Alrighty then! I back y'all! And I'm here to give ya all the next chapter! Let's just get on with it. This chapter is dedicated to Hikari-Die who lost the internet and may never be able to read the rest of this fic. My apologies to you for taking too long.
Disclaimer- I don't own Final Fantasy VII.
Father And Son
Cloud gripped the hilt of his sword tightly as Dregon continued to laugh to himself. 'Yuffie better be alright.' Was his only thought before he lunged towards the maniac. "We'll stop you now!" Cloud shouts, swinging the Ultimate Sword down at Dregon. The laughter seizes as Dregon turns towards the blond warrior, a smirk upon his cruel pale white lips. The blade of the Ultimate Sword bounces back a few feet away from Dregon.
"Have you forgotten already?" Dregon asks, his voice filled with mirth, "You can't even touch me, how do you plan on stopping someone you can't even strike?" Dregon shakes his head in amusement, "You are as foolish as Vain."
Cloud gritted his teeth, while he tried thinking of a new way of attacking, 'Damnit.'
"Perhaps if we all attack at once." Red XIII suggests after watching Cloud's failed attempted.
The suggestion only made Dregon laugh once more. "Foolish beast." Dregon comments before holding his hand out. Red XIII is lifted off the ground by Dregon's telekinetic powers, "Even if that could work, I could just stop you from charging. I have wasted my time with you fools long enough."
Dregon hurls Red XIII into Reno, causing the two to fall back a few feet. Dregon turns from the group and runs through a hatch, locking it behind him. Cloud cursed as he found himself unable to break through the hatch. "We have to stop Dregon!"
"What about Yuffie?" Tifa asks suddenly.
Cloud steps in front of the large window, drawing his sword back as he does so. With one skillful and precise swing, Cloud shatters the glass, allowing him and the others threw to the room Yuffie is being held in.
Sephiroth stood where he is, watching the group run to their friend. His gaze wanders to another door in the room. He felt himself being drawn towards it, as if something was calling out to him. With one last glance at the others, Sephiroth headed towards the door. Behind the door he finds a spiral staircase that leads down. The staircase itself reminds him of the one in the ShinRa Mansion back in Nibelheim. Without hesitation, or caution, Sephiroth begins to head down the staircase.
Rima can't do more than just glare at the insane scientist, while thinking up a thousand different ways to kill him in the most slow and painful ways. When she manages to get out of her confinement, she'll make sure to try each and every one of them. "Hmm... This is interesting." Rima hears Hojo comment. "I wonder what sort of reaction there would be if I were to continue the procedure with my other specimen in there."
Rima's eyes widen in fear before she glances down at the unconscious Vincent. 'Whatever's happening to him, it must be painful to knock him out.' Rima thinks to herself before turning back towards Hojo, "Don't you even think about it, Hojo." Rima warns, "He has nothing to do with this, I'm the one you want."
Wrinkles form at the corner of Hojo's lips as he grins, "On the contrary! He is my first real experiment." A frown crosses his lips as he thinks, "An unfinished one at that. And one that's unfinished is also a failure, and I don't like creating failures." Hojo walks over towards the control panel once more, "However, I can make the failures better than anything I've created with a simple push of a button."
"Hojo... If you push that button, I'll.."
Hojo shakes his head at Rima while waving a lone finger, "Tsk tsk tsk. You shouldn't threaten your master like that. Not when he has a special surprise for you after the procedure."
Rima's eyes narrow coldly, "I don't want any of your 'surprises' Hojo."
The smirk that Rima has long since hated and despised reappeared on Hojo face, "Again, you are wrong. You will enjoy this surprise." Hojo points towards a sealed door across the laboratory. The steel door is locked tightly. It gives the observer of the impression of those rooms crazy people are locked up in with a stray coat, with just small window to look through to make sure they're alive. "Just beyond that door is something you have lost. And something my son never knew about."
"Sephiroth?" Rima says in confusion, "What does he have to do with any of this? And what's behind the door?"
"Ah.. So now you want my surprise? Well, you'll have to go through this procedure first." Hojo aims to push the button in order to start up the experiment once more.
"Hojo, don't push that button, or I'll make sure you'll be begging to be killed."
"You speak too much. I'll be sure to take away your voice next." Hojo replies before pushing the button.
Rima's brows shoot up to the edge of her hairline as the red mist begins pouring out of the vents once more. 'Damnit!' Rima walks over to Vincent and kicks him in the side, trying to bring him back to the land of consciousness. "Wake up, Valentine!" Rima orders.
Vincent's crimson gaze appears as he opens his eyes. For a moment he lays there, blinking a few times, as if he were in some sort of confusion. Without trouble, Vincent stands himself up, acting as if there was nothing wrong with him a few minutes before. Immediately, he noticed the substance flowing into the their chamber. "We have to get out." Vincent states the obvious.
Rima rolls her two different colored eyes, "I know. Can you transform into that demon and break out?"
Vincent looks around the chamber, analyzing the thick walls, and the amount of space they have. "The area is too small for Chaos to be summoned."
Rima gives out a breath of defeat before sitting on the ground, accepting her fate, "Damn Hojo always beats me." She mutters under her breath.
"TEE HEE HEE HEE! That's right! Be good little specimens and go through with the procedure willingly!" Hojo says from the control panel. "HEE HEE HEE! There's no way for you to escape! You both are my specimens! Therefore, you belong to me. I am your master, you are my puppets!" Hojo throws his head back and laughs, "HEE HEE HEE!... HEE HEE! H- WAHT?" Hojo jumps back, just in time to dodge a large deadly sword from impaling itself into him. However, instead of hitting Hojo, the sword impaled the control panel, causing sparks to fly and circuits to fry.
Vincent and Rima look around in confusing as the vents shut off and the red mist stops flowing into their chamber. Rima's gaze suddenly goes to the control panel, wanting to find out what had stopped the experiment. There, impaled through the control panel with the light reflecting off the insanely long deadly blade, stood the Masamune. "That's..." Rima trails off.
Vincent nods his head, confirming her suspicions, "Sephiroth is here."
Hojo turned his frightened gaze towards the entrance of the lab. Footsteps echo in the silence as Sephiroth steps in from the darkness. His gaze goes to the two captured, then finally to Hojo. Sephiroth's brows knitted together as he smirked, "Hello father."
Cloud glanced down at Yuffie in his arms, "Yuffie? Yuffie? Wake up!" He calls out, shaking her in his arms. Everyone around the two stood by quietly, waiting to see if they had made it in time, or if they were too late. "Yuffie, please wake up." Cloud says, his voice strained with grief.
The ninja gave the faintest of moans before her grey eyes manage to peek open. Through her fuzzy vision she sees what appears to be a chocobo. 'Am I dead?' Yuffie thinks to herself, 'I didn't know chocobo's would be here too.' Her vision clears up soon enough, and she finds her gaze locked into a pair of make blue eyes that she's missed, "Cloud!"
"Yuffie! You're alive!" Cloud exclaims before holding her tighter.
Yuffie manages to snake her arms around his neck to return the small gesture. She can't help but smile at the fact that she's in Cloud's arms again. It only takes her a few moments to realize that there's an audience watching them. "Tifa! Red! Er... Reno!... Wait a minute... Where's Rima? And Vincent? And Sephiroth for that matter?"
The group glances around, confused, not having realized Sephiroth's disappearance. "Wait a minute..." Yuffie begins, "Where's Dregon?" She looks to Cloud for an answer, "Did you guys kill him?" Her voice is filled with hope.
Cloud shakes his head, "No, we didn't." Yuffie curses under her breath. "Yuffie..." Cloud trails off, Yuffie brings her gaze back to Cloud, "Dregon said he got what he was after."
Yuffie's mouth dropped open, her eyes wide with fear, "W-we need to find him! We need to stop him!"
"What is it that bastard wanted?" Reno demands, having had enough of not being clued in on what exactly they are trying to stop. "What the hell will he do?"
Yuffie grabs fists full of hair and shakes her head, "I don't know. I don't know! I don't know what it is! I never seen it or heard of it being used!"
Cloud nods his head and turns to the group, "Let's get out of here, we need to get back to the Highwind."
"What about Vincent? And Rima. And Sephiroth?" Tifa asks.
Cloud lowers his gaze to the ground in thought, "We'll come back for them later. Right now, I'm worried about Dregon. Whatever this is, it can't be good. So we have to try to stop him while we have a chance."
"So we abandon them?" Tifa asks in disbelief.
"Damnit Tifa! I don't know what to do right now!" Cloud shouts in anger causing everyone to go silent. Cloud takes a deep breath before he continues. "I don't want to leave them behind, especially when I don't know if they are alright or not. But we can't just leave Dregon to roam free. We have to find him and stop him!"
Tifa nods her head in understanding, "Alright... Let's go to the Highwind. Besides, the others would head that way since we were split up, right?"
Everyone falls silent, not really knowing the answer to that question. Finally Yuffie nods her head in agreement, "Right. Now lets go find Dregon so I can kicked his ass!"
Hojo grinned as Sephiroth stood there staring at him, "Ah, so you know the truth. Yes. I am your father Sephiroth. Jenova and I created you."
Sephiroth's eyes narrow dangerously, "Jenova was not my mother. You've kept the truth from me for thirty years. But no more. I know the truth now Hojo." Sephiroth begins stepping towards Hojo, "And for that, I'll be more than happy to kill you." Hojo backs away as Sephiroth grabs hold of his Masamune.
'Tee Hee Hee! Having fun? I know you are.'
Sephiroth stops and growls at the annoying voice in his head. He shakes his, trying to clear his mind, aiming to enjoy this. His gaze goes back to Hojo, confused at the fact that the scientists is smirking.
'Can you really do it? Can you really kill your own father? Are you really that cold hearted?'
Sephiroth's eyes widen in realization, "You!" He shouts at Hojo, "It's you!" Without another moment's hesitation, Sephiroth leaps forward, more than ready to kill Hojo once and for all.
Hojo let's out a shout before jumping out of the way and running towards the sealed door. He begins unlatching the door as quickly as he can. The sound of bone and flesh being sliced is heard as Sephiroth jams the Masamune through Hojo's back, causing the scientist to scream. To scream without a voice as all the wind was sucked out of him from the attack.
Sephiroth smirks at the sight of the scientist's blood before pulling the sword out of Hojo's back. The scientist drops to the ground. Struggling for breath, Hojo rolls to his back and forces himself to sit up against the wall, the blood seeming to rush out of him like a crimson river. Hojo coughs up blood, "I... heh...heh... still have...a.. surprise... Hee...Hee..." Hojo manages to say through a throat full of blood as he reaches up to the last hatch. He takes the lock off the hatch and drops it to the ground, his hand following closely behind. "To be slain... by my own... creation." Hojo says before his head drops forward.
The corners of Sephiroth's lips uplift as he stares at the dead body. He finally got his revenge for everything Hojo has done. He had ruined his life in more than one ways. He didn't even have a life of his own, having been doing everything ShinRa has ordered, constantly on missions, then being manipulated by Jenova. 'It's all because of you, that things went the way they did.' Sephiroth says, 'Now I'm free from you, and I won't have to deal with you being in my head.'
"Hey Seph! Get. Us. Out. Of. Here. Now!" Rima shouts, trying to get his attention, all the while trying to control her boiling anger. 'Hojo was suppose to be mine!'
Sephiroth took a moment to white his sword clean of Hojo's blood with the dead scientist's lab coat before he headed back over to the control panel in front of the hatch. Sheathing the Masamune at his side, Sephiroth frowns at the wrecked control panel, trying to figure out a way to make it work.
"I believe there is another panel on the side of our confinement." Vincent says out loud.
Sephiroth gives a 'hmph' before walking around their chamber. He finds another control panel, smaller than the main one, attached to the side of the chamber. 'Now how do I release these two? This button?' Sephiroth thinks as he reaches up to press it.
'Tee hee hee hee!'
Sephiroth's finger freezes where it is at the sound of laughter in his head. 'It can't be... I killed him.' Sephiroth thinks to himself. His gaze immediately goes to Hojo's body, still sitting where he left it. Nothing was different about the dead scientist. 'I still have a surprise for you.' Sephiroth recalls what Hojo had said. His eyes widen in surprise before he unsheathes the Masamune and walks back around the chamber.
"What the hell are you doing?" Rima shouts, "Get us out damnit!" Sephiroth ignores her calls and stares at the sealed door.
'Hee hee hee! Don't worry! You did kill your father.' Sephiroth hears ringing in his mind, 'Now I get to kill mine! Tee hee hee hee!'
Sephiroth watches closely as the sealed door opens up, the door screeching on it's hinges. Darkness is all anyone could see behind the door. The room became deathly silent, Rima stopped demanding to be set free as her gaze remains transfixed where Sephiroth's is.
'And then my mother will be next!'
Sephiroth drew back at the sudden appearance of a pair of dark crimson eyes glowing out from the darkness. He remains frozen in his place, as if hypnotized by the crimson gaze. One lone hand sleeked its way out of the darkness and grabbed Hojo's body, pulling it into the room. Chills run down everyone's spine as they hear the sound of tearing flesh. A pool of blood streams out of the room and into laboratory.
Hojo's body is tossed back out of the room, his white lab coat colored crimson with his own blood. Yet something was very wrong with Hojo's body. The fact that the body had no head didn't go unnoticed by all who watched. Quicker than Sephiroth expected, the figure dashed out and struck Sephiroth. From the sheer shock of the unexpected attack, Sephiroth loses his balance and falls back into Rima's and Vincent's containment.
Sephiroth takes the moment to glance down at his chest where five lines cut through his shirt and slashed at his flesh. It only took the Ex- SOLDIER a moment to realize the injury came from a claw. "Oh my god." Sephiroth hears Rima say from behind him. Sephiroth glances back up, taking in his opponent's appearance for the first time. What he sees, shocks him.
Standing a height of 5'9", a young man stared at Sephiroth with crimson eyes. Long black hair slides down just above his middle. Decked out in a black attire, black pants and black long sleeved silk shirt, the man could easily disappear in darkness. At the end of each lean muscular arm were hands with their own claws. His face has blood dripping off his chin. The smirk he wears reveals a pair of long sharp fangs, too similar to Rima's for comfort.
The young vampire opened his mouth and hissed through his fangs, much like a snake. Sephiroth readied himself, standing back up. "What are you?" Sephiroth calls out coldly.
"Tee hee hee hee! Don't you know yet?" The vampire calls out, "My existence should make it obviousss. What other vampire do you know?"
"No... No It can't be." Rima says, "Hojo said he killed you!"
The young vampire smirks more, "Removed." he corrects. "He said he removed me. Not killed. You miss understood."
Sephiroth's brows furrow in question, not fully understanding what's going on, "You mean you're..."
"Yesss... I'm her son! Tee hee hee! The child she harbored unknowingly until Hojo captured her all those yearsss ago. And you." The vampire's eyes narrow, "You are my father." He spat out in disgust. "Hojo has labeled me Project Revival, in hopesss of bringing back the vampire race. I prefer to be called Seraph, so I will alwaysss be reminded of you and mother."
Sephiroth brought his sword up, posed to attack, "Whether you speak the truth or not, I don't care. To me, you're nothing, just like Hojo. You want to kill me, then try. I won't hold back because of your claims."
Seraph cackled to himself, "I wouldn't expect anything less."
'After all, we are of the same blood. Blood which I plan on taking from you.'
(Yawn) Wow... It's late.. Sorry folks. Don't feel like pulling an all nighter so I'm going to have to end it here. Surprise ya? Heeheehee! I've been planning this moment out for a long, long time. Bet y'all thought the whole 'Voice in Sephiroth's head' was Hojo to the very end. Didn't ya? Although I planned this out for a long time, I must admit, it didn't happen quite like I wanted. Oh well, it's out of the way now. Expect the next chapter to be long. I suggest you get all essentials, snacks, drinks, etc. Well, until next time! ReViEw!