Chapter 7: A Trio Looses One
After a few hours of thought, Jazzi found the strength to walk down into the library where Sephiroth and Saul were working to solve the mystery of the mako motors. Just looking at the man who had moments ago kissed her, made her face flush into a light pink color. Why had he kissed her, if he didn't intend on pursuing her? Was he just that screwed up... or was she? Jazzi was staring at him, but was in such deep thought she didn't notice it, or when he spoke to her.
"Jazzi... Jazzi, what's wrong? You okay?" Sephiroth nudged her slightly and then she finally blinked her eyes and looked up at his face.
"What? Oh, um yeah I just came to see how you guys were doing and if I could help in some way."
Saul smiled at her and nodded. "I think I have a job for you. These motors were meant for the ancient weapons that Sephiroth brought to life not so long ago. We think Shin-Ra, or what's left of them, is trying to control those beasts."
"Okay, where do I fit in exactly?" Jazzi crossed her arms across her chest and looked at both of them. She had the feeling she wasn't going to like their assignment.
"Well Jazzi, we thought you could go with me and find their new hiding spot. If we could see how far they are away from controlling the weapons, we would know how much time we in turn have to take them for our own us."
Jazzi looked at Sephiroth with wide eyes. "You intend on trying to control the weapons! That's insane! You could destroy everything, or get yourselves killed!" In the back of her mind she was crying. Sephiroth was more power hungry than she first knew... using the weapons was a dumb idea, and a dangerous one. He could never love her... Jazzi now knew that the kiss they shared was just to calm her down. Sephiroth was no fool when it came to her, and she now knew it.
"Won't you go and at least poke around with me Jazzi? It would be useful information either way if we knew what they were up to." Sephiroth looked upon her with his emotionless face.
Jazzi let out a sigh as she nodded. "I will help you look around, but that doesn't mean I'll help you with your other scheme." If Jazzi didn't leave soon, she may kiss Sephiroth right there and then. She wanted him and couldn't help it, but worse she knew she couldn't. She felt tears drawing near and left before they noticed. As she went up the spiral stairway, her mind screamed. Why on earth did she have to love him! Anyone would be better for her... anyone else could love her back. Her tears flooded out as she lost control. Not being able to have his affections was killing her, and she was killing for him, literally. The thought of Yuffie being buried was almost too much for her to bare. She had murdered one of her dearest friends... for a man who refused to show his compassion towards her. She wiped away the tears and sighed, collecting herself. She decided right then and there that no man would make her cry again.
"Dr. Hojo, sir... we have the samples back from the Tyrant's homicide, and here are your results." A young man, in is mid twenties handed Hojo a manila folder, with papers poking out slightly.
Hojo took them without a word spoken and began looking through them. It took only a few minutes for a smile to form on his lips and she silently mouthed a word... and that word, was a name... Jazzi.
"What a fucking bitch!" Tifa fumed as she walked about the airship during the landing. "I can't believe Jazzi did this!"
"I agree... I never believed she was capable of such atrocities. Life has gave her and us a three-sixty turn." Red sighed heavily as he walked out into the light.
Cloud was grimly silent during the whole flight, and even now as he carried Yuffie's limp body towards the village. Everyone walked behind him, silent as well. Tifa, and Barret were still showing their outrage on their faces.
Trying to explain what had happened to Yuffie's father was a hard task. Cloud managed through it without loosing his composure. The group stayed to show their respect to Yuffie as the three days of the ceremony went on slowly.
"I don't see the point of you going with me." Jazzi walked through the busted front of the mansion and towards the town's center. "I can snoop around there easier by myself."
Sephiroth walked out somewhat behind her with his grim expression that didn't reveal any emotion. "Because, if something were to happen, both of us fighting are better odds than just one. Don't you think?"
Jazzi became flushed with rage and lust. She needed to get away from Sephiroth for a while. He was making her insides so hot she thought she was about to melt, and it annoyed her that she caused none of this on him. "Whatever Sephiroth, you always have to be right so what's the use in arguing with you?" She walked off without letting him talk. If he wasn't going to return her feelings then she didn't want to hear anything from him... at least for the moment.
Not even a half an hour later, they were standing in Gongaga, looking about to find an opening into Shinra's hideout. "You know, it's probably not even in town. I doubt those Tyrants were going to walk through town with that silly crate and expect no one to ask questions."
"You also have to remember Jazzi that that was at night when nobody would be out to ask questions." Sephiroth continued to look about for an opening, but Jazzi had had enough for now.
"I'm going to the bar and relaxing for a bit. Happy hunting." She walked off into the bar and sat down. Immediately, of course, the bar tender noticed her and offered to buy her drink. Since Jazzi didn't have money, she happily agreed. She sipped at the glass for a while until she noticed that four men in the bar were in Tyrant uniform. It didn't take much longer for one of the men to get up and head into a back room, and when he didn't return after fifteen minutes, Jazzi followed. To her delight, he wasn't anywhere to be seen... which meant he had left through a secret door. Her eyes began scanning the walls and anything else in the room.
"What are you doing?" Sephiroth looked at her from the doorway.
"It's in this room, Sephiroth. The door is somewhere in here." She quickly began looking about again but stopped shortly after starting. "I found it." She reached out her hand and pressed in on the right wall, and sure enough, it opened up into an elevator.
Sephiroth just gave a small smirk and walked in beside her, pressing the button for the bottom level. "What are you going to do if we see Hojo?"
Jazzi froze, the thought of seeing him, even here never came across her mind. She couldn't imagine what she may do if she saw him... maybe she would go into a rage and kill him, or maybe she would run away again to where he would never find her.
"Hey, you there?"
"...Yeah, sorry. I don't know what I'd do. You don't think we'll see him, do you?"
"There's the possibility." With that said, the elevator opened up to a room bigger than any Jazzi had ever seen, and sure enough the two monstrous weapons that Sephiroth said they had were being welded and screwed together.
Jazzi darted to the left and headed down the metal stairs with Sephiroth right behind her. Men in Tyrant uniforms stood out from the mob of men in white lab coats, testing and analyzing everything they could get their hands on. "This place is swarming, we won't be unseen for much longer." She crouched down behind three large yellow barrels. "Okay, where now?"
Sephiroth shrugged, "You need to go and steal one of the scientist's clipboards. The information we'll need will be on them."
Jazzi gave him a slight glare. "Yeah, sure... make yourself comfortable." Her eyes darted about the busy area, looking for a near by scientist with a clipboard. After a moment she turned to Sephiroth with an accusing look. "Why don't you make yourself useful and go over there and look?"
Sephiroth raised his eyebrows a bit and smirked. He did just that. As he slowly made his way unseen, his head was full of thoughts, none of which about the task at hand. Was Jazzi a good idea or not? With her around, Sephiroth was endanger of loosing his malevolent ways that had got him this far. True he would not be here right now if it wasn't for the sassy attitude Jazzi possessed. He shook his head of the thoughts to make sure he wasn't going to be seen in his haze of thought.
The sly Jazzi was only a matter of a few feet from the scientist she planned to steal from. His back was to her, which was great. He had long black hair... looked rather greasy, she observed. Jazzi could see slight signs he might be wearing glasses, like all lab rats. She knew what she was going to do, but doing it was another story without being seen. She looked about, and saw everyone busy. She was upon the scientist, but he turned around on her before she could make her next move. The face that stared back at her caught her breath. She backed up, nearly tripping on a large cable. "Hojo!"
His eyes were glossy from behind his glasses, and they stared at Jazzi with malice. "Oh my sweet Jazzi, how did I know you would be back here? Where's your partner?"
Her red hair flew from side to side as she shook her head vigorously. "You can't do anything to me now." She stopped backing up, but her heartbeat didn't quit racing. Her eyes dropped to his clipboard for a second... she still had to get that. She had to rid herself of these childhood demons, right now. Her eyes glared then at the man. "You won't ever lay a finger on me again!" She was in a position to throw a lightning bolt at him, and would have, had the alarm not gone off. Her eyes jumped around her, looking at all the men now staring at her. She was in trouble... her mind acted quickly and charged on Hojo. She managed to push him back with one hand, and rip the clipboard away with the other. He was a weakly, skinny grotesque man that slowly started to fill up her memories that she never knew were there.
"Jazzi! Come on god damn it!" Sephiroth was slicing through any man that was foolish enough to come within range of his masamune.
Before her hands could touch Hojo more than a few mere moments, she was running the way she had come. She had to stop, kick, punch, and dodge on her way, but made it within a minute's time. She literally had to jump over the corpses to gain entrance to the elevator that Sephiroth was protecting. Jazzi pressed the up button as Sephiroth stabbed one last man as the doors closed. The elevator was silent except for the faint sound of the alarm floors below them, ringing loudly. Jazzi had the clipboard hugged to her bosom like she feared that it might disappear.
Sephiroth sheathed his masamune and looked to Jazzi. "Good job, you got it. Just act normal, and maybe we'll get out of town without anymore trouble."
She stood up straight beside him with a blank expression. Jazzi turned her head to him and handed over the clipboard with a quick shove. "You take the fucking thing; I don't want to touch it anymore." The elevator door opened, and she walked out first. Jazzi couldn't have cared less if she looked suspicious... she wanted to release some of her anger.
Sephiroth exited a few steps behind Jazzi, and quickened his pace to get beside her. The two left the bar, but not without being noticed by three Tyrants.
The three men waited a minute before following the two characters. The Tyrants exited the bar, and started firing their guns. Seven bullets whizzed through the air, headed straight for the two.
Both, Jazzi and Sephiroth, heard the gunfire and swerved to either side. Jazzi turned to face the gunners as she moved to the side. Her evasion attempts were no good because a bullet hit Jazzi in the upper left thigh. A scream exploded from her lips, but she didn't fall. Sephiroth did a ground roll to avoid the shots and succeeded. Within a second of securely standing, Sephiroth had his masamune drawn and began walking forward.
The Tyrants' gunfire turned towards Sephiroth since he was the one drawing closer. Bullet after bullet flew through the air, ready to greet Sephiroth with deadly intent.
Sephiroth used his masamune to reflect the bullets, sending ricochet in all different directions.
Jazzi glared at the men occupied with who they believed was the greater threat. She didn't have to move an inch to harm these fools. Her emerald eyes vanished behind an explosion of electrical sparks. Before Sephiroth could reach the three men, Jazzi's anger had taken care of them. A lightning bolt flew from her hands, and in mid-air split into three smaller, but still deadly bolts. Each bolt hit their target, killing the Tyrants, instantly.
Sephiroth sheathed his masamune, and walked up to Jazzi... her eyes were still sparking with electrical energy. "Feel better?"
"Sort of, but my leg doesn't... could you heal me so we can get going?"
"You are prone to injuring this leg." He bent down and placed his hand over the bullet wound.
Jazzi clenched her jaw tightly as the healing spell drew the bullet out, causing quite a lot of pain. Soon the wound was completely healed.
Sephiroth stood back up, jumping to the air and flying off towards the mansion.
Jazzi sighed, bending the newly healed leg to make sure. Then she was gone with only a pale yellow streak to suggest she had been there, and the three dead men left behind.
Hojo had his hands full, getting things in order. The bodies were almost gone from where Sephiroth had slain them. Once enough of the mess was gone, and the men had calmed down; Hojo began getting a team together to recruit soldiers. Now that he knew Jazzi was really alive and with Sephiroth, he planned on getting her back... by force. Hojo knew it would take almost an army to win the battle, but he was not concerned with time... she would stay with him; they were too much alike. Hojo had a feeling Sephiroth would be in the mansion, but not for long. "Oh well." He walked amongst the hectic people as he spoke to himself. "Maybe they will come to me again."
A man yelled for Hojo's attention, and motioned for him to come towards him.
Hojo pushed the topic of Jazzi aside for a moment, certain they would be back sooner or later.
Jazzi arrived at the mansion a minute or so before Sephiroth, greeting him with a small smile of triumph. "I move faster than you."
Sephiroth smirked at her. "I wasn't trying to go fast; next time I'll know better." He kept walking, and entered the half-demolished entrance.
Saul was waiting for them both, eager to read the report they were supposed to bring back. He approached the two, and smiled, looking to the clipboard. "Alright, you actually got it. Let me see it." Saul reached out, taking the report.
Jazzi remained silent, walking by Saul, and headed into the hallway to the right of the stairway.
Saul stared at the report, reading away as he mindlessly walked up the stairs. He said something to Sephiroth, but it was mumbled and undecipherable.
Sephiroth was left alone in the opened room. He kicked a small piece of wood across the floor. After a few minutes, he decided to go check to see what Jazzi was doing. AS he walked down the small hallway, he started to hear a noise, sounding something like... water, maybe? The door was shut, all but an inch closed off. Sine the door was slightly a jarred; Sephiroth took the liberty to push the door open.
Jazzi heard the door move, and flipped her head around to look why. Her cheeks turned a slight pink as she saw Sephiroth staring at her blankly. Jazzi grabbed a towel, and covered up quickly, concealing her naked body.
Sephiroth stood in slight shock, he didn't look away... maybe because his mind couldn't recover fast enough, or maybe he just didn't want to look away.
Jazzi finally got her voice back to break the silence. "Can I help you!" She was slightly glaring at him now. The shower was running hot water that started to heat the room and fog up the windows and mirror.
He blinked a bit then cleared his throat. "I was coming to just see what you had walked off for." As he spoke, his eyes looked at her barely covered body.
"Well now you know. Can you please..." Her voice lost its strength again as Sephiroth slowly walked towards her. His hands grabbed onto the towel, and pushed it down to the floor. Her eyes went wide, looking into his face; her mind so full of questions. Her mouth opened to speak, but it stayed silent as Sephiroth kissed her, deeply.
The bathroom door shut and the shower ran... for over an hour. Saul was within the library, reading away, clueless to what was going on above him.
Darkness came, as Jazzi was placing on her boots. Her eyes looked over to Sephiroth, who was replacing his long coat. She bit her lip slightly, thinking of what to say. "Um... this is real now? You can't just walk away from this one?"
Sephiroth fastened his coat together, and then looked upon Jazzi. Her hair was soaking wet and dark... though, so was his own. They had shared a moment that was too deep to ignore. He didn't exactly know what caused him to even create the moment, but he didn't regret it. "No, you're right, I wouldn't want to. Come on, we need to get out of this room... I'm burning up." He offered her his hand to help her up, and they walked into the front room.
Jazzi smiled at him, covering her mouth to hide a yawn. "I'm going to go to bed. You should think about it too." She gave him a wink, walking upstairs and to her bed she had been sleeping in. As she walked into the bedroom, her face lit up. He had let into his feelings, and the result was... well an experience she was not going to forget. She removed her boots and laid down in bed. Her body was tired, but her mind buzzed with activity. She didn't know how long she had been laying there before she heard a noise came from behind her. Before she could turn around, Sephiroth was laying down beside her. She let him curl up near her till their bodies were pressed together. Her mind no longer wandered and she found sleep.
Sephiroth laid still, his arm wrapped over her, while she slept. He wasn't really tired, but quickly felt as if he was. The comfort of her body near his was too much, and his eyes grew heavy. After only about ten minutes, he was soundly asleep with Jazzi.
Now, Saul finally stopped hovering over the report and walked upstairs. "Damn, how late is it?" He saw it was midnight practically and started walking around for one of the two. "Sephiroth?" He didn't hear an answer, so he went to wake Jazzi where she had been sleeping. When he entered the room, he stopped dead in his tracks. His brain knew what he was seeing, but it couldn't compute it. Jazzi's body was curled up in the curve of Sephiroth's... and his arms around her! He blinked a bit then nodded slowly, agreeing that it was indeed real. His body turned, followed slowly by his gaze. Saul decided he needed to sleep, so he went to the other hall, and slept in the bedroom.
Morning came all too soon for Jazzi. Her eyes opened lazily, but within a second she was awake... Sephiroth wasn't there anymore. She sat up and looked about... nothing. She decided to slip on her boots and walk downstairs.
Saul greeted her at the stairway with a look of malice on his face.
Jazzi was startled and stepped back a bit. "What in the hell is wrong with you?" She almost smirked at him once she got her bearings, starting to walk around him. "Have you seen Sephiroth?"
He grabbed her arm tightly before she could get around him, glaring at her. "Yes... I have, but it's too bad you won't."
She looked down at her arm, then up at him. "What's the big idea! Let go of me prick!" Her eyes widened at the look Saul was giving her. She wasn't given anytime to react further, his free hand hit her across the face to where her eye felt like it was going to pop out. If he hadn't of been holding onto her arm, she would have fallen down the stairs. Her head turned towards him just in time to receive another mind numbing blow. This one made a gasp escape her mouth. Pain shot through her face, and down her spine it seemed. She didn't let the pain stop her from escaping his grasp. Her body started sparking with electricity, sending volt after volt into Saul's body from where he held onto her. The trick worked, but not without a cost.
"You fucking bitch!" Saul not only let go of her, but threw her with a sharp shove.
Jazzi's eyes widened as she fell backwards, then tumbled down the stairs. Her head hit one of the railings, breaking it in two as she went down. Once she landed on the bottom floor and stopped rolling, she got up to her feet. She looked up for Saul, and sure enough he was already half way down the stairs, sword in hand... he was going to kill her!
He clenched the sword with both hands, grinning evilly. "Don't worry about it Jazzi, I have already thought of a lie to feed Sephiroth. You haven't caused so much damage yet that he won't forget you. He will continue on like you never existed... but only if I get rid of you now!" He swung his sword across the air, stretching his arm as far as it would go, trying to slice Jazzi in two.
Her eyes widened, jumping back... just enough to stop him from killing her. His sword made contact and cut into her flesh on her side. She fell to the ground and looked up at Saul in shock. "I don't want to hurt you... you're Sephiroth's brother. He'd never forgive me!"
Saul smirked at her. "I thought this was going to be a challenge... but look at you, you're at my mercy." He brought the sword down upon her, wanting in everyway to slice her body in half!
Jazzi saw his sword begin to come down and closed her eyes tightly. 'Forgive me'... she thought as her body exploded with pale yellow light, that flew out, and in mid-air it turned into a pale blue. Saul met his death before he knew what was coming. The blade he met to be her doom, fell harmlessly beside her as he fell to the ground. Jazzi opened her eyes to look at him and sighed out loud. His body had a hole through it the size of a basketball, with no blood escaping the wound, since the intense heat cauterized it. She frowned as she stood up, just staring at the corpse. "Oh shit..." She walked to the stairs and sat down, holding onto her side. She realized it was bleeding pretty bad... her shorts getting stained with crimson. She had lost track of time, wondering what was going to happen when Sephiroth saw this. She was over whelmed with grief... she had killed Yuffie... and now Saul, Sephiroth's brother. Just when he had opened up to her...this had to happen. Her eyes started to water as she held her head in her hands, and she began to cry.