Experimental

Beginnings: Part Four

Kagi

The library. Sanctuary. Just a few more feet-- Stretch out a groping hand--

Anzu cries out behind Neko. Neko twists around mid-step, extended hand breaking her against the door, eyes widening as the dark shadows in the corners stretch towards the brightest heart they can find. Stretch towards a fallen Anzu.

"NO!" Neko lunges back towards her sister, hands catching on a golden-brown sleeve, fastening onto warm fingers. "No! Imouto, come on, stand up!"

Anzu beats her wings against the floor, free arm pushing her halfway up to her knees before dark tendrils wind themselves up her body.

"C'mon!" Neko pulls as hard as she dare, tears starting to flood her eyes. Spikes of ice sprout around Anzu, but the darkness flows around them like water, wrapping her more firmly, crushing fragile bones-- Neko wraps her own arms around Anzu, trying to pull the girl free of the darkness--

"Neko..." Anzu whimpers. "I can't--"

A scream echoes down the hall, pain enveloping everyone that hears it. And Neko FEELS her sister dissolve, feels her heart slip away, feels the darkness take her.

'NO! I will NOT allow it!'

Takeo looks up towards the doors as they open, aquamarine eyes wide and frightened. And cries out inarticulately at the sight of his sister lying motionless in the arms of a stranger.

"N-Neko!" he wails, tears spilling over as he dashes towards her. "P-please, don't be dead, please..." Takeo halfway crashes into the man's legs, looking up pleadingly. "Neko... "

The man stares back down at him, then moves slowly towards the back of the library. "She's not dead. She isn't even hurt, beyond some bruises." He remains silent until Neko lies next to the table under the stairs. Then he turns and looks at Takeo again, green eyes glowing with half-masked confusion. "Aren't you afraid of me?"

"Huh?" Takeo sniffles and rubs at his eyes, staring up (and up, and up) at the man. "Sh-should I be?" A skittish uncertainty crosses his face, and he almost steps away. But Neko's eyes struggle open and she mewls in pain, and Takeo is instantly kneeling beside her, silver-and-chestnut hair falling around his face.

"Imouto! Daijoubu ka?" He smoothes back her hair gently and continues, "What hurt you?"

Tears leak from Neko's eyes, and she squeezes them closed. "Anzu-chan..."

"A-Anzu? Is, is she all right? Where is she?"

Neko whimpers, shuddering and pulling herself close.

Takeo starts crying again, pulling Neko close and winding his hands into her hair, barely able to pull in and release a spell. But Neko quiets in his arms, breath evening as she falls into sleep.

Others start to trickle into the library.

Leon, Cloud, Cid, Aerith and Yuffie sit on the second level of the library, arrayed around the table there.

"So, wassup with this war council?" Yuffie sits on the corner of the table, legs swinging, neck craned around to look at the others. "And what're we supposed to do with the brats, now that they've shown?" She jerks her head towards the small clump under the staircase.

Leon rubs his scar as he thinks, ignoring the thump-thump-thump of Yuffie's feet hitting the leg of his chair. "The children are currently unthreatening, and may be an asset... From what I could pry from Sephiroth, the girl is in shock from watching her sister die. If she could get over it quickly, she has very strong magic, if Aerith's report is accurate." Aerith shudders at the thought of using someone so young as a weapon, but doesn't object. "Pieced with Cloud's encounter, we can assume that boy has strong control over lighting of any kind, which could be very useful."

Cloud nods. "I could feel the magic turning back on me," he pauses for a moment, "which no one has ever been able to do. Even when sparring with the wielder of the Keyblade, he could only try to dodge those attacks."

"Damn, you serious?" Cid stares at Cloud for a moment, then shakes his head. "This kid must be pretty damn good, to do something Sora couldn't."

"We all can do things Sora couldn't. It's just surprising that a young boy has that much talent." Aerith props her elbows before her, her head on her hands, and sighs slowly. "Their sister is gone? I only caught a glimpse of her, but she was very young, very innocent, very scared. It's terrible."

Cloud lays a comforting hand across her back. Silence reigns for a moment, then Yuffie pipes up again.

"But what about the Heartless? How'd they come back, 'n how're we gonna stop them?"

"It was Oni. Niisan. My brother."

The table turns as one towards the soft, sad voice, and Takeo looks mournfully at them from around a bookshelf.

"How do you know?"

Takeo ducks his head at Leon's question. "Neko. She was the last to see him-- she wanted to try sparring, fighting him to get him to come back. Hurt him as much on the outside as A-Anzu and I hurt on the inside." He glances up through his bangs at them, then looks down again. "I listened to her memories, sorta, and his-- his eyes were glowing yellow when he pinned her. They--" Takeo chokes slightly, but continues slowly. "His eyes always changed, but the color never bled over the middle, overflowed the edges... And they were..." He shudders, backing away from the table. "Sorry. I, I shouldn't have wasted your time..."

"That wasn't a waste of time." Aerith slips from her seat and pads towards the boy. She kneels in front of him, eyes level with his, and touches his shoulder tentatively. "What's your name?"

"T-Takeo..." He glances from the ground to her, then back down again. "I'm sorry, about, about when Oni knocked you out. He was trying to protect me..."

"S'alright." Aerith moves her hand to the top of his head, petting his hair gently as she smiles reassuringly. "Would you like to come talk to me?"

"I... Don't they need you here?"

"Aww, nah, I'm useless when it comes to tactics and stuff like that." She waves her other hand towards the table, and continues, "They're the ones who can actually fight-- sometimes a little too well, if you ask me-- so I'm just around to stop Leon's hissyfits."

Leon chokes on air, Cloud snickers into his hand, and Cid and Yuffie laugh outright at Aerith's statement. And Takeo lets a tiny smile tug the edge of his mouth, head tilting slightly into the gentle caress of Aerith's hand.

Sephiroth watches Takeo's conversation with Aerith, then turns back to watch over the sleeping girl. He can't help but think how strange it is, that anyone would trust him to watch over a helpless child, but then...

"We have to stop the Heartless, before they spread to other worlds."

"No duh, Squall--"

"Leon."

"--SQUALL, but how the hell are we supposed to do that, huh?"

"She's right, dammit. Bleeding hells above, we don't even know where Sora is-- Even if we could reach him to get things locked up. This is effin' bad."

"Aerith would say something will work out."

'Soon.'

"Eek! Was I the only one that heard that?!"

... Sephiroth hadn't attended the meeting, but Baralai had left a note about it and surrounding events. And he can't recall that any children were born in the last few years-- so these must be the experiments, that Ansem had created...

:: Poor children :: is his first thought, surprising himself with the sudden sympathy he felt towards them. But then, why shouldn't he feel sympathy? It was bad enough, that Ansem and That Bastard Hojo had experimented on Cloud and himself AFTER they were born, but to be born directly from Ansem's experiments...

Later that day, Neko wakes crying silently. As Takeo holds her close, she whispers tearfully to him, and as she finishes, his own tears spill over.

"Thank you, for watching her while she slept." Takeo and Neko are no longer huddled close, but their hands are tightly wound together, and it doesn't look like they'd ever let go.

"It's all right. I don't have anything else to do." Sephiroth manages to make his words lukewarm instead of cool. "Even if I particularly wanted to fight, Paranoid Boy up there--" and Sephiroth makes a short motion towards a scowling Cloud watching from the balcony, "-- would convince Leon I'd rejoin the darkness within three seconds."

Takeo lets out a startled giggle. "Paranoid boy? It took us three years..." The sudden brightness fades from his eyes, and he falls into silence.

"Ani-- we should..." Neko sniffles and trails off.

"Aa... Thank you again. My sister and I need to talk, though, so... I guess I'll see you later." Takeo bows slightly, the movement a touch stiff and unfamiliar. Then the two children skitter away, leaving Sephiroth alone. Again.

"You're sure?..." Neko nods at Takeo's query, and he sniffs back tears. "Well... I, I think we can trust him..."

"We can always trust him. I know we can." But Neko's voice is wavering just as badly as Takeo's, and her face is paler than ice.

They stare at each other for a moment, then Neko slaps her hand against part of the bookshelf. A portion of the wall pops open into a small door, and they climb through.

Glossary:

Imouto: Little sister (Informal)

Daijoubu ka?: Are you safe/all right?

Niisan: Older brother

Ani: Older brother (very informal)

Aa: Affirmitive sound, informal "Yes"