The Reactor
"Remus. I'm sorry...I"
"SHUT UP! I don't care!! How could you?? I trusted you!"
Sirius was about to respond when he felt a sharp pain on his forehead and a small object
landed in his hands. It was the Chime Bauble he had given Remus for his birthday. Hearing the
door slam he looked up only to see darkness.
"Remus!?"
Sirius sat up in bed and looked around the room. As his head cleared from the nightmare he
remembered what had happened. He was in a strange place where he didn't understand the
language. He supposed he should get up as he had been in bed half the day. Sephiroth... The
silver haired man and the people who had come with him had left the village to go look at some
"Reactor" earlier and hadn't returned yet. As he sat up the Bauble around his neck chimed softly
making him think of Remus again. It was at that moment Sirius decided that no matter what he
would find his way home; he would find his way back to Remus and earn his forgiveness.
Sephiroth stepped through the doors of the reactor, still listening to the girl shouting at his
back as he made her wait outside with Strife. The mission was not going well. He had already lost
the other rifleman when the bridge collapsed and Zack had bee injured fighting. The boy was
limping behind him as they made their way through the reactor. Upon reaching the core of the
reactor Zack sat to rest and apply another healing potion to his leg. Sephiroth walked up to the
chamber in back. It was sealed tightly with a plaque reading JENOVA across the top.
"Jenova...Why here"
"Hey, General! I think I found the problem! Something's up with this valve"
"Take care of it then."
While Zack tended to the problem Sephiroth looked around suspiciously. There was something eerily familiar about this
place and he did not like it. He felt as if he were being watched by some vicious creature just waiting to attack.
As he passed one of the mako pods he heard something from within. Pulling himself up to the small glass viewing window,
his eyes widened as he saw what was inside.
Zack raced behind his superior as they headed back to the village.
"Sephiroth! Come on slow down. You haven't told us anything! What the hell was that thing! What's going on"
The SOLDIER stopped so suddenly Zack had to back step to keep from running into him. The
two teens however bumped right into Zack. Sephiroth turned and looked at Tifa.
"People from your village have been disappearing." It wasn't a question. The girl nodded slowly.
"Whoa! Wait a minute! You're not saying that thing you killed in the reactor was human... are you"
Zack looked horrified.
"I don't know. Every pod in that reactor has a creature inside it that is so overdosed with mako
the things have nearly crystalized and there is one pod in there for every man, woman, and child
that has vanished from Nibelheim . They may have been human once...they may have been the
people who are missing from this village." Sephiroth turned and looked at the now just visible
Nibelheim, the Shin-ra mansion blocking most of the view.
"I don't know what is going on here but we may find some of the answers there"
Sirius sat at the well watching the road that lead through the mountains waiting for the
others to return. He missed Tifa already; she was the only one from the village that didn't treat
him like he was mentally unstable or a small child. He had already grown attached to his rescuers.
Zack was funny and loud; he reminded Sirius of James. Cloud was quiet and just seemed to
follow like Peter did though Sirius knew there was much more to both of them if they would just
be given the chance. He hoped to go home and give that chance to Peter some day... and Tifa was
like Remus, kind and gentle but secretly strong.
Sephiroth...There was no one to compare him to. He was in a league of his own. Sirius
blushed remembering the kiss. It was embarrassing and he had been frightened when he realized
what he had done, but the man had said nothing seeming more shocked at Sirius' inability to
speak their language than the kiss.
Sirius wandered to the well in the center of the town and saw Sephiroth and the others
returning and waving to Tifa. He ran to meet them. Reaching the group at the edge of the village he
paused, confused, when Sephiroth walked past him and up to the gate of the old creepy mansion
without so much as a nod of acknowledgment.
"You're not actually going in there are you?" Zack asked as he walked to the taller man's side.
Sephiroth walked past him without a word. Zack sighed in frustration.
"You're on your own, man! No one in their right mind woul"
Zack was cut off as Sirius ran to catch up with the General "You're BOTH nuts!
Sirius looked back confusedly before following Sephiroth again. They walked through the
abandoned mansion, Sirius following close behind Sephiroth as the man spoke quietly to himself.
Sirius would repeat any distinct words he spoke mostly to remind the other man that he was
there. Other than those sounds and the creaking of the floor boards the silence was suffocating.
After searching through the house Sephiroth came to the last room, tired from searching and
frustrated . Sirius had stopped trying to help when he had used Alohamora to open a safe and a
giant monster had jumped out. Sephiroth had killed it easily of course, the challenging part had
been convincing the terrified Sirius it was safe to come out of the closet he had hidden in. He had
given Sirius the Summon materia the beast had guarded preferring his own strength to that of
ancient spirits. He held on to the key that came with it.
The two stood in the last room, the only place they hadn't searched yet, and Sephiroth began
searching the room while Sirius went over to the stone wall on the far side of the room and
leaned on it....an action that turned out to be a mistake and a blessing in disguise, for as soon as
he put weight on it the wall opened up and if not for Sephiroth's unnatural speed he would have
fallen down quite a long way.
They stayed at the top of the stair case staring down into the dark depths of the secret
basement. Sephiroth pulled Sirius up to his feet slowly and began walking down quietly lest there
be some creature waiting for them here too. Sirius stayed close behind him at the bottom they
were meet by an empty dark hallway. They walked to the room at the end of hall way passing a
locked door to one that stood partly opened. Entering they found a library and a small laboratory.
Sephiroth immediately began searching through the books while Sirius looked at the equipment
curiously.
It could have been just past midnight or even days later, Sephiroth had no idea down in the
dimly lit basement. The boy had been asleep for hours curled up almost kitten like in the old desk
chair. He set down the last book; he had found his answers. They had discovered more that he had
ever wanted to know. Jenova, his mother, was not human and he was not human, just the result of a
military science experiment to create the perfect soldier; a killing machine to do Shin-Ra's bidding.
For the first time Sephiroth, the most powerful warrior in the world, was lost. He didn't know
what to do. Fear, confusion, and anger all melted into one indescribable feeling that caused his
chest to feel constricted and his skin to feel as if ice water had been poured over him. Or perhaps
the room was just cold. The boy was shivering as well. Sephiroth removed his coat and wrapped
it around Sirius. Lifting the boy carefully from his uncomfortable position in the chair he whispered as he carried Sirius
down the hall to the stairs,"Now I know how lost you must feel,little one. Don't worry though.
I have not finished searching for answers I want, and I'm sure
you want some as well. We'll search together. Someone somewhere must have them"
As he passed the locked door the key he had taken from the safe fell out of the pocket of
his coat. And landed right in front of the door.