frankly bored." Hojo said. "I suppose I'll have to turn him loose, though.." He sighed, dissappointment evident on his face.
"The President says he's a threat.. Even though the destruction of Niebelheim was kept under wraps, if he does it again.." Scarlet said, running her fingers across Sephiroth's bare chest.
"Yes.. The burning of Niebelheim.. I'd assume he was under the influence of Jenova." Hojo said, walking further away.
"Too bad things never worked out between us, General.." Scarlet whispered, watching Sephiroth's closed eyelids. "You were definately on my 'to do' list.." She laughed, her high-pitched voice filling the brightly lit laboratory.
"I doubt he'll do it again. Sephiroth isn't prone to such outburst's of emotion.." Hojo assured Scarlet, as they both walked away from the laboratory. "You will tell me, if you hear any news of the two escapees?" Hojo asked.
"Of course.. I doubt you'll get them back alive though.." Scarlet nodded.
"No worries, dear woman.. They're still good material for my darling Zenobius.." Hojo answered, and they both laughed cruelly.
* * * * *
Aeris looked at Sephiroth, who was walking a few meters behind her and Red. "Yep, he's still there." Aeris whispered Red. "OK.. It's my turn to check after the next five minutes.." Red whispered back at her. For a moment they both walked in silence, watching the sun set.
"Wow. This is the first proper sunset I've ever seen.." Aeris sighed, not sounding very excited.
"You know, we'll never make it to Kalm before dark.." Red said, and quickly stole a look behind him. Sephiroth was still walking calmly behind them, apparently uninterested of the two AVALANCHE members whispering.
"You mean we'll have to set up a camp? Out here, with HIM?" Aeris raised her voice a little. "Oh no." She sighed, shaking her head. "This is so not good.." She continued.
"I think he would have killed us by now, if that was his intention. I doubt he knows what to do with us any more than we know what to do with him.." Red told Aeris, who was staring at the shriveled grass she was walking on.
"This grass.. It's like this all around midgar, isn't it?" Aeris asked, wondering why the condition of the grass bothered her so. It was as though Midgar was surrounded by death and decay.. Aeris didn't feel like staying here a moment longer than was necessary.
"We'd better set up camp." Sephiroth said from somewhere closeby.
Aeris turned her head, shocked to see him walking beside her. She couldn't understand how Sephiroth had managed to come so close without her hearing his footsteps. "Umm, yeah, if you say so." Aeris' voice was slightly frightened. She took a look at Red, who seemed to be equally surpriced by Sephiroth's talent of stealthy walking.
It didn't take long for the three of them to roll out their sleeping bags. Red managed to find some pieces of dry wood, and they lit up a small camp-fire with a simple fire-spell. Red, who had slept poorly the night before, didn't seem to have any difficulty in falling asleep under the starry sky. Aeris and Sephiroth, on the other hand, sat on the opposite sides of the fire, staring at each other as if competing which one would give up and fall asleep first. "The stars are really pretty tonight.." Aeris yawned, finally letting her tiredness show a little.
"The stars?" Sephiroth snorted, as if he didn't know what Aeris was talking about. "I don't really look at them anymore." He said, and placed more dead branches into the fire.
"It's hard to see them, from the slums you know.." Aeris leaned back on her sleeping bag. As she turned her eyes back to the fire, she was surpriced to see Sephiroth staring at her openly. "What?" Aeris asked, alarmed by this sudden change in him.
"N-nothing. I just had the strangest feeling.." Sephiroth said, turning his eyes back to the the fire. "Like this is happening for the second time.." His voice was faraway, as he stared at the cracking wood, the sparks soaring to the sky. Aeris studied his expression from on top of her sleeping bag. He looked so concentrated, so deep in thought.. kind of cute. What am I thinking, Aeris discarded her thoughts. This place appeared to have a stronger affect on her than she had realized. Or maybe it was in fact her notorious family curse, Aeris smiled at the thought.
"We'll reach Kalm tomorrow.. What are you going to do?" Aeris asked Sephiroth after a moments silence, realizing he wasn't going to say anything else voluntarily. "I must follow my mother.. And you must follow your cause.." Sephiroth anwered. His mother?, Aeris wondered, but decided against asking Sephiroth.
"So I doubt we'll ever meet again." Sephiroth continued, placing the last pieces of wood into the fire.
"You're leaving?" Aeris turned her eyes to her hands.
"I'm not going to kill you, so no need to act as though you cared." Sephiroth's voice was so bitter Aeris raised her eyes to meet his. "It's not an act.." She shook her head, but Sephiroth didn't seem to believe her words.
"I owe you, as you said, and that is the only reason I'm travelling with you at the moment." Sephiroth told her.
Aeris nodded at him, slightly offended. It seemed weird how Sephiroth reacted to an act of kindness, she thought. As if he was waiting for Aeris to reveal her true motives.. She felt sorry for him.
* * * * *
"Thankyou for bringing back the corpse of specimen A.. I take it B'll join him shortly." Hojo spoke to someone on the phone. "Yes, Zenobius is nearly finished.. Yes, quite right." He laughed a while, turning his eyes back to Sephiroth.
"Yes, Mr. President, I'm doing that as we speak.. No, I'm sure he'll never bother us again." Hojo's voice seemed confident. "Oh, I didn't know you were interested in the hybrid-project.. Yes, it was originally Gast's but.. Yes, I understand." Hojo crushed a piece of paper in his hands, and threw it into the waste-paper basket. It landed next to it, turning Hojo's pale face red with anger.
"No, mass production is not an option, since there's some assembly required with the hybrids.. Yes, and my expertice, you're quite right.." Hojo snickered, pleased by the President's comment.
"Oh that's scheduled after the initial test's-- Years, quite possibly.." Hojo said, writing something down in his calender. "Yes, that might hasten the process.." Hojo seemed quite pleased. "Yes, it's most important now that he'll be loose again.. Umm-hmm.. Yes, yes.. Pleasant day to you too, President. Bye." Hojo hanged up the phone, and laughed relieved a while.
"More assistants! More funds! They're finally opening their eyes!" Hojo said to himself, then walking over to Sephiroth. "Do you feel a little groggy?" He asked the man, checking his vertical pupils. Sephiroth didn't answer, and his eyes couldn't focus on anything.
"That's quite understandable, in your condition.. I have induced you with a class one Mako-poisoning. You'll recover in time, due to your special blood.. But you won't remember any of this.." Hojo said, while untying the black leather belts restraining Sephiroth. After Hojo was finished, Sephiroth sat up, holding his head in pain.
"I hope you're grateful." Hojo leered at him. "You'll be back to normal within a few months." He said, pointing in the direction of the back door. Sephiroth faltered towards it, his eyes glazed over. He felt like being trapped in a nightmare, from which there was no waking up.
Don't worry son. I shall guide you.. Jenova's voice was so soothing, Sephiroth smiled lazily as he pushed the door open. One day you'll be fit enough to rescue me from this hell.. Jenova continued. Sephiroth rested his back against a large wooden crate near the door, afraid his legs might not carry him much further. "I will, mother.. I promise." Sephiroth whispered weakly. Now then.. Jenova said a bit sadly. You must rest.. And I know the perfect place.
Well great, I finished this chapter already. The next one will be a little weird, but try not to let it bother you. It's my first intermission, which is in fact the dream Aeris has while sleeping out on the plains of Midgar. It'll be fascinating to write! Thanks again for all the reviews, I'm glad to know my english isn't as bad as I thought it was.. ^_^