All That's Evil
By Semdai
Chapter Three
An unknown materia cave just south of the Temple of the Ancients...
Basil tied his chocobo's reins to a post that had been erected just for that purpose. He reached into his saddle bag and pulled out a small leather pouch. The cave in which he was in was relatively small and scarcely tailored. It contained only some crude furniture that included two couches, a table, and two chairs. In the center was a small fireplace which provided the cave's heat. A strong fire was blazing in the pit. Basil noticed a small stack of wood next to the hearth. Apparently, his cavemate had gathered some wood.
On one of the couches lay a tall man with long, silver hair and evil, green eyes. He was very pale as if he was deathly ill. Basil studied his companion's features. The man's eyes were sullen and his gaze hollow. A festering wound on his left arm oozed a sickly yellow-green pus as if it were severely infected. Basil approached his comrade who turned his head slowly to acknowledge Basil's presence.
" Is this how it was meant to end, Basil," he asked wearily, his blood heavy with the poison of Chiyupakabara, a minion of the summoner called Shivra. Basil had faith in his friend's ability to survive, but ever since his last fight, his friend had become weaker every second.
" What way is this for any man to die," Basil countered, " tell me, Sephiroth, is this how you want to end your days among the living?" Sephiroth didn't answer at first.
" Were it my decision, I would never end my days as a living being," Sephiroth stared up at the ceiling of the cave as he spoke. He realized something as he gazed as one on the brink of death. " I wasn't killed and reborn as I am now just to die now by the poison of an immortal summon. Did you bring me that which I asked of you?" Sephiroth spoke slowly, making each word clear. Basil held out the pouch he had gone to retrieve.
" Indeed, I did," he answered hold out the bag to Sephiroth. Sephiroth took the satchel and opened it. It contained what looked to be black sand. He resealed the bag and gestured for Basil to hand him his dagger. Basil held out the knife he wore at his belt to Sephiroth, who took it and rotated it in a circle for a moment.
" Bring me that glass vial by the fire, would you," Sephiroth requested. Basil snatched up the little container and gave it to Sephiroth. " Thank you," he replied. Basil watched as Sephiroth cut open a vein right next to his wound and collected the blood that ran form the new injury into the vial. The blood was so choked with poison that it was black with the toxin. Sephiroth then reopened the pouch and rubbed the black powder into the cut. His blood began to sizzle and Sephiroth cringed in pain as the medicine began its work. Sephiroth handed the dagger back to Basil. He took it and wiped the blood from the blade with a rag he found by the fireplace. He put the blade back into his belt.
" Will you be all right, my friend," he inquired.
" I shall be fine soon enough," Sephiroth reassured, capping the vial, " would you mind seeing to our guest and making sure that he is comfortable?"
" I shall see to it," Basil replied, turning and walking deeper into the cave where the only light was the glow of the materia within the walls. Sephiroth watched him go, feeling glad to have a friend he could depend on not only for reliability, but also for good company. Sephiroth trusted Basil in a way he trusted no other. And Basil returned that trust in a way no one have ever trusted him before. Sephiroth was glad he had met this strange man he had come to call 'his friend.' Sephiroth leaned against the back of the couch and slept, patiently waiting for the medicine to heal him and truly content for the first time in his life.
* * * Rufus tied his chocobo to a tree. He continued to listen carefully for any sound of movement other than his own. He heard none. Rufus studied the cave where the black chocobo's rider had entered. It was small cave, roughly the size of a house, hidden in the surrounding foliage. He wouldn't have been able to find it on his own, it was so well concealed. Slowly, he crept toward the entrance and peered inside. The only sign of life he saw was a man lying on a couch and he seemed to be asleep. It wasn't the same man he had seen riding the chocobo, however. Rufus concluded mentally that the other man must have ventured deeper into the cave. Stealthily, Rufus prowled further into the interior of the subterranean room. The evidently sleeping man took no notice of his movement.
Rufus hurried down a passage that branched away from the main cavern. He could hear two voices drifting from farther down the path. Both sounded masculine, but one was deeper than the other as if one speaker was older and the other younger.
" Why am I here," the adolescent voice demanded. Rufus could automatically tell that the voice belonged to a very young person, a boy perhaps.
" Because my companion asked me to collect you and to bring you here," the older voice explained.
" What does your friend want with me," the younger voice charged. Rufus had now reached the end of the passage and was watching the scene with a thoughtful eye. The older speaker was indeed a man. He was very scrawny and not very strong looking with very large violet-blue eyes and a curious look to his features. His dark, brown hair desperately needed to be combed even though it barely reached his ears. His clothes were way too big for him and seriously needed to be washed. He was slight of build as well as short. The tip of a dagger at his belt was the only sign of weaponry that he carried.
The boy didn't seem to be more than seven years old. His dark orange hair fell almost to his shoulders and a strange glow radiated from his azure eyes. He wore a black trenchcoat, dark blue, denim pants, and a black shirt. The boy was tied to a chair. Rufus was suddenly aware of the sound of footsteps coming toward him. Quickly, he ducked into the shadows and held his breath. The man he had seen earlier came down the passage.
" How are you feeling, Sephiroth," the older man asked. The man called 'Sephiroth' shrugged.
" Much better, Basil," he replied. The boy scowled darkly at Sephiroth.
" You seem so bitter, Lucius, you're our guest here you know," Sephiroth teased. Lucius glowered harder.
" What do you want with me," he snarled. Basil and Sephiroth laughed.
" Don't worry, we'll give you back to that bitch you call your mother soon enough," Sephiroth chuckled. Fire roared to life inside Lucius's eyes.
" My mother defeated you with the weakest of her skills," he defied, " she's more powerful than you'll ever be!" Sephiroth grinned evilly.
" Maybe so," he accepted, " but you. Oh Lucius, you and I are two birds of the same feather. If you joined me, you could become the most powerful man in the world."
" Next to you," Lucius contradicted, " as soon as I surpassed your powers you would kill me out of jealousy."
" You're probably right," Sephiroth agreed, " I guess I'll just have to kill you now."
" How's about we duel to the death," Lucius suggested, " that way, I die a fitting death and you get to have the pleasure of killing the only man that rivals your powers."
" I doubt you could be considered a man at your age," Sephiroth chuckled. Lucius shrugged.
" I've got the smarts of a man if not the body of one," he settled. It didn't matter or him one way or another what Sephiroth thought of him.
" Sounds good to me," Sephiroth agreed, " shall we begin?" Basil cut the ropes that bound Lucius to the chair. Sephiroth drew his sword and waited for Lucius to retrieve his. Lucius picked up his two swords. He had made them about two years ago from the claws of the last Materia Keeper that had been left in Mt. Nibel. Adoring their lightness and durability, he had fashioned them into swords with which he destroyed the population of Mako Dragons in the mountain. He still liked to practice with them on days when he had nothing better to do. Not that he needed it, Lucius just liked to stay on top of his skills.
" Ready for the fight of your life, Sephiroth," Lucius challenged. Sephiroth had to admit that the boy was very bold for his age. What a warrior that boy could become, if only he wanted it badly enough.
* * * Gavial stirred within her cave. She could hear her master calling out too her. Slowly, she rose to her haunches. Spreading her great wings, Gavial leapt Heavenward into the clear, blue sky. Her majestic pinions beat the air without mercy as she soared South to answer her master's call. Shivra watched the dragon from the outskirts of Midgar.
' Find Lucius, Gavial,' she willed mentally to the dragon, ' bring him home.'
* * * Lucius waited patiently for Sephiroth's first move. He wasn't the kind that liked to make the opening attack. Moving first gives to much away about your strategy, unless you're good enough and can trick your opponent into thinking falsely about your tactics. Shivra had taught him that when she trained him to fight.
" Are you going to attack me or just wait until I'm too old to remember how to fight," Lucius provoked. Sephiroth snickered at the remarked, knowing all too well that Lucius was trying to tempt him into making the first move.
" I'd lop your head off with my sword if only you were about three inches taller," Sephiroth countered. Lucius could see where this was going, so he decided to play with Sephiroth for a while. He could use the time it would buy.
" It's no strength outta my body if you'd like to wait a few years for me to grow those three inches," he continued, " you're the one who'll be getting old and bent, not me."
" And if I stayed as I am now?"
" Then hooray for you. I'll still be young and strong so I can't say that I'll care. Although this image of you standing here, sword in hand, having this conversation with me when we were going to be fighting will be something amusing to tell my mother when I see her again."
" Don't you mean if you see her again."
" I said when meaning 'when I see her again.' If I had doubted that I would see her again then I would have said if."
" Oh you are bold, little one."
" Have you stooped to a point when you can only fight me with verbal blows that mean nothing to me?"
" And you counter me verbal blows so well. What a great fighter you would make."
" I'd be most grateful if you would evaluate your use of would." Sephiroth began to laugh hysterically.
" I mean this," he exclaimed, leaping at Lucius and swiping with his sword. Lucius jumped back soon enough to suffer only a very long cut across his shoulder. The wound stung viciously but other than that Lucius could detect no further damage.
" A killing blow on the first strike," Sephiroth rejoiced.
" Your perception deceives your mind," Lucius countered, " unless a cut shoulder is a guaranteed fatal blow."
" It is when the cut is made by a poisoned blade," Sephiroth explained, bursting into maniacal laughter upon finishing the sentence. Lucius felt the flesh around the cut start to burn. He cringed painfully, but refused to give Sephiroth the pleasure of knowing that his underhanded tactics had worked. His Mako blood should have protected him from the poison, but this poison came from a source older and much more powerful than Mako.
' Gavial,' Lucius cried out silently with his mind, ' I need you.' All at once, Lucius felt his body tremble violently. His hand went to his wounded shoulder, dropping one of his swords. He gritted his teeth against the pain but it did no good to lessen the feeling.
" Go down, mongrel," Sephiroth taunted, " and die by your mother's poison." He and Basil laughed mockingly as Lucius clutched the walls for support. Sephiroth sauntered over to Lucius and shoved him to the ground, laughing all the while.
" Don't you think we should have some kind of trophy for this moment," Basil suggested.
" An excellent idea," Sephiroth agreed. He reached down and tore the bloody sleeve from Lucius's shirt and picked up one of his swords. " These will be great souvenirs to show that mother of yours," he taunted, " I can just imagine the look on her face when we tell her that her only son is dead and we have his sword and his bloody sleeve to prove it."
" You bastard," Lucius wheezed. He was growing weaker by the second, his young body being more receptive to Chiyupakabara's poison than Sephiroth's. Sephiroth, out of pure spite, struck Lucius across the face. The blow stung fiercely and sent Lucius rolling.
" Jenova's bastard to you, boy," Sephiroth mocked as he followed Basil down the passageway, just barely missing Rufus, and out of the cave.
Rufus didn't risk venturing out until he was sure that Sephiroth and Basil were gone. When that time came, he rushed over to Lucius an scooped the boy up in his arms. Rufus immediately noticed how light the boy was. Lucius groaned painfully.
" Who are you," Lucius asked slowly, his voice barely more than a whisper. Rufus pressed his fingers to the boy's throat. His pulse was weakening.
" My name's Rufus," he explained, " I'm here to help." Lucius closed his eyes and mumbled something that Rufus couldn't discern. " What," Rufus asked. Lucius tried to repeat himself.
" Black dragon," he stammered. He was cut off by a fit of coughing. Rufus didn't know what Lucius meant by 'black dragon,' but they couldn't stand around waiting until he figured it out. Sephiroth and Basil could return at any moment. Rufus carried Lucius out of the cave, but before he could reach his chocobo a huge, looming shape appeared above them. After the shape had landed, Rufus could see that it was a giant, black dragon. The dragon moved her head so that she was eye to eye with Rufus.
" Gavial," Lucius whispered from Rufus's arms. The dragon nuzzled Lucius's head lovingly. Lucius reached out and laid a hand on Gavial's muzzle. Gavial responded by turning her great, green gaze to Rufus and giving him a questioning look.
" I won't hurt you or your friend here," Rufus tried to explain, not sure how to address the dragon, " I want to help." Gavial snorted, but she seemed satisfied. She started to shift her body as if preparing for something. Before Rufus knew what she was doing, Gavial had picked him and Lucius up and dropped them on her back. Gavial unfolded her pinions.
" Hold on to something," Lucius admonished softly. Rufus grabbed a hold of one of Gavial's spines just as she beat her powerful wings and rose into the air. He tried to see where they were going but Gavial was flying at a speed fast enough to sting his eyes if they were open too far.
The next thing Rufus knew, they had landed in a cavern of some kind. Rufus was thrown off balance from the force of the landing. He fell, landing on his back in the sand. Surprisingly, Lucius stayed sprawled over Gavial's back. The dragon nudged him with her snout. Very slowly, his hands grasped the curling antlers protruding from the back of Gavial's skull. She tenderly lifted him onto her crown. She carried him across the cavern, letting out a bellow that echoed throughout the whole mountain. She sounded mournful.
* * * Aeris leapt up at the sound of Gavial's roar. She sprinted down the tunnel to Gavial's quarters. Gavial stood with her head held low enough for Aeris to see the still body of Lucius supported by the dragon's head. Aeris dragged Lucius from Gavial's head and held him in her arms. He was limp, pale, and his breath came in shallow gasps.
" Lucius," Aeris tried, " what happened to you?" Then Aeris noticed the man Gavial had brought with her. At first she was sure that her eyes were deceiving her, that somehow she was seeing things. She wasn't. Rufus looked back at her with an expression of equal perplexity. Aeris reminded herself that Lucius needed her help, though she had no idea what was wrong with him.
" What is this place," Rufus asked. Aeris stared at him.
" The caves of Mt. Nibel," she replied, " do you know what happened to Lucius?"
" Sephiroth cut him with a poisoned blade," Rufus explained. Aeris examined Lucius's shoulder, noticing the injury there. The cut stretched all the way across his arm, but it wasn't very deep. It had stopped bleeding and was starting to show signs of infection.
" How long ago was this cut made," Aeris asked, still examining the wound.
" About an hour," Rufus guessed. Aeris motioned for Rufus to follow her. She carried Lucius with her down a tunnel into a dimly lit room. The room was mostly empty, except for some weapons, a lamp, a collection of satchels hanging on pegs driven into the walls, and a bed of furs. Aeris laid Lucius down on the bed. His eyes were closed and he seemed to be in a deep sleep.
" I know it's here somewhere," Aeris mumbled to herself as she began picking through the bags on the walls.
" Can you save him," Rufus asked, sitting beside Lucius and feeling his cold forehead.
" I'm not sure," Aeris replied.
* * * Shivra mounted her chocobo and waited for the others to do the same. Zack climbed onto Anubis's back slowly. His body still hurt from his ordeal with Sephiroth, but he was recovering. Yuffie seemed to lag behind. Shivra noticed this and trotted over to her.
" What's the matter," Shivra asked. Yuffie scowled back, but didn't answer. " You're angry that I didn't save Reno," Shivra implicated.
" You sat there and watched him die," Yuffie snapped.
" You are mad that I couldn't save him," Shivra confirmed.
" No, I'm upset that you didn't try to save him," Yuffie yelled. Shivra could see what Yuffie was getting at. She let go of her chocobo's reins at set her hand on the horn of the saddle.
" I can't make you believe me," she started, " but try to understand that just because I have powers that you've never seen before doesn't mean I can keep people from dying. If I could have saved Reno then I would have. I can't convince you to see through my point of view and I can't change what is meant to happen."
" But, you didn't even try," Yuffie protested, her voice cracking.
" Did you have something for Reno, and this is why you're so upset," Shivra asked bluntly.
" No," Yuffie shot with vehemence, " but what if it was one of us in his place? Would you just let them die too?"
" Everyone has a limit to their powers. You have your limits, people like me have their limits, even people like Sephiroth have limits," Shivra admonished, " we have to learn to accept what we cannot accomplish. Maybe someday you will stop some one from dying and prove me wrong, but until then I suggest you place this hate of yours were it is due." Yuffie fell silent. " I'm sorry if I've upset you," Shivra apologized.
" It's none of your blame," Yuffie forgave, " I should be hating Sephiroth not you." Shivra nodded slightly, acknowledging Yuffie's apology.
" I am sorry that I couldn't save Reno," she comforted as she goaded Osiris into a trot, " but it does no good to dwell on past misfortune."
" Where are we going now," Cloud asked, coming up beside Shivra on his own chocobo.
" To search for my son," Shivra replied.
" You may want to give up on that and find a mourning site," a voice from the rise ahead of them taunted. They all looked up to see two black chocobos perched at the top of the hill. They recognized Sephiroth, who was the one that had spoken, but the man on the chocobo at his side was unknown to them. None of them had ever seen him before.
" What do you mean 'a mourning site,'" Cloud demanded. Shivra just stared at Sephiroth. Somehow he had escaped Chiyupakabara's poison. The poison was fatal within two hours once it hit the bloodstream, give or take up to twenty minutes depending on the size of the person. The man beside Sephiroth rode his chocobo slowly toward them. He stopped about four feet in front of Shivra's chocobo. She studied him skeptically. He grinned evilly and held up a bundle.
" He means this," the man replied tossing it to Shivra then turning and riding back up to Sephiroth. Shivra caught the bundle and unwrapped it. The fabric wrapped around Lucius's sword was bloody.
" Doesn't your son wear that kind of clothing," Sephiroth jeered, " and use that kind of sword." Shivra felt her heart skip a beat. Something bad happening to Lucius? The very idea froze her heart.
" What have you done with Lucius," Shivra demanded.
" Don't worry about him," Sephiroth mocked, " you'll never see him again anyway so just forget about him." All eyes were on Shivra. She clutched the fabric in her hand, the fabric drenched in her son's blood. Suddenly she let out a cry like a wounded beast and sank against her chocobo's back, screaming.
" God damn you, Sephiroth," she wailed, " you've taken the only worthwhile person in my life away! Damn you! Damn you to the fires of Hell and Damnation!" Shivra's body suddenly flashed, a powerful light erupting from the fibers of her flesh and collecting above her in a cloud of light shards. The shards took the form of a woman with long, tangled, black hair and burning red eyes. She was clothed in a tattered white gown. Her hands were like the claws of a beast, her feet bare as one who walked through life with no need of shoes. Sephiroth recognized her as a creature he had seen once in one of Hojo's reports. She was a Banshee.
" Holy shit," Barret stammered.
" Fulfill my cries, Incarnation of the Air and the Fire, destroy them," Shivra lamented. The Banshee charged at Sephiroth and Basil, screaming at a pitch deadly to mortal ears. All but Shivra vainly covered their ears to shut out the mournful sound. Sephiroth kicked his chocobo hard, trying to make it go. Basil did the same. Both chocobos, frightened by the Banshee and startled by the kicks, floundered, unseating their riders. Sephiroth and Basil both went down, scrambling to escape the Banshee's defining screams. She came at Basil, who was nearest, first. He cried out as the Banshee's claw-like fingers raked his face. Sephiroth tried to defend his friend but the Banshee then turned on him, clawing him unmercifully. He finally gave up and tried to flee. The Banshee lost interest in him and turned to Basil once more. She latched onto Basil, her nails tearing his flesh like paper. He screamed again, weaker this time. Sephiroth charged the Banshee again this time with his sword, trying to fend her away from Basil, who lay curled in an unmoving, bloody heap on the ground. Sephiroth fought against the Banshee frantically for she was racking him with her claws, drawing small gushes of blood with every swipe. The Banshee struck Sephiroth in the face, sending him sprawling backwards. She then flew at him, aiming for a killing blow. Basil summoned the last of his strength and threw himself at Sephiroth, intercepting the Banshee's blow. He let forth a gargled shriek and fell to the ground beside Sephiroth where he lay still.
" Basil!" Sephiroth yelled his friend's name but received no answer. More out of fury than will, he made one last strike at the Banshee and succeeded in hitting her. She flew back and screeched more in rage than hurt. Sephiroth gathered Basil in his arms and leapt onto his chocobo's back. He spurred the beast, hoping that the Banshee wouldn't catch them. But when he looked back, the Banshee was not following him. Basil moaned from the safety of Sephiroth's arms. His body was deeply cut from the Banshee's claws. His blood staining Sephiroth's clothes.
* * * " Enough, Anema," Shivra commanded. The Banshee stopped and hovered beside her summoner. " Go now, you've done well," Shivra ordered. They all watched Anema's body slowly descend toward Shivra. The two collided and their physical bodies joined, forming one body again. Shivra dismounted and fell to the ground sobbing. Her long hair veiling her face from view. Cloud approached her cautiously. She slowly lifted her head and stared at him. Tears streamed down her face.
" What was that," Cloud asked. Shivra hung her head again.
" That was Anema, the Banshee," she explained slowly, " a summon born from the one that summons her. A fierce emotion such as pain or grief is needed to cal her, otherwise it doesn't work." Cloud contemplated this new information.
" So everyone has a Banshee within," Cloud asked.
" In a way," Shivra answered. An awkward silence descended. Nobody was sure how to comfort Shivra in her time of dire loss.
" I'm sorry about Lucius," Cloud tried to comfort after the long pause. Shivra felt the tears as they trailed down her face.
" I've been hurt like this so many times in my life you'd think I'd be used to it by now," she retorted, " first having to leave my home, then having all those tests done to me, losing Rufus and my humanity, and now," her voice broke, " now I've lost Lucius, too."
" I didn't realize how much suffering you've been through," Cloud responded. Shivra met his gaze.
" To bear Jenova's mark destroys much in a person," Shivra reciprocated drawing herself up and putting her arms around her knees, " So few can escape its terrible grip on destiny. It always hits your vision first, and not just your physical vision, but the way you see things. That's why our eyes become forever scarred with its mako coloring. After a long while, it drains you of all your emotions, except for hate. In the end you become a mindless puppet that can only hate and despise the world." Cloud thought on this for a while, realizing how true it was. So many who were exposed to mako went insane.
Shivra continued her analogy, " ShinRa wanted to create the perfect soldier, in the end they only strengthened the harsh reality that the weak cannot survive without the aid of the strong. But their experiments rendered the weak utterly helpless to the mako, even with the help of the strong. Sephiroth went crazy because he wasn't strong enough mentally to cope with the reality of mako injections. I didn't want that for Lucius. I sought to protect him from Sephiroth and the poison that mako pollutes destiny with..." Shivra's trailed off. Cloud and the others were stunned. She could stand down Sephiroth but she too was vulnerable to her emotion. It was rapidly changing their impression of her as a heartless shell.
" Damn Jenova and her poison," Shivra finished, wiping her eyes.
" What will you do now," Yuffie asked. Shivra vaulted onto Osiris's back and seized the reins. Cloud also re-mounted.
" I go to Mideel," Shivra answered, " something there calls me. I hear it like a distant cry for help. Perhaps it's Rufus calling me, or maybe I just feel like jumping into the lifestream. If Lucius really is dead then I have nothing left."
" You might never come back if you jump into the lifestream," Tifa protested.
" I appreciate your concern," Shivra thanked, " but... oh why do I bother? I'm not good at coming up with reasons for what I do. I've always been that way. I do what I want, always have and probably always will. Rufus once said that I was like a wildfire, uncontrollable and without restriction. I suppose I tend to live up to the name." Cloud couldn't help but smile at Shivra's words. Cid chuckled at Cloud's smile.
" Don't get attracted to her Cloud," he teased, " you're both taken." Cloud tried to slug Cid but he missed and ended up toppling off his chocobo. Even the deeply wounded Shivra laughed at this.
" You are rather clumsy for someone infused with mako," Shivra observed, leaning back in the saddle, " I must say I'm going to miss all of you. Even though I've only known you for a few days. None of you have to come with me if you don't want to, I have a premonition that this expedition is only going to get more hazardous."
" You've got a weird vocabulary, Shivra," Barret commented, " you use words I've only seen in a dictionary."
" I don't think her terminology is so peculiar," Nanaki protested.
" No wonder," Barret countered, " your vocabulary is just as confusing. You and your words like 'Peculiar' and 'Terminology' it's driving me up the wall and down the other side. How are we supposed to work together if we all can't understand each other?"
" You're the only one who doesn't understand, Barret," Yuffie sniped.
" I don't need no fancy-ass words to fight my battles, just give me some bullets and all the enemies are goin' down," Barret boasted. Shivra laughed. It was a laugh of pure amusement. Barret had never heard a laugh quite like it before. It was very deep and somewhat masculine to his hearing. It bubbled in her throat, kind of the way that Sephiroth laughed but her voice held less malice. Nevertheless, it made her seem somehow darker. It dripped black ink onto the mental picture of her that each of Cloud's group held in their heads.
" Did that scare you too, Tifa," Yuffie whispered.
" You're not the first to be frightened by my twitter," Shivra reassured.
" There you go with those big words again," Barret complained.
" Would you rather I use ignoramus, simpleton, or just plain dumbass to describe your knowledge of language," Shivra provoked. Nanaki, who knew the definitions for all of those words, laughed so hard he started rolling on the ground. " What other words could we use, Nanaki," Shivra baited.
" Dullard," he added.
" Bungler." " Vapid."
" Insipid."
" Fatuous."
" Asinine."
" All right, all right," Barret cut off, " all these big words are making my head hurt."
" You sound like Cloud when you do that," Yuffie added.
" You all are so... so..." Barret couldn't finish his sentence.
" Obnoxious," Shivra tried.
" Exasperating," Nanaki added.
" Irksome?"
" Vexatious?"
" Tedious?"
" Aggravating?"
" Stop using those big words," Barret raged, " you're making me crazy!"
" Come on, Barret," Cloud droned, " even I can understand what they're saying."
" And he is kind of below average intelligence," Yuffie added. This sent everyone, with the exception of Barret, into a frenzy of wild laughter. Once everyone had calmed down, Shivra prepared to speak again, but was interrupted by Barret.
" My mother used to say, 'If you don't got nothin' nice to say then don't say nothing at all,'" Barret interjected. Shivra couldn't help but wonder if Barret had learned to speak from his mother.
" I was going to say that I have vastly enjoyed meeting with all of you," Shivra picked up, she turned to Zack, " you're my little brother, but I can't make you follow me. Your life is your own, do what you will with it. Just remember that I love you." Zack was caught of guard.
" I love you too, sis," he returned, " I want to stay with you."
" I'm going into the Lifestream," Shivra protested, " you've still got Aeris to take care of." Zack hung his head in defeat. " I brought her back for you so you would have someone to be with when I'm gone," Shivra put a hand on Zack's shoulder, " maybe I'll come back someday. You never know what creek the Lifestream will float you down, so chin up and be happy. There's air to breathe and lands to walk, now go enjoy it while it's out there." Zack smiled and returned Shivra's gesture.
" I'll miss you," he said mournfully but with hope in his eyes.
" And I you," Shivra returned, " go back to our home and do what you see fit with it." Shivra broke away and rode Osiris to the top of the hill, " all of you." Then she disappeared over the hill in the direction of Mideel.
Chapter Three
An unknown materia cave just south of the Temple of the Ancients...
Basil tied his chocobo's reins to a post that had been erected just for that purpose. He reached into his saddle bag and pulled out a small leather pouch. The cave in which he was in was relatively small and scarcely tailored. It contained only some crude furniture that included two couches, a table, and two chairs. In the center was a small fireplace which provided the cave's heat. A strong fire was blazing in the pit. Basil noticed a small stack of wood next to the hearth. Apparently, his cavemate had gathered some wood.
On one of the couches lay a tall man with long, silver hair and evil, green eyes. He was very pale as if he was deathly ill. Basil studied his companion's features. The man's eyes were sullen and his gaze hollow. A festering wound on his left arm oozed a sickly yellow-green pus as if it were severely infected. Basil approached his comrade who turned his head slowly to acknowledge Basil's presence.
" Is this how it was meant to end, Basil," he asked wearily, his blood heavy with the poison of Chiyupakabara, a minion of the summoner called Shivra. Basil had faith in his friend's ability to survive, but ever since his last fight, his friend had become weaker every second.
" What way is this for any man to die," Basil countered, " tell me, Sephiroth, is this how you want to end your days among the living?" Sephiroth didn't answer at first.
" Were it my decision, I would never end my days as a living being," Sephiroth stared up at the ceiling of the cave as he spoke. He realized something as he gazed as one on the brink of death. " I wasn't killed and reborn as I am now just to die now by the poison of an immortal summon. Did you bring me that which I asked of you?" Sephiroth spoke slowly, making each word clear. Basil held out the pouch he had gone to retrieve.
" Indeed, I did," he answered hold out the bag to Sephiroth. Sephiroth took the satchel and opened it. It contained what looked to be black sand. He resealed the bag and gestured for Basil to hand him his dagger. Basil held out the knife he wore at his belt to Sephiroth, who took it and rotated it in a circle for a moment.
" Bring me that glass vial by the fire, would you," Sephiroth requested. Basil snatched up the little container and gave it to Sephiroth. " Thank you," he replied. Basil watched as Sephiroth cut open a vein right next to his wound and collected the blood that ran form the new injury into the vial. The blood was so choked with poison that it was black with the toxin. Sephiroth then reopened the pouch and rubbed the black powder into the cut. His blood began to sizzle and Sephiroth cringed in pain as the medicine began its work. Sephiroth handed the dagger back to Basil. He took it and wiped the blood from the blade with a rag he found by the fireplace. He put the blade back into his belt.
" Will you be all right, my friend," he inquired.
" I shall be fine soon enough," Sephiroth reassured, capping the vial, " would you mind seeing to our guest and making sure that he is comfortable?"
" I shall see to it," Basil replied, turning and walking deeper into the cave where the only light was the glow of the materia within the walls. Sephiroth watched him go, feeling glad to have a friend he could depend on not only for reliability, but also for good company. Sephiroth trusted Basil in a way he trusted no other. And Basil returned that trust in a way no one have ever trusted him before. Sephiroth was glad he had met this strange man he had come to call 'his friend.' Sephiroth leaned against the back of the couch and slept, patiently waiting for the medicine to heal him and truly content for the first time in his life.
* * * Rufus tied his chocobo to a tree. He continued to listen carefully for any sound of movement other than his own. He heard none. Rufus studied the cave where the black chocobo's rider had entered. It was small cave, roughly the size of a house, hidden in the surrounding foliage. He wouldn't have been able to find it on his own, it was so well concealed. Slowly, he crept toward the entrance and peered inside. The only sign of life he saw was a man lying on a couch and he seemed to be asleep. It wasn't the same man he had seen riding the chocobo, however. Rufus concluded mentally that the other man must have ventured deeper into the cave. Stealthily, Rufus prowled further into the interior of the subterranean room. The evidently sleeping man took no notice of his movement.
Rufus hurried down a passage that branched away from the main cavern. He could hear two voices drifting from farther down the path. Both sounded masculine, but one was deeper than the other as if one speaker was older and the other younger.
" Why am I here," the adolescent voice demanded. Rufus could automatically tell that the voice belonged to a very young person, a boy perhaps.
" Because my companion asked me to collect you and to bring you here," the older voice explained.
" What does your friend want with me," the younger voice charged. Rufus had now reached the end of the passage and was watching the scene with a thoughtful eye. The older speaker was indeed a man. He was very scrawny and not very strong looking with very large violet-blue eyes and a curious look to his features. His dark, brown hair desperately needed to be combed even though it barely reached his ears. His clothes were way too big for him and seriously needed to be washed. He was slight of build as well as short. The tip of a dagger at his belt was the only sign of weaponry that he carried.
The boy didn't seem to be more than seven years old. His dark orange hair fell almost to his shoulders and a strange glow radiated from his azure eyes. He wore a black trenchcoat, dark blue, denim pants, and a black shirt. The boy was tied to a chair. Rufus was suddenly aware of the sound of footsteps coming toward him. Quickly, he ducked into the shadows and held his breath. The man he had seen earlier came down the passage.
" How are you feeling, Sephiroth," the older man asked. The man called 'Sephiroth' shrugged.
" Much better, Basil," he replied. The boy scowled darkly at Sephiroth.
" You seem so bitter, Lucius, you're our guest here you know," Sephiroth teased. Lucius glowered harder.
" What do you want with me," he snarled. Basil and Sephiroth laughed.
" Don't worry, we'll give you back to that bitch you call your mother soon enough," Sephiroth chuckled. Fire roared to life inside Lucius's eyes.
" My mother defeated you with the weakest of her skills," he defied, " she's more powerful than you'll ever be!" Sephiroth grinned evilly.
" Maybe so," he accepted, " but you. Oh Lucius, you and I are two birds of the same feather. If you joined me, you could become the most powerful man in the world."
" Next to you," Lucius contradicted, " as soon as I surpassed your powers you would kill me out of jealousy."
" You're probably right," Sephiroth agreed, " I guess I'll just have to kill you now."
" How's about we duel to the death," Lucius suggested, " that way, I die a fitting death and you get to have the pleasure of killing the only man that rivals your powers."
" I doubt you could be considered a man at your age," Sephiroth chuckled. Lucius shrugged.
" I've got the smarts of a man if not the body of one," he settled. It didn't matter or him one way or another what Sephiroth thought of him.
" Sounds good to me," Sephiroth agreed, " shall we begin?" Basil cut the ropes that bound Lucius to the chair. Sephiroth drew his sword and waited for Lucius to retrieve his. Lucius picked up his two swords. He had made them about two years ago from the claws of the last Materia Keeper that had been left in Mt. Nibel. Adoring their lightness and durability, he had fashioned them into swords with which he destroyed the population of Mako Dragons in the mountain. He still liked to practice with them on days when he had nothing better to do. Not that he needed it, Lucius just liked to stay on top of his skills.
" Ready for the fight of your life, Sephiroth," Lucius challenged. Sephiroth had to admit that the boy was very bold for his age. What a warrior that boy could become, if only he wanted it badly enough.
* * * Gavial stirred within her cave. She could hear her master calling out too her. Slowly, she rose to her haunches. Spreading her great wings, Gavial leapt Heavenward into the clear, blue sky. Her majestic pinions beat the air without mercy as she soared South to answer her master's call. Shivra watched the dragon from the outskirts of Midgar.
' Find Lucius, Gavial,' she willed mentally to the dragon, ' bring him home.'
* * * Lucius waited patiently for Sephiroth's first move. He wasn't the kind that liked to make the opening attack. Moving first gives to much away about your strategy, unless you're good enough and can trick your opponent into thinking falsely about your tactics. Shivra had taught him that when she trained him to fight.
" Are you going to attack me or just wait until I'm too old to remember how to fight," Lucius provoked. Sephiroth snickered at the remarked, knowing all too well that Lucius was trying to tempt him into making the first move.
" I'd lop your head off with my sword if only you were about three inches taller," Sephiroth countered. Lucius could see where this was going, so he decided to play with Sephiroth for a while. He could use the time it would buy.
" It's no strength outta my body if you'd like to wait a few years for me to grow those three inches," he continued, " you're the one who'll be getting old and bent, not me."
" And if I stayed as I am now?"
" Then hooray for you. I'll still be young and strong so I can't say that I'll care. Although this image of you standing here, sword in hand, having this conversation with me when we were going to be fighting will be something amusing to tell my mother when I see her again."
" Don't you mean if you see her again."
" I said when meaning 'when I see her again.' If I had doubted that I would see her again then I would have said if."
" Oh you are bold, little one."
" Have you stooped to a point when you can only fight me with verbal blows that mean nothing to me?"
" And you counter me verbal blows so well. What a great fighter you would make."
" I'd be most grateful if you would evaluate your use of would." Sephiroth began to laugh hysterically.
" I mean this," he exclaimed, leaping at Lucius and swiping with his sword. Lucius jumped back soon enough to suffer only a very long cut across his shoulder. The wound stung viciously but other than that Lucius could detect no further damage.
" A killing blow on the first strike," Sephiroth rejoiced.
" Your perception deceives your mind," Lucius countered, " unless a cut shoulder is a guaranteed fatal blow."
" It is when the cut is made by a poisoned blade," Sephiroth explained, bursting into maniacal laughter upon finishing the sentence. Lucius felt the flesh around the cut start to burn. He cringed painfully, but refused to give Sephiroth the pleasure of knowing that his underhanded tactics had worked. His Mako blood should have protected him from the poison, but this poison came from a source older and much more powerful than Mako.
' Gavial,' Lucius cried out silently with his mind, ' I need you.' All at once, Lucius felt his body tremble violently. His hand went to his wounded shoulder, dropping one of his swords. He gritted his teeth against the pain but it did no good to lessen the feeling.
" Go down, mongrel," Sephiroth taunted, " and die by your mother's poison." He and Basil laughed mockingly as Lucius clutched the walls for support. Sephiroth sauntered over to Lucius and shoved him to the ground, laughing all the while.
" Don't you think we should have some kind of trophy for this moment," Basil suggested.
" An excellent idea," Sephiroth agreed. He reached down and tore the bloody sleeve from Lucius's shirt and picked up one of his swords. " These will be great souvenirs to show that mother of yours," he taunted, " I can just imagine the look on her face when we tell her that her only son is dead and we have his sword and his bloody sleeve to prove it."
" You bastard," Lucius wheezed. He was growing weaker by the second, his young body being more receptive to Chiyupakabara's poison than Sephiroth's. Sephiroth, out of pure spite, struck Lucius across the face. The blow stung fiercely and sent Lucius rolling.
" Jenova's bastard to you, boy," Sephiroth mocked as he followed Basil down the passageway, just barely missing Rufus, and out of the cave.
Rufus didn't risk venturing out until he was sure that Sephiroth and Basil were gone. When that time came, he rushed over to Lucius an scooped the boy up in his arms. Rufus immediately noticed how light the boy was. Lucius groaned painfully.
" Who are you," Lucius asked slowly, his voice barely more than a whisper. Rufus pressed his fingers to the boy's throat. His pulse was weakening.
" My name's Rufus," he explained, " I'm here to help." Lucius closed his eyes and mumbled something that Rufus couldn't discern. " What," Rufus asked. Lucius tried to repeat himself.
" Black dragon," he stammered. He was cut off by a fit of coughing. Rufus didn't know what Lucius meant by 'black dragon,' but they couldn't stand around waiting until he figured it out. Sephiroth and Basil could return at any moment. Rufus carried Lucius out of the cave, but before he could reach his chocobo a huge, looming shape appeared above them. After the shape had landed, Rufus could see that it was a giant, black dragon. The dragon moved her head so that she was eye to eye with Rufus.
" Gavial," Lucius whispered from Rufus's arms. The dragon nuzzled Lucius's head lovingly. Lucius reached out and laid a hand on Gavial's muzzle. Gavial responded by turning her great, green gaze to Rufus and giving him a questioning look.
" I won't hurt you or your friend here," Rufus tried to explain, not sure how to address the dragon, " I want to help." Gavial snorted, but she seemed satisfied. She started to shift her body as if preparing for something. Before Rufus knew what she was doing, Gavial had picked him and Lucius up and dropped them on her back. Gavial unfolded her pinions.
" Hold on to something," Lucius admonished softly. Rufus grabbed a hold of one of Gavial's spines just as she beat her powerful wings and rose into the air. He tried to see where they were going but Gavial was flying at a speed fast enough to sting his eyes if they were open too far.
The next thing Rufus knew, they had landed in a cavern of some kind. Rufus was thrown off balance from the force of the landing. He fell, landing on his back in the sand. Surprisingly, Lucius stayed sprawled over Gavial's back. The dragon nudged him with her snout. Very slowly, his hands grasped the curling antlers protruding from the back of Gavial's skull. She tenderly lifted him onto her crown. She carried him across the cavern, letting out a bellow that echoed throughout the whole mountain. She sounded mournful.
* * * Aeris leapt up at the sound of Gavial's roar. She sprinted down the tunnel to Gavial's quarters. Gavial stood with her head held low enough for Aeris to see the still body of Lucius supported by the dragon's head. Aeris dragged Lucius from Gavial's head and held him in her arms. He was limp, pale, and his breath came in shallow gasps.
" Lucius," Aeris tried, " what happened to you?" Then Aeris noticed the man Gavial had brought with her. At first she was sure that her eyes were deceiving her, that somehow she was seeing things. She wasn't. Rufus looked back at her with an expression of equal perplexity. Aeris reminded herself that Lucius needed her help, though she had no idea what was wrong with him.
" What is this place," Rufus asked. Aeris stared at him.
" The caves of Mt. Nibel," she replied, " do you know what happened to Lucius?"
" Sephiroth cut him with a poisoned blade," Rufus explained. Aeris examined Lucius's shoulder, noticing the injury there. The cut stretched all the way across his arm, but it wasn't very deep. It had stopped bleeding and was starting to show signs of infection.
" How long ago was this cut made," Aeris asked, still examining the wound.
" About an hour," Rufus guessed. Aeris motioned for Rufus to follow her. She carried Lucius with her down a tunnel into a dimly lit room. The room was mostly empty, except for some weapons, a lamp, a collection of satchels hanging on pegs driven into the walls, and a bed of furs. Aeris laid Lucius down on the bed. His eyes were closed and he seemed to be in a deep sleep.
" I know it's here somewhere," Aeris mumbled to herself as she began picking through the bags on the walls.
" Can you save him," Rufus asked, sitting beside Lucius and feeling his cold forehead.
" I'm not sure," Aeris replied.
* * * Shivra mounted her chocobo and waited for the others to do the same. Zack climbed onto Anubis's back slowly. His body still hurt from his ordeal with Sephiroth, but he was recovering. Yuffie seemed to lag behind. Shivra noticed this and trotted over to her.
" What's the matter," Shivra asked. Yuffie scowled back, but didn't answer. " You're angry that I didn't save Reno," Shivra implicated.
" You sat there and watched him die," Yuffie snapped.
" You are mad that I couldn't save him," Shivra confirmed.
" No, I'm upset that you didn't try to save him," Yuffie yelled. Shivra could see what Yuffie was getting at. She let go of her chocobo's reins at set her hand on the horn of the saddle.
" I can't make you believe me," she started, " but try to understand that just because I have powers that you've never seen before doesn't mean I can keep people from dying. If I could have saved Reno then I would have. I can't convince you to see through my point of view and I can't change what is meant to happen."
" But, you didn't even try," Yuffie protested, her voice cracking.
" Did you have something for Reno, and this is why you're so upset," Shivra asked bluntly.
" No," Yuffie shot with vehemence, " but what if it was one of us in his place? Would you just let them die too?"
" Everyone has a limit to their powers. You have your limits, people like me have their limits, even people like Sephiroth have limits," Shivra admonished, " we have to learn to accept what we cannot accomplish. Maybe someday you will stop some one from dying and prove me wrong, but until then I suggest you place this hate of yours were it is due." Yuffie fell silent. " I'm sorry if I've upset you," Shivra apologized.
" It's none of your blame," Yuffie forgave, " I should be hating Sephiroth not you." Shivra nodded slightly, acknowledging Yuffie's apology.
" I am sorry that I couldn't save Reno," she comforted as she goaded Osiris into a trot, " but it does no good to dwell on past misfortune."
" Where are we going now," Cloud asked, coming up beside Shivra on his own chocobo.
" To search for my son," Shivra replied.
" You may want to give up on that and find a mourning site," a voice from the rise ahead of them taunted. They all looked up to see two black chocobos perched at the top of the hill. They recognized Sephiroth, who was the one that had spoken, but the man on the chocobo at his side was unknown to them. None of them had ever seen him before.
" What do you mean 'a mourning site,'" Cloud demanded. Shivra just stared at Sephiroth. Somehow he had escaped Chiyupakabara's poison. The poison was fatal within two hours once it hit the bloodstream, give or take up to twenty minutes depending on the size of the person. The man beside Sephiroth rode his chocobo slowly toward them. He stopped about four feet in front of Shivra's chocobo. She studied him skeptically. He grinned evilly and held up a bundle.
" He means this," the man replied tossing it to Shivra then turning and riding back up to Sephiroth. Shivra caught the bundle and unwrapped it. The fabric wrapped around Lucius's sword was bloody.
" Doesn't your son wear that kind of clothing," Sephiroth jeered, " and use that kind of sword." Shivra felt her heart skip a beat. Something bad happening to Lucius? The very idea froze her heart.
" What have you done with Lucius," Shivra demanded.
" Don't worry about him," Sephiroth mocked, " you'll never see him again anyway so just forget about him." All eyes were on Shivra. She clutched the fabric in her hand, the fabric drenched in her son's blood. Suddenly she let out a cry like a wounded beast and sank against her chocobo's back, screaming.
" God damn you, Sephiroth," she wailed, " you've taken the only worthwhile person in my life away! Damn you! Damn you to the fires of Hell and Damnation!" Shivra's body suddenly flashed, a powerful light erupting from the fibers of her flesh and collecting above her in a cloud of light shards. The shards took the form of a woman with long, tangled, black hair and burning red eyes. She was clothed in a tattered white gown. Her hands were like the claws of a beast, her feet bare as one who walked through life with no need of shoes. Sephiroth recognized her as a creature he had seen once in one of Hojo's reports. She was a Banshee.
" Holy shit," Barret stammered.
" Fulfill my cries, Incarnation of the Air and the Fire, destroy them," Shivra lamented. The Banshee charged at Sephiroth and Basil, screaming at a pitch deadly to mortal ears. All but Shivra vainly covered their ears to shut out the mournful sound. Sephiroth kicked his chocobo hard, trying to make it go. Basil did the same. Both chocobos, frightened by the Banshee and startled by the kicks, floundered, unseating their riders. Sephiroth and Basil both went down, scrambling to escape the Banshee's defining screams. She came at Basil, who was nearest, first. He cried out as the Banshee's claw-like fingers raked his face. Sephiroth tried to defend his friend but the Banshee then turned on him, clawing him unmercifully. He finally gave up and tried to flee. The Banshee lost interest in him and turned to Basil once more. She latched onto Basil, her nails tearing his flesh like paper. He screamed again, weaker this time. Sephiroth charged the Banshee again this time with his sword, trying to fend her away from Basil, who lay curled in an unmoving, bloody heap on the ground. Sephiroth fought against the Banshee frantically for she was racking him with her claws, drawing small gushes of blood with every swipe. The Banshee struck Sephiroth in the face, sending him sprawling backwards. She then flew at him, aiming for a killing blow. Basil summoned the last of his strength and threw himself at Sephiroth, intercepting the Banshee's blow. He let forth a gargled shriek and fell to the ground beside Sephiroth where he lay still.
" Basil!" Sephiroth yelled his friend's name but received no answer. More out of fury than will, he made one last strike at the Banshee and succeeded in hitting her. She flew back and screeched more in rage than hurt. Sephiroth gathered Basil in his arms and leapt onto his chocobo's back. He spurred the beast, hoping that the Banshee wouldn't catch them. But when he looked back, the Banshee was not following him. Basil moaned from the safety of Sephiroth's arms. His body was deeply cut from the Banshee's claws. His blood staining Sephiroth's clothes.
* * * " Enough, Anema," Shivra commanded. The Banshee stopped and hovered beside her summoner. " Go now, you've done well," Shivra ordered. They all watched Anema's body slowly descend toward Shivra. The two collided and their physical bodies joined, forming one body again. Shivra dismounted and fell to the ground sobbing. Her long hair veiling her face from view. Cloud approached her cautiously. She slowly lifted her head and stared at him. Tears streamed down her face.
" What was that," Cloud asked. Shivra hung her head again.
" That was Anema, the Banshee," she explained slowly, " a summon born from the one that summons her. A fierce emotion such as pain or grief is needed to cal her, otherwise it doesn't work." Cloud contemplated this new information.
" So everyone has a Banshee within," Cloud asked.
" In a way," Shivra answered. An awkward silence descended. Nobody was sure how to comfort Shivra in her time of dire loss.
" I'm sorry about Lucius," Cloud tried to comfort after the long pause. Shivra felt the tears as they trailed down her face.
" I've been hurt like this so many times in my life you'd think I'd be used to it by now," she retorted, " first having to leave my home, then having all those tests done to me, losing Rufus and my humanity, and now," her voice broke, " now I've lost Lucius, too."
" I didn't realize how much suffering you've been through," Cloud responded. Shivra met his gaze.
" To bear Jenova's mark destroys much in a person," Shivra reciprocated drawing herself up and putting her arms around her knees, " So few can escape its terrible grip on destiny. It always hits your vision first, and not just your physical vision, but the way you see things. That's why our eyes become forever scarred with its mako coloring. After a long while, it drains you of all your emotions, except for hate. In the end you become a mindless puppet that can only hate and despise the world." Cloud thought on this for a while, realizing how true it was. So many who were exposed to mako went insane.
Shivra continued her analogy, " ShinRa wanted to create the perfect soldier, in the end they only strengthened the harsh reality that the weak cannot survive without the aid of the strong. But their experiments rendered the weak utterly helpless to the mako, even with the help of the strong. Sephiroth went crazy because he wasn't strong enough mentally to cope with the reality of mako injections. I didn't want that for Lucius. I sought to protect him from Sephiroth and the poison that mako pollutes destiny with..." Shivra's trailed off. Cloud and the others were stunned. She could stand down Sephiroth but she too was vulnerable to her emotion. It was rapidly changing their impression of her as a heartless shell.
" Damn Jenova and her poison," Shivra finished, wiping her eyes.
" What will you do now," Yuffie asked. Shivra vaulted onto Osiris's back and seized the reins. Cloud also re-mounted.
" I go to Mideel," Shivra answered, " something there calls me. I hear it like a distant cry for help. Perhaps it's Rufus calling me, or maybe I just feel like jumping into the lifestream. If Lucius really is dead then I have nothing left."
" You might never come back if you jump into the lifestream," Tifa protested.
" I appreciate your concern," Shivra thanked, " but... oh why do I bother? I'm not good at coming up with reasons for what I do. I've always been that way. I do what I want, always have and probably always will. Rufus once said that I was like a wildfire, uncontrollable and without restriction. I suppose I tend to live up to the name." Cloud couldn't help but smile at Shivra's words. Cid chuckled at Cloud's smile.
" Don't get attracted to her Cloud," he teased, " you're both taken." Cloud tried to slug Cid but he missed and ended up toppling off his chocobo. Even the deeply wounded Shivra laughed at this.
" You are rather clumsy for someone infused with mako," Shivra observed, leaning back in the saddle, " I must say I'm going to miss all of you. Even though I've only known you for a few days. None of you have to come with me if you don't want to, I have a premonition that this expedition is only going to get more hazardous."
" You've got a weird vocabulary, Shivra," Barret commented, " you use words I've only seen in a dictionary."
" I don't think her terminology is so peculiar," Nanaki protested.
" No wonder," Barret countered, " your vocabulary is just as confusing. You and your words like 'Peculiar' and 'Terminology' it's driving me up the wall and down the other side. How are we supposed to work together if we all can't understand each other?"
" You're the only one who doesn't understand, Barret," Yuffie sniped.
" I don't need no fancy-ass words to fight my battles, just give me some bullets and all the enemies are goin' down," Barret boasted. Shivra laughed. It was a laugh of pure amusement. Barret had never heard a laugh quite like it before. It was very deep and somewhat masculine to his hearing. It bubbled in her throat, kind of the way that Sephiroth laughed but her voice held less malice. Nevertheless, it made her seem somehow darker. It dripped black ink onto the mental picture of her that each of Cloud's group held in their heads.
" Did that scare you too, Tifa," Yuffie whispered.
" You're not the first to be frightened by my twitter," Shivra reassured.
" There you go with those big words again," Barret complained.
" Would you rather I use ignoramus, simpleton, or just plain dumbass to describe your knowledge of language," Shivra provoked. Nanaki, who knew the definitions for all of those words, laughed so hard he started rolling on the ground. " What other words could we use, Nanaki," Shivra baited.
" Dullard," he added.
" Bungler." " Vapid."
" Insipid."
" Fatuous."
" Asinine."
" All right, all right," Barret cut off, " all these big words are making my head hurt."
" You sound like Cloud when you do that," Yuffie added.
" You all are so... so..." Barret couldn't finish his sentence.
" Obnoxious," Shivra tried.
" Exasperating," Nanaki added.
" Irksome?"
" Vexatious?"
" Tedious?"
" Aggravating?"
" Stop using those big words," Barret raged, " you're making me crazy!"
" Come on, Barret," Cloud droned, " even I can understand what they're saying."
" And he is kind of below average intelligence," Yuffie added. This sent everyone, with the exception of Barret, into a frenzy of wild laughter. Once everyone had calmed down, Shivra prepared to speak again, but was interrupted by Barret.
" My mother used to say, 'If you don't got nothin' nice to say then don't say nothing at all,'" Barret interjected. Shivra couldn't help but wonder if Barret had learned to speak from his mother.
" I was going to say that I have vastly enjoyed meeting with all of you," Shivra picked up, she turned to Zack, " you're my little brother, but I can't make you follow me. Your life is your own, do what you will with it. Just remember that I love you." Zack was caught of guard.
" I love you too, sis," he returned, " I want to stay with you."
" I'm going into the Lifestream," Shivra protested, " you've still got Aeris to take care of." Zack hung his head in defeat. " I brought her back for you so you would have someone to be with when I'm gone," Shivra put a hand on Zack's shoulder, " maybe I'll come back someday. You never know what creek the Lifestream will float you down, so chin up and be happy. There's air to breathe and lands to walk, now go enjoy it while it's out there." Zack smiled and returned Shivra's gesture.
" I'll miss you," he said mournfully but with hope in his eyes.
" And I you," Shivra returned, " go back to our home and do what you see fit with it." Shivra broke away and rode Osiris to the top of the hill, " all of you." Then she disappeared over the hill in the direction of Mideel.