Reuben perched on the edge of my couch, gently probing the bandage pinned taut around his stunning torso with an inquisitive hand. The blankets were now officially Yuffie's department, to tear apart as she saw fit. Wearing only a pair of my cargo pants and casting me naught but the occasional glance from where he sat, Zach looked altogether unearthly. I struggled with the sight of my beautiful enemy, wondering if, at any point, it might be that he never had come here at all. The cause of his wound was not as yet clarified, as though I am fit to pass judgment. I smiled slightly, emotionless, at that concept.
"Do you need to know? How this happened, I mean".
As soon as the question issued forth from his flawless lips, Zach's eyes had realigned themselves with the floor. So light a brown as to appear golden, they became curiously fixated on everything they saw simultaneously, while seeming to look at nothing. A few odd mahogany specks glittered from the depths of each iris, dancing almost drunkenly, betraying their owner's brilliance. I laughed honestly, bitter and confused. Of course I know now. It cannot be possible, not under any plausible conditions anyway. Like any of those happen around here. Jenova. The thing that calls itself Jenova.
"The - the monster....that escaped from the Headquarters...she...it...there were no legs, no lower half...same with the final-", he struggled with the word 'incarnation' for several seconds, "the final form of Sephiroth. They were...incomplete".
I had not known about that. How would I? I was getting drunk in Wutai when Strife fought Sephiroth for the last time. Rufus told me that the Sephiroth hidden in Gaea's inner sanctum had wings where half his body ought to be. Regretting paying no mind to it now I paused before giving an answer, replaying to myself the unholy sight that day, tidal storms of liquid light and fearsome Weapons, the day the barrier came cascading down around us. No reply had formed as yet, my eyes flickering with silver sparks of recollection, drifting further down an inviting young throat.
"They - you know that they are, then....the same being....the crisis from the sky disguised itself, as the final Sephiroth...and the other half is still -", his hand found the wound again and he winced but did not stop pressing it. There is no more effective anonymity than having the world believe you are dead. So half of Jenova is still watching.
"Strife told me that a man was what stood in the way of the Lifestream". Granted that was the last thing he ever told me, but I will give nothing away. Strife looked me in the eye and told me he had cut out his brother's heart, that the blood of a man was what stained his hand. Not that of an abhorrent half-monster like the crisis from the sky. Zach's eyes shone at that, defiant and responsive.
"Yes! A man- the human...Sephiroth...obeying the- the...", he broke off and breathed hard, as though air was in short supply. It certainly seemed that way. A wanton son obeying the thing he believed to be his mother. Not Sephiroth who became an impassive, incomplete demon and slept behind a wall of serous fire, but the military genius who was controlled by one. He was always...just a man.
"So the final Sephiroth was the Jenova we had in HQ the whole time?", I raised an eyebrow, not really wanting to accept anything in case I discovered it to be false, but wanting to know every last word in case I suddenly found myself in the mood to do my job any time soon. I barely noted the fact that we knew that our captive abomination was only one half of a complete organism. We were hoping we had the only half that could think for itself, much the same wish that both Turk and scientist alike entertained when it came time to authorize the company budget every year. Reuben nodded, with a sheer fluidity I found rather alarming.
"And the man that Cloud killed.....was the great General Sephiroth, its slave".
* * * * *
"Do you need to know? How this happened, I mean".
As soon as the question issued forth from his flawless lips, Zach's eyes had realigned themselves with the floor. So light a brown as to appear golden, they became curiously fixated on everything they saw simultaneously, while seeming to look at nothing. A few odd mahogany specks glittered from the depths of each iris, dancing almost drunkenly, betraying their owner's brilliance. I laughed honestly, bitter and confused. Of course I know now. It cannot be possible, not under any plausible conditions anyway. Like any of those happen around here. Jenova. The thing that calls itself Jenova.
"The - the monster....that escaped from the Headquarters...she...it...there were no legs, no lower half...same with the final-", he struggled with the word 'incarnation' for several seconds, "the final form of Sephiroth. They were...incomplete".
I had not known about that. How would I? I was getting drunk in Wutai when Strife fought Sephiroth for the last time. Rufus told me that the Sephiroth hidden in Gaea's inner sanctum had wings where half his body ought to be. Regretting paying no mind to it now I paused before giving an answer, replaying to myself the unholy sight that day, tidal storms of liquid light and fearsome Weapons, the day the barrier came cascading down around us. No reply had formed as yet, my eyes flickering with silver sparks of recollection, drifting further down an inviting young throat.
"They - you know that they are, then....the same being....the crisis from the sky disguised itself, as the final Sephiroth...and the other half is still -", his hand found the wound again and he winced but did not stop pressing it. There is no more effective anonymity than having the world believe you are dead. So half of Jenova is still watching.
"Strife told me that a man was what stood in the way of the Lifestream". Granted that was the last thing he ever told me, but I will give nothing away. Strife looked me in the eye and told me he had cut out his brother's heart, that the blood of a man was what stained his hand. Not that of an abhorrent half-monster like the crisis from the sky. Zach's eyes shone at that, defiant and responsive.
"Yes! A man- the human...Sephiroth...obeying the- the...", he broke off and breathed hard, as though air was in short supply. It certainly seemed that way. A wanton son obeying the thing he believed to be his mother. Not Sephiroth who became an impassive, incomplete demon and slept behind a wall of serous fire, but the military genius who was controlled by one. He was always...just a man.
"So the final Sephiroth was the Jenova we had in HQ the whole time?", I raised an eyebrow, not really wanting to accept anything in case I discovered it to be false, but wanting to know every last word in case I suddenly found myself in the mood to do my job any time soon. I barely noted the fact that we knew that our captive abomination was only one half of a complete organism. We were hoping we had the only half that could think for itself, much the same wish that both Turk and scientist alike entertained when it came time to authorize the company budget every year. Reuben nodded, with a sheer fluidity I found rather alarming.
"And the man that Cloud killed.....was the great General Sephiroth, its slave".
* * * * *