Fountain Of Memories

Chapter 6: The Flower Girl

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the FF7 chars, I'm not getting any money from this etc, etc...

Dylan Addison shone his torch down the empty corridor. The slightly shaking beam of light indicated that the state of his nerves was pretty bad, and also that there was nothing other than scientific equipment down the corridor. The security guard sighed with relief and leaned against the wall thankfully.

The whole evening had been like this. Since that janitor had got topped, he'd been assigned to keep watch on the labs in the ShinRa building. Personally Dylan would have been much happier somewhere as far away as possible from the place where a harmless old man was brutally murdered, but it was his job. Still he needed something to calm his nerves. Delving into a pocket he found his packet of smokes, and then hunted for his lighter.

The flare of light briefly illuminated the area around him in oranges and yellows, giving the corridor an eerie look. An yell from one of his fellow security guards made him drop the lighter in fright. It made clatter as it hit the floor, which seemed awfully loud to Dylan in the dead silence of the ShinRa building.

Booted footsteps echoed in the silence. Slowly, but steadily getting closer. Dylan backed off down the corridor in the hopes that whoever it was wouldn't see him in the darkness. Now he could see a green glow far down the next corridor, moving towards him. He was sure he could see a figure in the light.

The glow paused as it reached the door which separated this corridor from the next. There was a loud cracking noise and the glass in the door blew inwards, and the frame sagged and broke off its hinges. Dylan could definitely see a figure now, it was a figure he recognised quite well, even though he'd only ever been told about it in stories. Dressed all in black, with white hair which seemed to move slightly in a wind which only it could feel, and if that wasn't enough there was no mistaking the huge sword which the figure carried in it's right hand.

Dylan made a slight whimpering noise as the figure walked through the door, it's boots crunching on the broken glass. It didn't seem to hear him, and instead turned and raised it's left hand. The blank wall it was facing blew inwards, but instead of the loud explosion he expected to hear there was a strange cessation of noise, as if the force used to blow in the wall was sucking up any sound.

The figure strode through the hole and disappeared from view. After Dylan had calmed down, curiosity got the better of him. Sidling along the opposite edge of the darkened corridor, he peered into the hole which the figure had made.

There was no sign of the green glow, or of the figure himself. The room that the hole revealed was quite large, and Dylan could see various lab equipment strewn about. As quietly as he could he sidled across the corridor in a half stoop. Peering carefully into the room he could see no sign of the figure. He walked down in between the tall shelves which held things he couldn't make out in the dark. He rounded the corner and jumped in fright. The figure was standing over a paper strewn desk and was rummaging through the paperwork, it turned malicious green eyes on him and smiled cruelly.

Dylan tried to back away but tripped over some discarded object on the floor. Sephiroth strode calmly over to him, the Masamune raised. Dylan tried to skitter backwards, but it was no use. He raised his arm over his head in a futile effort to stop the blade which could cut a steel pipe in half, from disembowelling him. Suddenly a something new entered the room. The sound of a voice singing. Dylan was sure he could hear birdsong in the background, and that he could smell a beautiful fragrance.

The clang of metal hitting the floor made Dylan open his eyes in amazement. The Masamune was on the floor, and Sephiroth's face was contorted into a face of indecision. The face changed suddenly, and took on a feeling of peace, as the great warrior Sephiroth ran from the room. After a moment, the beautiful song followed and Dylan realised he was all alone.

* * *

And now it was the next morning. ShinRa workers, lab assistants, Turks and security team were all trying to do various jobs whilst tripping over one another and getting in each other's way. Reeve was nearby trying to keep order whilst also trying to listen to the Turks questioning the security guard who'd seen what happened. He waved frantically at Cloud and the others when they came into the corridor.

'What's happened Reeve? Another murder?' Cloud asked as he reached the president through the crowd of people.

Reeve shook his head, 'No murders this time thankfully, but Sephiroth turned up again, ' He indicated the security guard sitting on a chair nearby, 'This guy saw it all. Apparently Sephiroth came down this corridor last night, blew a hole into the wall over there, and then went into the room beyond.'

'Why didn't he just use the door like everyone else?' Said Tifa with a wry smile, 'Oh no wait, this is Sephiroth we're talking about, of course…'

Reeve smiled tiredly, 'There's no obvious door into this room that we've been able to find. This is Hojo's secret lab, the place where he came to do experiments which were nothing to do with ShinRa. We've been looking for this place ever since NeoShinRa took over, but until now we've not been able to find it.'

Cloud glanced over at the guard, 'And he saw all of this?'

'Well yes…' Reeve grabbed Cloud's arm as the blonde tried to make his way over to the guard, his face set in a grim expression, 'Wait Cloud, before you jump in and start asking questions you should hear the rest of the story.' He sighed, ' Mr Addison followed Sephiroth into the room. It appears Sephiroth was looking through some papers on Hojo's desk before he spotted Mr Addison.' Reeve frowned, 'It's the next bit that's weird.'

'He spotted the guard and he's still alive to tell the tale? ^%*$"*^& musta been one of his good days then.' Said Barret, 'Or p'raps ol' Sephiroth's mellowing with old age.'

'Mr Addison says that -' Reeve paused, 'Actually perhaps you should hear it for yourselves.' He motioned for them to follow him over to where the security guard was sat. 'Excuse me Mr Addison, could you please tell my friends here what happened last night.'

The security guard looked awed at being spoken to by the President but instead said, 'Ere you're that Cloud Strife aren't you?'

Cloud looked embarrassed and nodded. 'So what happened last night? You definitely saw Sephiroth?' He said hurriedly, in an effort to get the conversation away from awkward questions about his heroic efforts.

Dylan nodded, 'Yeah,' he paused, and frowned, 'Although there was something weird bout him I can't quite put my finger on.' He shrugged, 'Mind you it's not like I ever saw the guy in person while he was alive.'

Cloud nodded. Tifa came over and stood beside Cloud, leaning towards the security guard so she could hear him better. He looked at her and looked away quickly blushing slightly. Tifa rolled her eyes and stood up, readjusting the neckline of her top.

The security guard gasped suddenly and turned back to them, his former traces of slight embarrassment gone. ' I just remembered what was weird about Sephiroth….well he had…well…umm.' He waved his hands vaguely in the area of his chest, 'Y'know…he was a…a girl!'

Cloud's eyes widened in surprise, and then disbelief. 'What the hell are you talking about? Have you been drink-' He was cut off by Tifa clutching at his arm.

'Cloud you moron, think about it. Which girl do we know who looks exactly like Sephiroth?' Tifa said wide-eyed, still gripping his arm. He looked gob-smacked, unable to speak.

'Aurora…' Red said quietly, his tail swishing through the air behind him showing his tightly controlled anger.

Cloud's mouth snapped shut and he turned and tried to unsheathe his sword. Tifa grabbed his arm again. 'Wait a'minute Cloud, we havn't got a clue where she is or anything else, so before you run off and start hacking at things, lets wait and hear if Mr Addison has anything else to tell us ok?' She turned to the security guard, 'Do you have anything else to tell us?'

The man swallowed and nodded, 'Sephiroth…or…whoever, came over to me wiv that bloody big sword of his over his head, justa bout ready to cut me 'ed orf, when suddenly there's this weird music, like a girl singin', and this smell of flowers. Seph…I mean…this girl just dropped the sword and legged it out…'

Cloud looked thoughtful for a moment, 'Flowers…' Realisation dawned on his face suddenly, and he turned and sprinted from the room. The others looked puzzled and turned to Tifa who sighed sadly and plonked herself down. 'Flowers, and a girl singing? C'mon you guys, you know how much Aeris liked to sing…'

'But Aeris is de-' Began Barret, but Red cut him off and said, thoughtfully, 'What about the fountain in the garden?'

***

Aurora opened her eyes blearily. The overpowering smell of flowers pervaded her senses, and she stared up into a pair of bright, cold blue eyes.

'Cloud? Where am I? What are you doing…ouch!' Cloud just dropped her onto the ground, still staring at her with a strange look in his eyes. Aurora frowned, confused, and pulled herself to her knees. It was then that she realised what she was wearing. Black leather was the main component, and Aurora was confused. How did she get like this? Why was she in the garden? Why was Cloud looking at her with such… vehemence?

Slowly, Cloud reached back over his shoulder, and there was a long drawn out silken sound as the Buster Sword came out of it's sheathe. Aurora's eyes went wide, and she tried to crawl backwards as Cloud raised the sword up high. Time seemed to slow down as Cloud brought the sword down. Aurora's arms flew up over her head and her scream reverberated around the garden. A figure with long, streaming brown hair dived at Cloud, and sent him sprawling into the flowers. The Buster Sword fell from his fingers, and hit the ground point first, right in front of Aurora's nose. She briefly gaped at the sword, before her eyes rolled up into her head and she fell to the ground in faint.

Authors Notes: Hope you enjoyed that ppl. The next chapter will be up shortly. It's got a different format to all the other chapters but it'll probably reveal quite a lot if you read it, and hopefully will mean the story makes more sense…at least that's the theory. Anyway, it's that time again! Lotsa nice reviews please, else I'll be forced to do something drastic….like….umm…I'll think of sumthin :-p LOL