By Jesse Schiff
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The IncidentZack hung, eyes open, stuck to the ceiling above the Mako stasis pods. He'd been slashed across the mid-section and was currently hanging by one leg from a crevice within the Nibel Reactor. A drop of blood fell from his fingertip down to the bare blade of his Bustersword on the ground.
At the bottom of the stone and metal stairs was Tifa, all sprawled out. Her chest slowly heaved up and down, and her eyes strained to stay open. She'd been slashed like Zack- a deep wound that ran diagonally from between her breasts down to her navel. Even in all this pain, she could not give in and close her eyes. Suddenly arms were under her and she was being lifted up the stairs. Someone was carrying her, someone who could only be made out blurrily as a Shinra soldier with an orange mask. The soldier laid her down at the top of the stairs, careful to lay her straight. He removed his mask, and his head was obscured by tears. All that could be made was a streak of blonde hair, disheveled and spiked in every direction much like someone Tifa hadn't seen for almost four years.
"We're finally together… mother." Sephiroth whispered to the dead woman with metal tubes pouring from her limbs and back. She only stared forward with one white eye open. "Together… we'll finally kill the ones that killed you… and the Cetra. We'll return earth to ourselves… the way it was." He touched her cold cheek with his fingertips. "I never knew you…"
"Sephiroth!" Someone screamed. Sephiroth turned around felt something metal slash him across the torso. There was a brilliant spray of blood across the ceiling of the white chamber, and a moment of silence followed as Sephiroth staggered forward. Cloud held the Bustersword at his side and watched as his former idol limped out of the room, blood slowly spilling and melting the frost on the floor.
"Sephiroth…"
The man in black slowly stopped, his six-foot Masamune sword drawn this time. Cloud wanted to wait for him to turn, his grip growing steadily tighter on the hilt of his sword. The two were standing on a metal beam, surrounded by the clockwork of the reactor. Below them was an unfathomable drop.
"Do you know what you've done?" Cloud asked.
"Are you one of the failures?"
"You don't even know my name!" Cloud yelled, and ran in with his sword raised above his head to cut Sephiroth in two. But as soon as he had stepped forward, it was too late. Sephiroth turned and thrust the Masamune forward, covering the gap between them. Cloud was run through, and he gasped, dropping his sword. Sephiroth could not help but grin, for madness' sake out of anything else.
"Everyone I've killed is just a part of the Planet." He said, pushing the blade deeper into Cloud's stomach. "There are no names to remember."
Cloud's face suddenly lost its expression of pain. Sephiroth's grin began to fade. Cloud gripped the sword by both sides, and suddenly Sephiroth was fighting a downhill battle as Cloud slowly pulled the blade out of his stomach.
"What?!" Sephiroth shouted. Suddenly he was in the air, holding onto the hilt of the Masamune with all his strength. "This can't be real!" He yelled.
Cloud flung Sephiroth off the platform, and he fell into the misty pit below. Cloud stared down in amazement at his own strength, unable to believe he'd just done that. It was unreal.
Then he remembered Tifa was dying. Cloud quickly turned to walk back and find her again, but his strength was already gone. He fell after only a couple of steps, and passed out.
Standing over the body of the "failure", Hojo stroked his chin uneasily.
"Where is Sephiroth? You haven't found him yet?"
"Sir, we can't anything but a trail of blood leading out of Jenova's chamber. We are taking some samples of it back now for analysis. Unless they turn up something I would say he disappeared without a trace." A Red Shinra officer stated, buzzing with ambition. Hojo could tell this one wanted to go places.
"Have the 'failure' sent down to my quarters in the Shinra Mansion for research. I'm sure we'll find something in him. Who is the other one?"
"He's a SOLDIER, his body looks to be recoverable. We're sure his treatment with JENOVA cells should keep him intact long enough until we can recover his vital functions after we put him in Mako therapy."
"Yes… good."
"Sir, we also have reason to believe there was a third person involved here."
"Sephiroth destroyed an entire village. I'm sure some people followed him up to the reactor to get even. There is no doubt they were destroyed… but question the survivors from Nibelheim anyways. See if they know anything pertaining to Sephiroth's whereabouts. Other than that, get this reactor cleaned up and make sure none of this incident sees the light of day."
"Yes, sir."
"Also, see to it the 'failure' and the SOLDIER are erased from Shinra's records. I hate loose ends."
"Yes… yes, sir!" The Red officer said enthusiastically, clicking his heels together as he saluted Hojo.
Hojo just turned around and stared down at the abyss beneath him. He thought about Sephiroth, the only experiment of his that mattered.
***
Cloud came to with so much pain in his head. Zack was standing over him.
"Hey, man wake up already. We gotta jet out of here." The black-haired SOLDIER grabbed Cloud around the shoulder and lifted him up…