A big thank yoooou for all the reviews!! (forgot to say that last chapter... dum de dum... )

This'll be kinda harsh... guess the happy days are over... Don't own the charas or the places, Square does. I'm more of an oval person.

Chapter twelve: Going, going, going, gone.

-

The air in the rocket had been dead and bitter, but it was nothing compared to the stench of recent death and fresh blood that attacked him the second he opened the door. Sephiroth immediately lowered Jenova to the floor and pulled out his Masamune.

'Zackery, you better be in one piece...' he thought and moved silently towards the kitchen. His keen ears caught quiet sobbing, coming from the bedroom, and now he also faintly smelled vomit. What had happened? Zackery had left him barely ten minutes ago, the Soldier would have come back for him if he'd walked in on whatever had happened. So it had happened just moments ago. Thinking back carefully, Sephiroth remembered hearing a door slamming just before he'd reached the back door. Had the murdered left the house?

"Oh... oh no... please, no..."

The General froze immediately as he heard the female voice, begging for something, perhaps mercy. Perhaps whoever had spilled blood was still inside, threatening his hostages. And if Zackery wasn't fighting, then the blood he could smell was...

His eyes flared dangerously as Sephiroth squared his jaw and moved quickly but quietly to stand in the doorway, ready to kill or dodge any thrown weapons. In stead, he froze, staring at the sight.

Zackery stood, near the bed, completely frozen to the spot, and stared down, lips moving but making no sound. Ms. Strife was leaning against the bed and crying, Shera was in a corner, face turned away. Highwind was on the floor, on his stomach, leaning on his elbows, staring with his mouth hanging open.

And in the middle of it all, laying in a growing puddle of blood was Tseng, his throat torn open and skull cracked from the back of his head; dead, dark eyes staring straight up without seeing, face a mask of surprise. On his unmoving chest sat Cloud, looking like he was just waking up from a nightmare, eyes wide, covered in blood.

She was all over it. Sephiroth didn't know how he knew, but he just knew that Jenova had somehow caused this, had used her powers to ...

...to make Tseng hurt him by leaving.

/I told you. But it was not I, it was the boy. I have tried to teach him to control his temper and powers, but he will not listen./

"Shut. Up." Sephiroth growled to the voice in his head. The words broke the spell upon the room and four heads turned to him. Cloud, the only one not seeing him, soon found himself picked roughly up by his arms, and as the boy's eyes focused, he saw a pair of Mako eyes from a closer distance than anyone who had lived to tell about it. He shuddered at the intense rage in them and moaned as pain flared up in his back, but Sephiroth didn't let go or care.

"...Seph..." Zax started but a quick glance from his General silenced his objections.

"Zackery. Talk."

The Soldier swallowed, eyes wandering back to the dead body. "Uh, I... I got back, and... and when we were all here, the Turks appeared and started to ask about you. Tseng threatened us, tried to... he was strangling Ms. Strife, and... Cloud... attacked him. And..." Not knowing what else to say, he just spread his hands in a gesture of helplessness. Sephiroth's eyes left Cloud's and turned to Tseng. The Turk's blood reached the tips of his boots now. Stepping away, he turned back to the trembling murdered in his hands. Cloud's eyes had gone wide with fear as he started to recall what had happened.

"You. Talk." Sephiroth ordered and Cloud found himself obeying.

"I... I didn't mean to kill him... he was hurting my mom... I didn't mean to kill him, I'm sorry... I'm so sorry... he would have killed her..."

"Yeah, but did you have to eat him..." Cid muttered, so quietly that he didn't believe that anyone would hear. But Sephiroth, Zax and Cloud did. The boy let out a pained sob and closed his eyes as the rage in Sephiroth's grew tenfold. Zax turned away and covered his mouth with a hand.

"...n...no...no, no I didn't... I didn't! I..." Cloud tried to deny it, but the taste of blood and fresh, raw meat was still in his mouth. It tasted so familiar and good, filled his stomach and strengthened him... "NO!"

Sephiroth shook the boy, not too gently, as the blond started to squirm and scream, denying the obvious truth. "Shut up. They all saw you. What's done is done." He hated the boy, what else could he feel towards someone who'd murdered one of his few friends? He and Tseng hadn't been that close, and the Turk was going to betray him to the Shin-Ra, but still... yet he couldn't help but pity the boy, as well. No ordinary human would have done what Cloud had done, he was sure of it. He'd seen bloodlust and massacre in the war, but this was worse. The boy was denying it, but he had killed a man and eaten his flesh. As reason conquered blind rage, Sephiroth came to the conclusion that his senses had been correct. Jenova was written all over it, signed by Hojo. The two who had made him, as well.

He'd never thought he'd get a little brother one day.

"Oh, gods..." Sephiroth muttered and let go of Cloud. The boy crumpled down at his feet, sobbing and still chanting his denials. "Get out of here, all of you. I'll... take care of Tseng. Where are Rude and Reno?"

Zax snapped back awake and tore his eyes from Tseng. "They ran. They're somewhere out there."

"Go to the rocket, or some other place. Highwind, can you take them somewhere?"

Cid nodded, still too shocked to object. He stumbled up and shakily went to Shera, putting one arm around her waist and the other around Ame's. Trying to avoid stepping onto Tseng's blood, he guided the women out of the room. Zax hesitated for a moment before walking next to Sephiroth.

"Seph... are you sure you want to..."

"Go, Zackery. Take the boy and follow them. I'll be along shortly."

Zax nodded and kneeled down, wrapping his arms carefully around Cloud's waist. The boy threw his arms around the Soldier's neck and started to cry uncontrollably, just hanging on as if his life depended on it. Zax carried him out, with one last look to his General.

Left alone, Sephiroth covered his face with his hands and breathed deep. Just breathed for a minute or two, before remembering that there wasn't time to waste. The remaining Turks would be back, with reinforcements.

One last, deep breath and he kneeled next to Tseng's head. Hojo had really outdone himself this time, Cloud had cracked both the Turk's head and the floor. Sephiroth shook his head and lifted a gloved hand to close his friend's eyes. At the last moment, he pulled it back and took the glove off.

"Thank you, Tseng. For being a friend. I'm sorry it had to end this way..." he lifted his hand again and closed the empty, lifeless eyes. "May you find your Promised Land." He'd never given an eulogy to a friend before, only to soldiers lost in war, but that seemed like the proper thing to say. With a sigh he stood up and cast a centered Flare on the body, burning it instantly but not letting the fire spread. The floor smoked a bit but nothing was left of Tseng but a shadow on the wood.

/I am sorry, son, but--/

"Shut up! Never speak to me AGAIN! EVER!" Sephiroth screamed and shook his head almost violently. "This is your doing! Leave me alone!" The General checked the bedroom one last time and noticed Vincent's red cape. It was hanging neatly on a peg on the wall. With a sigh he took it with him, wrapped it around Jenova's head and left the house.

Zax followed Cid and the women a bit slower, within hearing distance. The Captain guided them towards the rocket, staying as far from the town as possible. The Soldier could hear him swear every now and then.

Cloud was still hanging from his neck, but the boy had stopped crying. Zax was sure he was mumbling something, but he couldn't hear a word of it. He stopped for a second and pulled the blond up a bit, to rest in his arms more comfortably. What Cloud did had upset him, but the Soldier had come to the same conclusion as his General: without Hojo's interference, the boy would never have done it.

When he started walking again, he noticed that Cid and the women had stopped, near the rocket's base. Zax jogged the last few steps to where they waited, stopping a few feet from them.

"Are we staying here?"

Cid lit up a cigarette, making the Soldier wonder if the man ever ran out of them.

"Yeah, we'll wait here. If we go in to the rocket, and those dumbasses come lookin' for us, we'll be caught. There's only one door in that baby. As soon as that General of yours arrives, we're hitting the road."

"Where?" Zax asked.

"All of us?" Shera questioned, looking nervously at the Soldier and the boy in his arms. Ame had turned her back on them all, her shoulders shaking. Most of the blood on Cloud's face had rubbed off to Zax's shirt, so he didn't look so scary anymore, but it would be harder to get rid of the memories.

The Captain shrugged. "As long as those Turks are alive and around, Shera 'n me aren't safe either. They know us and where we live. Fuck, we might as well start this trip together." He patted at the rocket gently, lovingly. "If only I could take you with me, baby... we'll take the Bronco, it'll be a bit tight but she can take us some of the way."

"To where?" Zax asked again, and Cid shrugged.

"Damned if I know. I don't have all the fucking answers!"

Zax nodded, not wanting to push it. He was anxious to leave, to get the hell out of the region, even the whole continent. But it would be a long walk if he managed to piss off the pilot of their only means of transportation.

"Z-zax...?" Cloud whispered quietly, his head now resting on the Soldier's shoulder, weak, bloody arms crossed over the bandaged chest. Zax cursed himself for not taking a blanket, but at least the boy had pants on, wasn't left completely naked. Again.

"Yeah?"

"Are you... mad at me?" The boy asked, half closed eyes staring at his hands.

Zax had to think for a while before he could give a truthful answer. "No. No I'm not mad at you. If anyone, Hojo. Vincent told us he messed you up pretty badly, so it's not really your fault." He looked at the others from the corner of his eye, seeing that they were all listening to the quiet conversation.

"Do you think... Sephiroth is mad at me?"

"He's a smart guy, I think he'd agree with me."

"I really didn't mean to kill him, something just... snapped. He was hurting mom."

"Yeah, I know... happens to some Soldiers, too, in the war. We just don't--" he cut himself off, but not soon enough. Cloud shuddered and finished the sentence.

"...eat them."

"Sorry..." Zax grimaced and gave the boy a gentle squeeze. "Didn't mean it, it just slipped."

Cloud closed his eyes and sighed. "Do you think I'm a... monster? Horrible? Not human?"

It had been easy enough to come to the conclusion that he didn't hate the boy, but Zax wasn't at all prepared to answer questions like that. Same questions that Sephiroth had asked, in the Nibelheim reactor when they'd found Hojo's little experiments, inside the rows and rows of pods. The General had started to suspect that he had been made the same way. Zax hadn't known what to tell him, either.

"It's all right..." Cloud muttered when the Soldier couldn't say anything. "I know I'm a monster... Hojo made me one. If I weren't a monster, I wouldn't have... LIKED the taste of... his flesh... and blood. But I did... it tasted good... better than water, and any food I've ever eaten. I don't think I could eat anything else ever again..."

Zax swallowed painfully and realized that the boy hadn't eaten anything during their trip to Rocket Town. Only small pieces of rabbit meat, but even those had seemed to make him sick. When Cloud had killed the man, at the clearing... Zax wondered if the boy had taken a bite of him as well, and shuddered. Whatever Hojo had done to the boy, it was far worse than he'd suspected. He tried to say something, but was cut off by a loud sob from Ame. The Soldier only now realized that the other three had come closer to listen to their conversation, and had probably heard every word.

She looked so angry and hurt when she took a few shaky steps towards the pair. "Oh, they were right, he didn't lie after all... you are a monster... you aren't my son, you are a monster..." the blonde woman wailed, tears flowing from her eyes, down pale cheeks.

"M-mom?"

Cid and Zax both frowned, but it was Sephiroth who asked the question.

"Who's 'they'?" The General seemed to step in front of them from nowhere, a red bundle in the crook of his left arm, startling everyone. His commanding tone was probably the only thing that made Ame answer.

"The Turks, that man... Tseng."

"What didn't he lie about? Have you talked to him?" Sephiroth questioned her, stepping closer. The woman took a step back and averted her eyes, but answered.

"...yes. He came to me when... when he came to Rocket Town. He told me that... that one of the escaped specimens is the same one who murdered my Cloud... that it had taken his shape and soul, but it was just a monster... he wanted me to ... to BETRAY my own SON, to sell him out to Shin-Ra... I told him I'd have to see for myself, and I didn't believe him, not after I... not after I got Cloud back, but now... you are a monster, you are not my son, my sweet little child, he could never, ever do a thing like that... I told him that I'd know, I'd know straight away if it was my son or a monster, and he... he promised... that if I'd see him, my Cloud, and if I was sure he was real, not a monster, then they'd leave us alone... he promised! And I was so sure..."

"...mom...?" Cloud's voice was so small and scared it just about broke Zax's heart.

"DON'T CALL ME THAT! I am not your mother, you aren't my Cloud! My sweet little boy is dead, how dare you pose as him? HOW DARE YOU?! You MURDERER!" Ame screamed, tearing at her hair. "He died and you, you bastard, you try to fool me! Ghosts and... monsters, and, and severed bloody heads, this is too much! What have I done to deserve such things?!"

"Silence!" Sephiroth shouted and the hysterical woman went silent. Even Cloud ceased his sobbing. "This is neither the time nor the place for this. We are not safe yet, the rest of the Turks are close. We must leave this place."

Cid cleared his throat, almost scared to break the silence. "The Bronco is still near the forest, five minutes from here."

"Thank you, Captain." Sephiroth muttered and motioned for the blond to lead the way. The women followed him, Zax and Cloud at their heels after the Soldier threw a quick, questioning look at his General.

They didn't get far when the shouting started. Cid picked up their pace as loud voices ordered people around. Bright lights, originally used when the rocket was being built, were lit up, and they turned the dark night into a bright day.

"We're almost there!" Highwind shouted when they could see the small plane. Lucky for them, the area was deserted. Cid jumped in first and immediately started the engines. "Hurry up!"

Zax lifted Cloud in and turned to help the women up. Shera didn't need help, though, she climbed in as if she were born to do it. The Soldier turned to Ame, but she shook her head.

"Please, Ms. Strife, there isn't much time." Zax pleaded and stepped closer to the woman, but she, in turn, stepped away from him.

"Mom?" Cloud asked, his eyes begging for her to get in. Ame closed her eyes and shook her head again.

"No. I'm not coming. Not with any of you. I'm sorry. I can't--" Without another word, she turned and ran deeper into the forest. Cloud screamed and Zax was just about to run after her, but Sephiroth grabbed him.

"Let her go. She'll be safe in the forest, and anyway, they'll be after us, not her. Get in."

Zax stared into the forest for a moment, listening to Cloud crying, and nodded slowly.

"There they are! Don't let them get away!"

"SHIT!" Cid screamed and the Tiny Bronco started to roll along as the first gunshots were heard. Zax grabbed the closest wing and climbed in, Sephiroth just behind him.

"Catch them!"

Slowly and shakily the plane lifted from the ground, gaining speed and height, even as the bullets flew around it.

"Shoot them down! NOW!"

The small plane was crowded, but when Zax took Cloud onto his lap and Shera chose to hide from the bullets on the floor, they managed to fit in. The Soldier did his best to shield Cloud with his own body while Sephiroth leaned out and aimed a strong bolt-spell, hitting the ground just before the men firing their guns at the plane. He didn't actually hit any of them, but they were all thrown to the ground, unable to continue their pursue.

"We're not safe yet, they hit us!" Cid screamed over the wind and the complaining machinery. "Buckle up, we're going down soon"

Sephiroth pulled Shera up to the seats and fastened the seatbelts around them both, while Zax did the same. Beneath them, but not far enough, the trees turned to grass and sand, green and yellow soon melted into blue, the smell of smoke growing stronger with every second.

"Hold on, this is fucking it!" Their Captain screamed as the dark blue sea was suddenly in front of them in stead of beneath. Zax held Cloud, protecting the boy's head with his arms. Sephiroth turned to protect Shera and Jenova's head with his body, while Cid let out a long stream of profanities, ending only when they hit the water.

"Please, professor, you have to let me out! You can't keep me in here, it's inhuman!"

Vincent, standing very still, not far from the tank, glared at the sniveling man. "So it's inhuman when you are in there, but not when Cloud was?" The ex-Turk said, voice full of contempt. Malaka ignored him, still pleading.

"Now, now, children, try to behave..." Hojo chuckled and pressed a few buttons before coming to stand next to Vincent. "Malaka dearest, you brought this on yourself. If I were you, I'd be content knowing that I'm a part of an exciting scientific project." The scientist's smile faded quickly, though. "If only I still had sweet Jenova... but she was destroyed when the reactor was blown away... most of her. I can feel her, a part of her is still out there, calling me, working to achieve our goal..." Hojo's smile came back to his lips as he looked back at Malaka, and at the green liquid, up to the man's ankles by now. "You should be more like her, young man. She was captured in the land for thousands of years, experimented upon, blown to bits, but still she continues to fight for our cause."

Malaka was petrified, brown eyes large and staring at the rising Mako. Vincent averted his eyes, not wanting to end up pitying the man who had made his and Cloud's lives hellish for the last year or so. His thoughts wandered quickly to the boy, and to Sephiroth, and he wondered what had happened to them during the last few days. It was hard to believe that only so little time had passed since he'd met his son for the first, and probably last, time. Easier when he moved an inch and his body complained, still sore from Hojo's welcome back -treatment. The ex-Turk had managed to forget some of the fear and pain of actually being on the professor's operating table during his long sleep, but after being dragged back to the mansion, Hojo had decided to punish him for disobedience. Vincent looked down and shivered.

Hojo had decided to throw him into one of the tanks for a while, to strengthen the control over the ex-Turk. He had spent some time in one of them 25 years ago, but he'd been so confused and in so much pain that the Mako hadn't made much difference to his well-being. But now he'd felt every cold, acidic tingle of the liquid, both outside his body and in. But Vincent had kept his pride, hadn't let out one word of complain, not one noise of distress. After he'd been left out, Hojo had gone creative on him to make very clear what he thought of 'slaves who didn't know their place'. The scientist had also been very upset that Vincent had managed to break his computer codes, and had promised to make sure it would never happen again.

Vincent closed his eyes and tried to ignore his pains and the twisted thing that had once been his body. His hair had obviously been on the professor's way, for it had been cut to the length of only a few inches. His arm... Hojo had removed the metal claw covering his left hand, leaving him with a black-scaled stump with almost useless, bone-thin fingers. The claw had given them strength and protected the arm from harm. Now even the cold, humid air of the basement was hurting it, causing the impression that his hand was constantly dipped into Mako. Moving it, or the fingers, shot electric pain all around his body, stretched the blackened skin and even ripped it at times, so Vincent did his best to keep his hand still.

One thing you got quickly used to, living in the basement, were the bats. They were everywhere, flying around, scaring people and sucking out the blood and strength of everyone who got in their way. They were far larger than normal bats, and more vicious. With all the experiments going on in the mansion, Vincent wasn't surprised that even the animals had mutated so.

They had obviously inspired Hojo when the scientist had been thinking of a proper punishment to his slave. Just before he'd been thrown into the Mako, Vincent had received a wing. Grey-black, flexible skin had been sewn to his left arm and attached to his ribs. He wondered if it had been sewn together from pieces of bat's wings, for one wing wasn't that large. He also wondered what the hell Hojo hoped to achieve with this, other than make him utterly miserable. The wing wasn't nearly strong enough to make him fly, and with the pain in his hand when he moved it, it wouldn't be possible anyway.

Malaka had started to shout pathetically, and Hojo was shaking his head at the behaviour. Vincent lifted his eyes and saw that the professor had turned to stare at him, ignoring the racket.

"Do flap your wing, Valentine, wouldn't want it to go weak from misuse..." the man chuckled at his own words and walked around the ex-Turk, who didn't dare move a muscle. "I wonder... will you also start to drink blood, like the bats and your young friend?"

Vincent's head snapped around, to stare into Hojo's mad eyes. "What?"

The professor poked his wing and chest with a pen and chuckled. "You didn't know? Yet you read my notes..." Hojo shrugged and took another walk around Vincent. "You never wondered just why you two didn't get the same food, or why I preferred to have him fed through the tubes? He wasn't ready yet, though, when he ran from us. He'd only fed himself under my surveillance and guidance... I wonder if he'll be able to do it himself, if he'll realize how to do it. Ah, I wish I could see him. Well, can't have everything. You got yours, though." He poked at the wing once more, and made it twitch.

Vincent had gone even paler than usual, his head spinning. What was the lunatic talking about? "What... what do you mean? Hojo, what did you do to him?"

Hojo chuckled yet again, seeming too pleased with himself, and walked to the tank to look how Malaka was learning to breathe Mako. It was clearly painful and difficult, but the professor didn't seem to mind.

"You aren't as smart as I gave you credit for, Valentine. You missed the point. Jenova was a being who feasted on the planets she arrived upon, the land, the people, the very soul of the planet. Sucking on its powers, just like those damned bats. Ah, I see you understand now. So, I started to wonder... Jenova made it, so do those bats. But, could I make a normal human being the same, change him so that he'd have this particular trait of hers?" The scientist chuckled and shrugged.

"Sephiroth got most of her powers and strengths, but this one I had not given him. Such an interesting thing, it would have been a shame not to try it. Really is too bad that the specimen got away... mmm, but it's not too late, the Turks are after him and Sephiroth... dear Vincent, you just might get your little friend back. And I'll see what has become of him. Might have been a bit too much, in hindsight... I should have had more specimens, really, I ended up trying just about anything on him. Just like I honed myself for Sephiroth on you. Jenova-cells in the boy, with the recent alterations... if he lives, he might not be a human for long... damn it, until the Turks catch him I can only speculate..."

For a second Vincent thought, hoped, that he might just faint from shock. But then he remembered the four demons who haunted his sleep and forced himself to stay awake.

"Hojo, you bastard..." he muttered and watched the gleeful professor walk around the tank hosting Malaka. The younger man was breathing the liquid now, but by the look on his face, wasn't liking it at all. The ex-Turk ended feeling sorry for the man after all.

A.N: A thought just came to me... why didn't Seph use Life or a Phoenix Down on Tseng?! Why didn't anyone else? Hmm. Guess it's his destiny to live... er, die... um, whatever... unresurrected. And anyway, what would become of this story if people didn't stay dead... right? Heh. Review? And thank you for reading!

And now, this week's episode of Behind the Scenes!

Sephiroth strikes a dramatic pose. "Silence! This is neither the time nor the place for this. We are not safe yet, the rest of the Turks are close. We must leave this place."

"To the Batmobile!" Zax screams, grinning.

"CUT!! Okay, again..."

Sephiroth rolls his eyes. "Blah blah blah. We must leave this place."

"Let's hunt some orc!"

"CUT!! Zax!!"

"I want you to hit me as hard as you can!"

"Don't tempt me..."

"Are you talkin' to me?"

"LINDEMAN!"

"How many times I have to tell you, green is not your colour!"

"WHAT?!"

"Who would you like me to kill?"

"You!"

"Somebody please shoot him!" Cloud screams, trying to get free from the crazed Soldier's grip. Vincent appears from behind the set and shoots the madman with his Death Penalty.

"Damnit! Now we need a new Soldier..."

"Seventh this month..."