Chapter Four: Gemini - Nibelheim Discoveries
It had taken longer to clean out the ShinRa mansion than the twins had excepted. There were far more monsters in the building than reported by the town's sources. Some they had let the troups take on, others were more dangerous and the generals had taken them on by themselves. They had to admit that it was fun, the stares of their men as they saw their leaders turning much feared creatures into as much as sushi.
Because of the workout their troups had had, the generals decided to give them the next day off, allowing them to explore the city. They would need their men in best form when they went into the mountains and right now several displayed signs of exhaustion and stress.
Also it would give the two the time to explore the mansion. Actually there would be five to search for the secrets of the building, because as soon as Zack had heard of Sephiroth's and Alexander's plans to uncover the secrets of the place, he'd voluntered himself to help them and were Zack was, Cloud and Reno weren't that far away. And so Reno had declared that he wanted to test his skills at the locked doors and safes of the mansion tomorrow and Cloud had said that he would visit his mother later, after the other recruits had stopped mucking around in his hometown. He'd blushed when he'd told the others that his mother had wanted to meet his friends, including the ones that had found out and stopped his torment at the hand of the other Nibelheim boys.
Alexander looked at his young charge, knowing the unsaid reason why Cloud wouldn't go to his mother, or through Nibelheim alone. There were three families whos sons were in Midgar, in jail for at least the next fifteen years. And while it was the boys own fault, he knew that Cloud had been a loner growing up and the blame was laid on him rather quickly. He sighed, as long as Cloud was with one of his friends, he would show his true self, the curious and happy teenager that he was, but as soon as he was seperated from them, he would become skittish and defensive.
So it was decided. The five would go over the mansion with a finetoothed comb tomorrow. But first... first the twins went out and bought two tubs of ice-cream, one mint, one chocolate, to share with their friends and to celebrate the memory of the only father figure they ever had.
***
Reno was glaring at the safe that, so far, had resisted all his charms. If Tseng could see him now, he would get the scolding of his life. This was an old safe, with a simple combination lock, so he should have been able to open it in fife minutes tops. It had already been eight minutes and the damned safe was still closed. He was getting pissed at that useless piece of junk. This was inacceptable, his honor as a Turk candiate didn't allowed him to admit defeat. Maybe if he turned the wheel a bit father to the right side? The loud 'click' was a big relief for his pride and with a florish he opened the door.
Zack bounced forward, curious, until Sephiroth's glare stopped him. They had said beforehand, that Reno would get first pick of the contents of the safe and now Zack had to wait until Reno was ready.
"Well let's have a look at this," Reno pulled out several familar looking round globes... materia.[1] He held one, a red summon materia, up and peered inside.
"Hmmm, that's an Odin summon, nice."
The next one was green.
"That's Destruct."
Again a red one.
"He, Alexander, are you named after the summon? 'Cause I have your namesmate here."
A blue one.
"An All materia. Pretty useful those things."
The next one was green. Reno looked inside and paled. He turned to the others and held out the materia to the generals.
"I think one of you should take this one."
"What is it?"
"Ultima."
The others gasped. Everyone had heard of Ultima, the strongest attack spell materia there was. It took a look of willpower to cast Ultima and many who had tried had killed themselves while trying. If anyone could use the Ultima materia, it would be one of the Generals.
The twins looked at each other and after a short, silent conversation, Alexander took the green materia, then he twisted his braid to reach the lowest of the three hairclasps, removed one of the mastered materias from its slot and equipped the unmastered Ultima instead.
There were several other materias, but nothing as spectacular as the first few Reno had found. They shared them, Reno having first pick decided to take the Odin summon and a Lightning materia. He really loved electric attacks and was looking for a weapon that would allow him to primary use that element. Zack took the All materia and a Restore one, Cloud got the Alexander summon and an Enemy Skill materia and Sephiroth took the Destruct materia and refused to take any of the remaining ones, he didn't needed them, because he already had mastered versions of them. Alexander picked an Exit materia and put the remaining ones, a Chocobo Lure, an Enemy Lure, a Luck Plus and a Gil Plus materia into a small bag. Maybe he could use them as a reward for some of the recruits later, even if Zack was joking that he should give the Chocobo Lure to Cloud, since he already looked halfway like a Chocobo with his hair.
When they checked the safe to see if it was really empty, they found a key, hidden under some old, musty paper. A key, but where was the door?
***
Three hours and a lot of dust and cobwebs later they found a locked door in the basement.
The room behind the door was musty, dark and scary with its coffins. Cloud gained a certain greenish tint, when the first four coffins were opened and they saw the mutilated skeletons lying inside.
The fifth coffin contained the real suprise. A man. A sleeping man. Better, a man who had been asleep until Zack's loud yell of "Holy shit!" woke him. He opened his eyes and now everyone couldn't help but stare at him and then at Alexander.
For he and Alexander looked almost exactly the same. [2]
tbc
***
[1] Yes, I know in the game there was only an Odin Summon in the safe, but I needed a certain materia to be inside, asked myself who would forget an Odin Summon for around thirty years and thought that maybe Lucrecia has deposited her materia in the safe. Since she died after Sephiroth's and Xander's birth, she couldn't get the materia back and it was forgotten. I went with that theory and then there had to be an Alexander summon since Xander here was named after the summon and then I thought that it would only be fair if the All materia was there cause you get it when you get the Alexander materia in the game and the Destruct materia, 'cause in the game Sephy drops it in the Mansion encounter.
[2] If you look at the Game Vincent and the Game Sephiroth, you will notice that they have the same facial structure and their bodies are almost the same too (I think Seph is a tiny bit taller than Vincent) the main differences are their hair and eyecolor. And Xander has the same hair/eye color as Vincent.
It had taken longer to clean out the ShinRa mansion than the twins had excepted. There were far more monsters in the building than reported by the town's sources. Some they had let the troups take on, others were more dangerous and the generals had taken them on by themselves. They had to admit that it was fun, the stares of their men as they saw their leaders turning much feared creatures into as much as sushi.
Because of the workout their troups had had, the generals decided to give them the next day off, allowing them to explore the city. They would need their men in best form when they went into the mountains and right now several displayed signs of exhaustion and stress.
Also it would give the two the time to explore the mansion. Actually there would be five to search for the secrets of the building, because as soon as Zack had heard of Sephiroth's and Alexander's plans to uncover the secrets of the place, he'd voluntered himself to help them and were Zack was, Cloud and Reno weren't that far away. And so Reno had declared that he wanted to test his skills at the locked doors and safes of the mansion tomorrow and Cloud had said that he would visit his mother later, after the other recruits had stopped mucking around in his hometown. He'd blushed when he'd told the others that his mother had wanted to meet his friends, including the ones that had found out and stopped his torment at the hand of the other Nibelheim boys.
Alexander looked at his young charge, knowing the unsaid reason why Cloud wouldn't go to his mother, or through Nibelheim alone. There were three families whos sons were in Midgar, in jail for at least the next fifteen years. And while it was the boys own fault, he knew that Cloud had been a loner growing up and the blame was laid on him rather quickly. He sighed, as long as Cloud was with one of his friends, he would show his true self, the curious and happy teenager that he was, but as soon as he was seperated from them, he would become skittish and defensive.
So it was decided. The five would go over the mansion with a finetoothed comb tomorrow. But first... first the twins went out and bought two tubs of ice-cream, one mint, one chocolate, to share with their friends and to celebrate the memory of the only father figure they ever had.
***
Reno was glaring at the safe that, so far, had resisted all his charms. If Tseng could see him now, he would get the scolding of his life. This was an old safe, with a simple combination lock, so he should have been able to open it in fife minutes tops. It had already been eight minutes and the damned safe was still closed. He was getting pissed at that useless piece of junk. This was inacceptable, his honor as a Turk candiate didn't allowed him to admit defeat. Maybe if he turned the wheel a bit father to the right side? The loud 'click' was a big relief for his pride and with a florish he opened the door.
Zack bounced forward, curious, until Sephiroth's glare stopped him. They had said beforehand, that Reno would get first pick of the contents of the safe and now Zack had to wait until Reno was ready.
"Well let's have a look at this," Reno pulled out several familar looking round globes... materia.[1] He held one, a red summon materia, up and peered inside.
"Hmmm, that's an Odin summon, nice."
The next one was green.
"That's Destruct."
Again a red one.
"He, Alexander, are you named after the summon? 'Cause I have your namesmate here."
A blue one.
"An All materia. Pretty useful those things."
The next one was green. Reno looked inside and paled. He turned to the others and held out the materia to the generals.
"I think one of you should take this one."
"What is it?"
"Ultima."
The others gasped. Everyone had heard of Ultima, the strongest attack spell materia there was. It took a look of willpower to cast Ultima and many who had tried had killed themselves while trying. If anyone could use the Ultima materia, it would be one of the Generals.
The twins looked at each other and after a short, silent conversation, Alexander took the green materia, then he twisted his braid to reach the lowest of the three hairclasps, removed one of the mastered materias from its slot and equipped the unmastered Ultima instead.
There were several other materias, but nothing as spectacular as the first few Reno had found. They shared them, Reno having first pick decided to take the Odin summon and a Lightning materia. He really loved electric attacks and was looking for a weapon that would allow him to primary use that element. Zack took the All materia and a Restore one, Cloud got the Alexander summon and an Enemy Skill materia and Sephiroth took the Destruct materia and refused to take any of the remaining ones, he didn't needed them, because he already had mastered versions of them. Alexander picked an Exit materia and put the remaining ones, a Chocobo Lure, an Enemy Lure, a Luck Plus and a Gil Plus materia into a small bag. Maybe he could use them as a reward for some of the recruits later, even if Zack was joking that he should give the Chocobo Lure to Cloud, since he already looked halfway like a Chocobo with his hair.
When they checked the safe to see if it was really empty, they found a key, hidden under some old, musty paper. A key, but where was the door?
***
Three hours and a lot of dust and cobwebs later they found a locked door in the basement.
The room behind the door was musty, dark and scary with its coffins. Cloud gained a certain greenish tint, when the first four coffins were opened and they saw the mutilated skeletons lying inside.
The fifth coffin contained the real suprise. A man. A sleeping man. Better, a man who had been asleep until Zack's loud yell of "Holy shit!" woke him. He opened his eyes and now everyone couldn't help but stare at him and then at Alexander.
For he and Alexander looked almost exactly the same. [2]
tbc
***
[1] Yes, I know in the game there was only an Odin Summon in the safe, but I needed a certain materia to be inside, asked myself who would forget an Odin Summon for around thirty years and thought that maybe Lucrecia has deposited her materia in the safe. Since she died after Sephiroth's and Xander's birth, she couldn't get the materia back and it was forgotten. I went with that theory and then there had to be an Alexander summon since Xander here was named after the summon and then I thought that it would only be fair if the All materia was there cause you get it when you get the Alexander materia in the game and the Destruct materia, 'cause in the game Sephy drops it in the Mansion encounter.
[2] If you look at the Game Vincent and the Game Sephiroth, you will notice that they have the same facial structure and their bodies are almost the same too (I think Seph is a tiny bit taller than Vincent) the main differences are their hair and eyecolor. And Xander has the same hair/eye color as Vincent.
