Author's Notes: Yes, this is your author speaking... please be prepared for a story that may not make much sense, but will unveil itself. This is my Sephiroth clone's history... and in honor of my bestest online friend in the whole of the planet, Shannan of PA. I love her!
--Chapter 2--
Danger
Maya curled up against the side of their little camp, in the arms of a huge oak tree. It loomed over them, about as thick and protective as an actual ceiling. She probably didn't miss the ceilings, but she had been sick almost four times since they left... and it mostly on account of her lack of medication.
Sephiroth delicately held her hair back for her every time she was sick. He held her hand and brushed the sweat from the back of her neck where it collected in droplets that smelled like flowers. She looked a little better and even eyed the rabbit that was turning on the spit. Their little fire was enough to keep them safe on a miserably hot night like tonight. Sephiroth sprawled along the ground like a big cat, nothing beneath him except the ground. He hated it, having need of a blanket and some new clothes eventually. Only a week out and Maya was already complaining.
"It's so boring," she sighed, laying back and staring across the flames into his eyes. "You won't spar with me, even though I've been begging you for the last three days."
"To my utter dismay. I almost want to fall on my sword if you ask me one more time," he replied, turning the rabbit again with one long-armed reach.
"Oh," her voice cooed. "Does my poor big bruddah not wanna play with little old me anymore? Is that damn rabbit done yet?" Her voice changed, vicious with impatient to ask this final question. She got up, reached for the rabbit, and ripped a piece off the piping hot flesh. She took pleasure in the pain, as if any amount was good and beautiful. She blew on it once before taking a greedy bite and chewing, hot juice spilling down her chin.
Sephiroth frowned. He hated the way she ate, as if she were like those other disgusting men. He removed the meat to let it cool off before it got too roasted.
"Shall we continue toward the west?" he said softly, and she nodded a little. "Toward that feeling? Have you felt it, too? Like something calling..."
"Dear brother," replied she; "I hear voices all the time. How do I know which one to listen to? They talk all the time... the hell am I supposed to do? Tell them to shut up? It doesn't work... but...yes, I'll follow 'you'... because of them all, I like yours the best." Giggling, she flopped back, rubbing her belly, pulling up her shirt to get at the skin and scratch.
Sephiroth didn't know how to answer that. But he felt comforted to know that her feelings hadn't changed with their environment; he wasn't bored, but actually pleased with this change of pace. But, alas, it was hot out, his clothes were becoming uncomfortable, and things needed to change again. "Tomorrow morning, post haste," he mumbled as he tore off some meat and ate it up good.
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Morning came like a dream, touching the sky and painting it pink and then yellow as if someone had slashed at the sky with a huge one mile brush back and forth covered with ochre and rouge. Sephiroth sat in the oak tree, resting his elbow against the branch above his head, his bleary eyes meshing those colors together until he couldn't figure out where one ended and the other began. He blinked his eyes once, and the sky was clear again. He tilted his head downward, peering into the blackened remains of their fire, and the coat where Maya was sleeping.
That girl barely stirred while she slept, when she finally did sleep. He picked his way down the branches, hopping the last step and crawled over to her carefully, until his hands touched the edge of her coat. He reached underneath it enough to lift it and he crawled in behind her, yawning once as he used his arm for a pillow. Her breathing was quick and hitched, and her slight stirrings indicated that she was most likely dreaming.
He took a piece of hair away from her mouth and tucked it behind her ear. Her lips were pouty and chapped, dark bags under her eyes and yet she was still beautiful to him. What did she dream? What monsters were bigger than her?
Another moment passed, and Maya awoke with bloodshot eyes and a very angry disposition. She smacked Sephiroth for sleeping so close, fear in her eyes of him, fear of any man who touched her. He said nothing.
"Are you ready to go?" Sephiroth inquired softly, scattering the ashes of their presence by kicking the fireplace all over the place as she watched.
Hooking her sword to her belt, she grunted her assent. Then they were off, speeding away as fast as their bodies could carry them. Had it been a week earlier, they would have been traveling much faster than this. But they were hungry and tired and having had no breakfast, they were dogging their way toward the strange 'voices' leading them by their souls into oblivion.
What monsters could have roamed the countryside were of no concern to them. They were even larger monsters, and the weaklings were likely to stay out of their way as long as they were quiet. It was a beautiful day, not a cloud in the sky and below the foliage and canopy of the trees, it was cool. A stream ran nearby, and they drank in turn while the other watched for danger.
Sephiroth was still reeling from the extreme cold of the water. It trickled down his throat, and settled in his stomach. It felt good, and took the edge off of his quickly renewing hunger. Even more pressing was the sound that was growing louder each moment they lingered. It was a buzz-sawing, grating noise that made him want to scratch at his ears and kill something, but it was nothing like the sounds they used at the facility to torture and control.
"Do you hear it?" he whispered, beginning to tremble. His face was stricken, looking as if he were struggling with a deeply troubling thought. "Would they dare come after us?"
"If they're stupid, they would," Maya responded as she rose, stretching demurely like a feline. "But honestly, in this forest, is it so hard to believe we could easily take them all down? They raised us the way they wanted - the best, the most bloodthirsty killers in the world."
He was inclined to agree. After all, they'd escaped once, and in a blast of instant recollection he recalled the feeling of crushing that human's heart in his grasp. It felt good then, but now it frightened him.
They split up, and waited in the protection of mother nature, their swords sheathed as the light from the sun would reflect from the perfectly maintained steel. The sound grew louder to the point of becoming unbearable. Maya signaled to him; there they were, straight through a grassy hill that opened up to the sky in the middle of the forest. They were ATV's, manned by two riders, one to drive and another to shoot those nasty speed-shooters that Sephiroth loved to make fun of.
One of them drove underneath his tree. He propelled himself down, knocking the shooter from behind the rider and landed in his place. He allowed himself to enjoy the view before he tapped his comrade on the shoulder. "Hello, there!" he cried, before knocking his head hard with his sword sheath and sending him spiraling into the ground. Sephiroth scooted up to take control of the ATV and turn it around, kicking his foot out to keep it from falling over because of the sudden sharpness of his turn.
He couldn't recall where he'd last seen Maya, but her measures of murder were far crueler yet than his own. He gritted his teeth to ignore the possibilities. He drove the machine into another one, leaping clear of the explosion before it could touch him, thus disposing of more pursuers. Debris came rattling down around his ears, and a hot piece of metal landed on his arm. Biting on the pain, he stood up slowly and leapt into the tree again. Three more ATV's drove past, earning a soft curse from his chapped lips. His limbs were trembling badly, either from excitement or hunger - he couldn't decide which. He sank back against the trees, puzzled by his weakness while he listened to Maya taunt and torture her victims. It occurred to him that she could have taken on every last one without breaking a sweat, without his help.
"Just what the hell is wrong with me?" he hissed bitterly, grinding his fingernails into his palms.
A few minutes of silence passed, while he closed his eyes and imagined himself someplace that wasn't now littered with death and destruction. When he opened those glowing blue orbs again, he saw her bending over him, kneeling in front of him, and brushing his hair away from his face with almost motherly concern. "Where were you?" she said, a child-like whine to her otherwise womanly tone, as if reprimanding his absence.
"I was... resting," he responded with a grumble from his gut. "I'm hungry again."
"You're always hungry!! I hardly need to eat!" She fell back against the tree with him, hugging herself with feverish abandon. "But if we must, we'll eat again. Besides, there's plenty of meat around now, eh?"
Unexpectedly, he turned his head and heaved against the trunk of the tree. "Are you goddamn insane?!" he cried, wiping his mouth. "I refuse to eat human flesh! Animals do that, not me!"
He stood up and leapt down, walking stiffly toward the pulling sound of the voices again. He didn't care if he hurt her feelings. She didn't talk about eating again for the rest of the day.
