Revelations
Cloud stood at the door, leaning hipshot against the doorway. Vincent stood behind him, gun trained over Cloud's shoulder at the ShinRa scientists. The surprised lab workers threw their hands up in despair as an explosion roared outside, the patter of rain doing nothing to drown out the boom. Cloud's spiky hair drifted down over the Mako glow of his eyes for a moment as the force whipped around them. The AirBuster guarding the labs had fallen to a single slash. Cloud's Ultima Weapon was still stained with oil. One scientist stepped forward and Cloud raised his hand.
"Don't even try it. Every guard in this facility is dead, and Athene fled." He tilted his head to the side, raising an eyebrow. "Does the pay make up for the awful benefits?"
The scientist looked confused. Athene had praised him and his team for working so hard on the weapon and had simply abandoned them to this wise ass? The man's weathered face remained defiant. "No, it doesn't. What do you want?"
Cloud's reply was short, but nonetheless staggering. "To resurrect Sephiroth."
The scientist's hand went to his heart.
Two hours later, Cloud had related his story. Two years ago, after they had destroyed Sephiroth, Cloud had hunted down the other two Weapons, Ruby and Diamond, before they could cause any real trouble. A few months after a relatively peaceful quiet, they began to form Avalanche once more to take on ShinRa. The company was once more at harvesting harmful amounts of Mako, and plus, Cloud was going to make damn sure they didn't start any more biogenetic experiments. Skirmishes between the rebellion and ShinRa weren't especially violent, but ShinRa was slipping. Their numbers were dwindling, both in manpower and money. They needed a trump card to play. So when Athene had begun production of her own Weapon to crush Avalanche for good, Cloud had to intervene before she inadvertently destroyed the entire Planet.
The scientist nodded. He hadn't realized exactly how much power he was about to unleash-the output had looked phenomenal on the schematics, sure, but they were just numbers. Besides, the A.I. had been specifically instructed to assault Avalanche. But what about after that? After Sapphire had neared completion and been moved to Junon, his team had been told "not to worry", that the A.I. was only being "fine-tuned" and had been deliberately uninformed about the chaos the previous Weapons had caused. "Sapphire would have acted exactly like them, because that's what the A.I. was programmed to do-to revert to a natural state of command, which we assumed to be become dormant. Obviously, that's not the case." His face grew tight. "But resurrecting Sephiroth? If your story is true, you of all people should wonder why he'd choose to fight alongside you, even if he was brought back to life."
"Sephiroth was shattered by the idea that he was artificial, unreal, somehow. I think I could talk him out of that, now that Jenova's gone, especially."
"That's idiocy. All I can say is that you're taking a huge risk here, bringing back a problem that so nearly destroyed us all."
Cloud sighed heavily, his shoulders going slack for a moment and his eyes closing. Then one hand snatched outward, abruptly, and grasped the front of the lead scientist's coat. He growled, "Don't you think I know that? How do you think it's going to feel, looking into the eyes of someone who killed a girl I could have loved, and fighting alongside him? How do you think it's going to feel, holding every muscle tense for the moment he might turn on me, constantly? I want him to stay dead and gone, I want to bring him back so I can kill him again, I don't know what I want! What has to be done, however, is to destroy the Weapon you have created! Athene's probably gone to GET the damn thing, and it's going to destroy the world! I've got to put my personal feelings aside and do what I have to do to save this world from you worthless bastards!" His voice had grown to a roar and he was close to throttling the poor fool. The scientist just stared at him. He hadn't been there when Sephiroth had killed Aerith, when the sword had burst out of her stomach, when she had drifted into the water to disappear from view, and Cloud's life, forever. Cloud hadn't been able to deal with that very well, and even now it bothered him, surfacing in these outbursts toward his teammates and those that associated with him. He let go of the unfortunate lab rat and turned away, lowering his head and stalking out of the office. Vincent stepped forward.
"The first one to say anything other than what I ask gets to give my gun a blowjob. Now, where is Sephiroth?"
Cloud stood at the door, leaning hipshot against the doorway. Vincent stood behind him, gun trained over Cloud's shoulder at the ShinRa scientists. The surprised lab workers threw their hands up in despair as an explosion roared outside, the patter of rain doing nothing to drown out the boom. Cloud's spiky hair drifted down over the Mako glow of his eyes for a moment as the force whipped around them. The AirBuster guarding the labs had fallen to a single slash. Cloud's Ultima Weapon was still stained with oil. One scientist stepped forward and Cloud raised his hand.
"Don't even try it. Every guard in this facility is dead, and Athene fled." He tilted his head to the side, raising an eyebrow. "Does the pay make up for the awful benefits?"
The scientist looked confused. Athene had praised him and his team for working so hard on the weapon and had simply abandoned them to this wise ass? The man's weathered face remained defiant. "No, it doesn't. What do you want?"
Cloud's reply was short, but nonetheless staggering. "To resurrect Sephiroth."
The scientist's hand went to his heart.
Two hours later, Cloud had related his story. Two years ago, after they had destroyed Sephiroth, Cloud had hunted down the other two Weapons, Ruby and Diamond, before they could cause any real trouble. A few months after a relatively peaceful quiet, they began to form Avalanche once more to take on ShinRa. The company was once more at harvesting harmful amounts of Mako, and plus, Cloud was going to make damn sure they didn't start any more biogenetic experiments. Skirmishes between the rebellion and ShinRa weren't especially violent, but ShinRa was slipping. Their numbers were dwindling, both in manpower and money. They needed a trump card to play. So when Athene had begun production of her own Weapon to crush Avalanche for good, Cloud had to intervene before she inadvertently destroyed the entire Planet.
The scientist nodded. He hadn't realized exactly how much power he was about to unleash-the output had looked phenomenal on the schematics, sure, but they were just numbers. Besides, the A.I. had been specifically instructed to assault Avalanche. But what about after that? After Sapphire had neared completion and been moved to Junon, his team had been told "not to worry", that the A.I. was only being "fine-tuned" and had been deliberately uninformed about the chaos the previous Weapons had caused. "Sapphire would have acted exactly like them, because that's what the A.I. was programmed to do-to revert to a natural state of command, which we assumed to be become dormant. Obviously, that's not the case." His face grew tight. "But resurrecting Sephiroth? If your story is true, you of all people should wonder why he'd choose to fight alongside you, even if he was brought back to life."
"Sephiroth was shattered by the idea that he was artificial, unreal, somehow. I think I could talk him out of that, now that Jenova's gone, especially."
"That's idiocy. All I can say is that you're taking a huge risk here, bringing back a problem that so nearly destroyed us all."
Cloud sighed heavily, his shoulders going slack for a moment and his eyes closing. Then one hand snatched outward, abruptly, and grasped the front of the lead scientist's coat. He growled, "Don't you think I know that? How do you think it's going to feel, looking into the eyes of someone who killed a girl I could have loved, and fighting alongside him? How do you think it's going to feel, holding every muscle tense for the moment he might turn on me, constantly? I want him to stay dead and gone, I want to bring him back so I can kill him again, I don't know what I want! What has to be done, however, is to destroy the Weapon you have created! Athene's probably gone to GET the damn thing, and it's going to destroy the world! I've got to put my personal feelings aside and do what I have to do to save this world from you worthless bastards!" His voice had grown to a roar and he was close to throttling the poor fool. The scientist just stared at him. He hadn't been there when Sephiroth had killed Aerith, when the sword had burst out of her stomach, when she had drifted into the water to disappear from view, and Cloud's life, forever. Cloud hadn't been able to deal with that very well, and even now it bothered him, surfacing in these outbursts toward his teammates and those that associated with him. He let go of the unfortunate lab rat and turned away, lowering his head and stalking out of the office. Vincent stepped forward.
"The first one to say anything other than what I ask gets to give my gun a blowjob. Now, where is Sephiroth?"