Don't own them. Why do I have to be reminded of that every time?
Chapter two: So how do we get out?
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Aeris stood at the door of the small cell, staring out of the small, barred window. Behind her, Tifa sat on the one bed, leaning her back against a wall and staring at the ceiling. The flower girl presumed that the others were in cells nearby, she had heard Cid swearing. That made her smile a little, even though she was worried about her parents and wanted nothing more than to get out and find them.
She had finally found them, only to lose them again. At least she knew that they were alive. But what had been the cost of that knowledge?
She and Tifa had been dropped from the Don's bedroom to the sewers below, from where they had made their way quickly back to Sector 7, just in time to see the last breaths of three of their comrades in Avalanche, and to witness a red-haired Turk setting up a bomb to destroy the pillar holding up the sector's plate. They had escaped with Cid and Barret just in time before tons of metal and stone had collapsed on the slums, destroying them completely and killing everyone. Their only comfort had been that Barret's small daughter Marlene and Shera had escaped the slums before the pillar had collapsed, and were now somewhere safe. The four of them had met them briefly, and Shera had said that she would take the girl away from Midgar, as the whole city was in an uproar. The rest had decided to use the chaos and enter the Shin-Ra Headquarters, to look for Aeris's parents, and maybe even to revenge the deaths of the thousands.
Now they were stuck here, in the cells at the laboratory floor. If they couldn't figure a way to get out, they'd just have to sit still and wait for the president to decide what he wanted to be done with them. Maybe even a public trial and execution. They'd willingly take the blame for blowing up the reactors, but Aeris feared that Shin-Ra would pin the blame of the pillar's collapse on them as well.
"Aeris... can I ask you something?" Tifa asked suddenly, startling the other girl. Her quiet voice echoed slightly in the barren room.
Aeris turned from the door, leaned her back against it and shrugged. "Sure, go ahead." From the small group of Avalanche, Tifa was closest to her age, only two years younger. Once they had both gotten over their initial suspicions of each other, they had become quite good friends, although they hadn't had much time to really talk about things.
Tifa sat up and turned her red eyes to Aeris' green ones. "The president talked about the Promised Land. Does it really exist?"
The flower girl smiled and came to sit down next to her. "My mother talks to me often of the Cetra. They were born from the Planet, speak with the Planet, and unlock the Planet. And then... the Cetra will return to the Promised Land. A land that promises supreme happiness."
"What does that mean?"
"When our bodies cease to exist, our spirits don't die, they return to the Promised Land and join the Lifestream. Still conscious, although not quite the same way as you and I are now. It is an existence in spirit, and since there's no flesh, no urges or needs, it is a place of peace and happiness." Aeris struggled with the words a bit. She had heard them from her mother many times ever since she was a child, but telling them to someone else, someone who hadn't heard them before, it felt like telling a secret.
"Can you speak with the Planet?" Tifa asked after considering the words for a moment.
"Sometimes. When I am in a quiet place. In cities and towns there's so much people and noise. That's why I can't always make out what the Planet is saying. Here in Midgar I can only hear it at the church in the Slums. Mother always said that Midgar was no longer safe. That's why we lived in Icicle Inn, far from this all. I wish we could just go back there, and back in time, before Hojo laid his eyes on us."
From behind their backs they could hear Cid cursing.
"Cid? Are you there? Are you alone?" Tifa asked, pressing her cheek against the wall.
"Yeah, I'm here. The big guy's also here, trying to work his brain..."
"Shut up!" They heard Barret's growl and smiled. Heavy footsteps came closer to the wall, and soon they heard their leader's voice again.
"I've been thinkin'. Shin-Ra is searching for that Promised Land. He believes that it's full of Mako energy. Which means, if the Shin-Ra get there, they'll suck up all the Mako, and the land'll wither away. The Planet's gonna get weaker. Am I right?"
Aeris nodded and closed her eyes. "Yes, Barret. That's what my parents believe as well."
"Oh hell! I can't just leave 'em be. I'm recruitin' new members! Me, Tifa, Cid, Aeris, you too. How about Red? Is he there?" Barret's voice came through the wall again, this time with more energy and determination. The girls could imagine Cid rolling his eyes and swearing. They almost jumped when a low voice came from behind the opposite wall.
"I am here. I will join you, at least until I find a way to get back home."
"Red?" Tifa asked and got off the bed, walking across the room to press her ear against the wall. "Are you all right?"
"Yes, thank you."
"Where is your home? What are you? I've never met anyone like you, or heard about your kind." The barmaid asked, looking over at Aeris who cocked her head, also curious to hear the answer.
"An informed question. But difficult to answer. I am what you saw I am. Aeris, I apologize for what happened back there with your mother. I was merely acting to throw Hojo off guard."
"It's all right, I'm sure she'll understand."
"We'll find a way out of here, and find a way to free her and your father as well. But for now I think the best thing to do would be sleeping. We will need our strength later." Red's voice came through the wall and Aeris passed his words to Barret and Cid. They agreed and Avalanche, old and new, settled down to sleep.
Even after midnight, the headquarters was never completely empty. But he had no trouble staying out of the guard's way; the men were half asleep even as they patrolled the hallways. The clerks, those who didn't work or sleep in their offices, reminded him of zombies that he had seen in those old horror movies Zackery had loved to watch.
No, no time for nostalgia now. He had a mission. Sephiroth smirked and moved past a yawning guard. He hadn't told Jenova what he was going to do. She read his thoughts, he wouldn't have to tell her anything. She hadn't said anything, but hadn't objected either, and he had taken it as a permission to have some fun with the group of rebels. Even if they weren't a part of their great plan, they still might be of some use. But stuck here, in prison cells, they wouldn't be able to do anything.
Teleporting here had been easy, he remembered the place so vividly. Still, it had taken a lot of his strength, he had never teleported this far before. It didn't matter, though, he was still far stronger than anyone here, and there was no hurry back, he might as well see if he could do something else to keep himself amused. Their plan wouldn't go into action until Hojo's little puppet was ready to work for them. After that, Sephiroth suspected he wouldn't be having much time to spare anymore.
He had arrived a few floors below the laboratories, and made his way quickly to the 67th floor, where the rebels were held. And where the lower half of Hojo's laboratory was. Sephiroth already knew that the professor wasn't in the building anymore, and was relieved because of that. They hadn't seen each other since five years ago in Nibelheim, and that was fine with him. It also meant he wouldn't have to fear getting caught here, as the laboratory workers were always more relaxed and less dutiful when the professor was away.
He looked quickly into the laboratory before heading towards the holding cells. The place made his skin crawl. Even after he'd been released from the laboratory in Nibelheim, after he'd come here to Midgar and joined Soldier, Hojo had still insisted to see him every now and then, in the laboratory, for check-ups. Walking past the caged and tortured specimens had been a nightmare, even when he had been a teenager, for he could still remember a time when he had been one of them. At some point he had gotten over it, though, and had even forgotten his fear of Hojo. Maybe it had been when he had realized he was a head taller than the professor, who was getting older.
Returning to Nibelheim five years ago had brought the memories back, and the laboratory was once again as painful to see as it had been some fifteen years ago. Now it also enraged him, to think how badly he, a rightful ruler of this miserable planet, had been treated. He'd get Hojo back, sooner or later. Now the man was still useful, but soon...
The lone guard died without a sound, dead before he even realized that there was seven feet of sword through his heart. Sephiroth turned the Masamune and let the man slide down the length of the blade, to collapse on the floor. He had taken the key card before the body even hit the ground with a low thud. At random he picked one of the doors and slid the card into the locking device, watching how the light above the door turned from red to green. The rebels could do the rest themselves.
He knew that he left bloody footprints in his wake but didn't mind. They would lead the rebels to their destiny. Sephiroth wasn't sure how much Jenova knew of this part of his little night out, but figured that she would have stopped him already if he wasn't allowed to do what he was looking forward to doing.
Up the stairs, killing the ill-fortuned guards who happened on his way, he walked to the place that was a stage of some of his worse memories, after the laboratories. The times he had been summoned up to the president's office had always been most uncomfortable. The war in Wutai, the quick briefings for the more dangerous missions, all the bossing around. But now he would get even for all that. No more would he be Shin-Ra's little puppet, following every pull of the strings.
The door opened without a sound, the Masamune slicing through every lock and alarm that blocked his way. His blood-covered boots made no sound and his black clothes made sure he was practically invisible in the shadows.
The president was laughing, sitting behind his desk, while Palmer stood in front of it, shaking and trying to get comprehensible words out of his mouth. Sephiroth smirked and started to laugh as well, a low and menacing sound. It grew louder and eventually silenced the president and both men turned to stare into the shadows just as he cut the rest of the alarm cables.
"...mister president... how good to see you're fine..." Sephiroth said and stepped out of the shadows so that the lights fell upon his hair and face. Palmer started to stutter and back away, towards the huge windows at the far end of the room. The president stood up, pressing the alarm. "Don't worry, no one will come and disturb our little meeting." He continued and walked to the table.
In Shin-Ra's defense, he stood his ground, not letting the fear show. Only a few drops of sweat appeared on his forehead and slid down his face. "Sephiroth. I... we... hadn't expected to see you. You have been gone for years." His voice was steady, despite the initial stutters.
"But nothing has changed, has it? Still after Mako, are you?" Sephiroth answered in a conversational tone, keeping his face straight. He walked across the table's length, watching the material and how one of his gloved fingers glided on it, sometimes leaving a small smudge of blood to the smooth surface. Neither Shin-Ra nor Palmer had missed the fact that his other hand carried the bloody Masamune. The plump executive squeaked and closed his eyes. The president kept his on the ex-general who was now on his side of the desk.
"Your precious Mako... and the Promised Land? You still wish to find it?"
"Of course." Shin-Ra answered. "We will find it. I take it you have returned to lead Soldier again. I'm glad, there hasn't been a general nearly as good as you were-- are." His tone sounded friendly but couldn't quite cover fear and the truth that he had never expected to see Sephiroth again and had no intention of letting him live for longer than two hours, unless he could be of some use.
"No." Sephiroth merely said, shaking his head a little, and finally lifted his hand and eyes from the desk. "I've come here to make sure you never get your Promised Land."
The president turned to flee as the Masamune came up but was too late. The weapon slid into his back and through internal organs, the bloody tip soon appearing again through the front of the man's shirt. Sephiroth guided the limp body back to the chair and pushed it closer to the table, letting the upper body fall on it. Satisfied with his revenge, he almost forgot Palmer. He would have just walked away but the man inhaled particularly loud and drew his attention to himself.
Smirking, Sephiroth walked noiselessly to the shivering man. Hiding behind a pillar, Palmer had covered his face with his hands, blind to the world. The silver-haired man tapped him gently on the shoulder.
"Y-yes?" Palmer asked and looked through his fingers, clearly sure that he was going to die and ashamed that he had not the courage to face it like a man.
Sephiroth smiled, bowed down and cocked his head. "Boo."
Palmer fainted.
He watched as the fat body fell limp on the floor and shook his head. Worms. All of them.
Aeris couldn't sleep. She had dozed for a few minutes every now and then, but it wasn't real sleep or rest. She was too worried about her parents, and too far from the Planet to hear it. As a child, that had always soothed her and made her feel comfortable. But here, far above the earth, in a huge building of metal, there was no way to touch it, no way to get near the spirits that had always surrounded her.
With a sigh she rolled over to face the dark room in stead of Tifa's back. The fighter was deep asleep, and she envied her for it. There was only the one bed, they could barely fit on it. And the blanket was nowhere near big enough for the both of them. She tried to pull some of it to cover her, but Tifa was desperately clinging to most of it. Aeris yanked at it and wondered why was it so chilly in the cell. It had been much warmer earlier, now there was a draft. She looked over at the door and almost fell from the bed in surprise when she saw that it was open.
"What... when did that open..." she muttered and sat up. Glancing over at the sleeping Tifa, Aeris stood up and walked quietly to the open portal. Looking out, she gasped as she saw someone lying in a pool of blood on the floor, a few yards to the left. She ran over to the guard, ready to heal the man, but shook her head when she saw that he was dead. Had been for a while. Not long, though, his skin was still a little warm, and the blood hadn't dried yet. Whoever had done this might still be close. With a shudder she stood up and ran back to the cell.
"Tifa... Tifa wake up!"
"What... what's wrong?" The sleepy barmaid asked before she even opened her eyes. Aeris gestured towards the open door. Tifa sat up and blinked a few times. "How did you open that?"
"I didn't. Come, look outside. Something's going on."
They both ran back to the guard, and Tifa thought to check him for the key cards to the other cells. They quickly woke Red, Barret and Cid, although the pilot was intent to sleep for five more minutes. Eventually Barret just picked him up by the neck and set the blond up on his legs.
"The hell's goin' on!?" Barret asked as they all stood around the body. The girls shrugged and Cid shook his head.
Red was already following the trail of bloody footsteps. "I'll go on ahead. To check the way." He said and ran off before anyone had a chance to say anything.
Cid scratched his neck and yawned, wishing that he had his spear. "I'll bet ya ten gil that's the last we'll see of him..."
Barret shook his head and kneeled down. "I'll clean up back here, don't want them on our trail before we've had a good head start. You guys go ahead. And don't get caught by Shin-Ra! I'll catch up in a sec."
Cid nodded and started to lead the girl after Red. The blood trail was easy enough to follow, and after a few more bodies they found the large beast sitting at the doorway to the laboratory. There was a body of a laboratory worker in front of him, on the floor.
"Looks like it went to the upper floor using that elevator for the specimens. We'd better follow."
"In a minute..." Aeris said, looking desperately around.
"They are not here, I would have scented them. Neither is Hojo. He's the only one here." With one paw he gestured at the body. Aeris closed her eyes and nodded eventually.
"If you don't mind, I'd still like to see for myself."
"We'd better wait for Barret anyway..." Tifa muttered and followed her deeper into the laboratory. Cid shrugged and stayed with Red.
Barret joined them soon after, and they continued to follow the bloody footsteps together. Up to the higher floors, and towards the staircase to the
"...president's office..." Tifa muttered and looked at the others. Was this a trap?
They got ready to fight, but once they got into the office, the only thing they found was the president. At first glance they thought he had fallen asleep on his desk, until they saw the long sword sticking out of his back.
"Oh... shit." Cid muttered.
Barret shook his head and wandered closer to the desk. "He's dead... The head of Shin-Ra is dead..."
Tifa ran to the President, followed more slowly by the others. "That sword... I've seen it before, I know..."
"Shit again..." Cid muttered and searched his pockets for a cigarette with a shaky hand. The pack in his goggles had been empty since this morning. The one day when he could REALLY have used the nicotine. "Sephiroth's..."
Tifa whirled around to stare at him. "Sephiroth is alive? And here? I though he disappeared five years ago! After burning Nibelheim!"
"That's when I saw him last, five years ago. That's his sword, that's for sure... aw hell, what's going on?" Cid muttered, shaking his head, and leaned over the desk to take a closer look of the sword.
"Who cares who did it? This is the end of the Shin-Ra!" Barret said, smiling a bit as he watched the body carefully, imprinting the visual to his mind.
"A death, murder the less, is never fun..." Aeris muttered and almost jumped when Palmer suddenly ran from behind a pillar towards the staircase. Red, Cid and Barret moved to stop him, and the men grabbed the shaking executive.
"P-p-p-please, don't kill me!" Palmer squeaked, pale and clearly shocked. Barret shook him a bit.
"Tell us what happened here."
Palmer nodded, eager to please. "Se... Sephiroth. Sephiroth came."
"Did you see him?" Cid asked, his eyes unconsciously searching the man for any sign of cigarettes. You'd think that the lardball would be a smoker, but no.
"Yeah, I saw him! With my own eyes!" The man nodded again and again, smiling.
"You're sure it was him?" Barret asked.
"Who else would have hair like that? Would I lie at a time like this? I heard his voice, too!"
Cid and Barret looked at each other. The man had to be serious. The girls had come to listen the conversation as well.
"What did he say?" Red asked, cocking his head as he heard a quiet sound from the outside.
"Um, he said something about not letting the president have the Promised Land."
Tifa frowned and looked at Aeris. "Then... does that mean the Promised Land really does exist and that Sephiroth's here to save it from Shin-Ra?"
"So he's a good guy then?" Barret reasoned. Cid shook his head.
"Hell, I've met the guy, I don't think it's that simple. He's a nutcase, talking with a severed head and all..."
Palmer pulled away from them just then and ran towards the door to the balcony. They all heard the noise now which only Red had heard earlier.
A helicopter was flying outside the window, and it dropped someone off to the balcony. Palmer ran straight to the newcomer.
"Who is that?" Cid asked, squinting.
Barret swore and checked his gun arm. "It's Rufus! I forgot about him!"
"Who's that?" Aeris asked as a young, blond man with white clothes came into view. He stopped to talk with Palmer.
"It's vice president Rufus. The president's son." Barret explained and looked around. To finish Rufus now would surely end Shin-Ra's rule, but they were almost unarmed, and in one of the highest floors of the most well-guarded building in all of Midgar. And they still didn't know where Aeris' parents were. "Aw, hell! Let's get the hell outta here!" He ordered, and everyone turned to flee down the stairs.
"Not so fast." The Avalanche stopped and slowly turned back.
Rufus stood on the door to the balcony, pointing at them with a shotgun, a black panther-like creature at his side. "...just who are you?"
Barret took a step forward. Maybe the empire would come to an end tonight after all. "I'm from Avalanche!"
"Me too!" Tifa exclaimed.
Aeris nodded. "And I."
"A research specimen." Red decided to introduce himself with a term the vice president would recognize.
"A fucking space pilot." Cid said. If he'd die now, at least he'd go down as something he'd always wanted to be. He could feel the others give him strange looks but didn't mind.
Rufus laughed and lowered his weapon a bit. "What a crew. Well, I'm Rufus. THE President of Shin-Ra, Inc." He bowed a little, not at all disturbed by the fact that his dead father was only yards away.
Barret snorted and waved his human hand. "You're only President 'cause yer old man died!"
"That is correct. And since you're here at this special moment, I'll let you hear my inauguration speech." He stepped in to the room, Palmer behind his back, and walked around a bit, stretching his legs.
"My father tried to control the world with money, and that worked for him. The people believed that Shin-Ra would protect them. Work at Shin-Ra, get your pay. If terrorists attack, the Shin-Ra army will help you. It looked perfect on the outside.
"But, I do things differently. I'll control the world with fear. It's too much to do it like my old man. A little fear will control the minds of the common people. There's no reason to waste good money on them."
"Even if they don't look much alike, he sounds just like his father..." Tifa muttered to Aeris.
Barret was fuming next to them. Palmer saw that, and ran for the stairs. No one stopped him this time. Even Rufus just laughed.
"That's it! I won't let you become another fuckin' dictator like your old man, not as long as I live!" Barret shouted and aimed his gun-arm at the man. The guards had taken most of his bullets, but he should still have a few.
The blond man just spread his arms and laughed. "Why do you want to fight me?"
"This planet don't need another Shin-Ra to suck the life outta it! Kiss your ass goodbye..."
"What big words! Do you understand anything what's going on here? Do you have any idea of the bigger picture?" Rufus shouted, half laughing. "You mean nothing to me, little man, you and your little group! All I'm after is the Promised Land and Sephiroth."
"What do you want with that crazy son of a blue bitch?" Cid asked, hoping that Barret wouldn't shoot Rufus' blond little head all over the walls just yet.
"He is an Ancient. I've been aware of his continued existence for a while now, and have some plans of my own. He can be of much use. Hojo can keep the Ancient woman as his pet for all I care."
Aeris stepped forward. "Do you know of them? Her and professor Gast? Where are they?"
Rufus turned to look at her and smirked, flipping his hair back from his face. "Why, I heard that they were taken away from Midgar just this evening. Hojo took them 'somewhere safe', as he put it. In case we need them later, if my plans with Sephiroth fail."
Aeris knew she shouldn't trust this man, but the laboratory had been empty, and Red had said that they hadn't been there for a while. If they were alive still, there was a chance what Rufus said was the truth.
"We won't let you have either them or the Promised Land!" Tifa said, clenching her fists.
The vice president just shrugged. "I see. I guess we won't be allies then. Goodbye. It was thrilling to meet you." The shotgun came up, and the fight was on.
Sephiroth watched them, and this time he had no trouble hearing the words as well. He may have cut the alarms off, but the security cameras still worked. The dead guard at the next chair had voiced no objections when he had decided to keep an eye on the president's office.
It had been years since he'd last seen Rufus, but the young man was still much the same. A bit taller and the shoulders were wider, and his voice had dropped. And he had learned to fight. Still, he wasn't much of a match against the group, not even with the help of his pet. The vice president soon backed away and jumped to the waiting helicopter.
The Avalanche didn't waste more time but took off running. They stopped at the laboratory one more time and made sure that there was no trace of Hojo, Gast or Ifalna. Sephiroth had seen the report stating that Hojo was taking his prisoners away from Midgar, and the rebels found the same paper. If they would have stayed in the headquarters they would have eventually gotten caught again, and that would have spoiled all the fun for him.
The group decided to take one of the lifts down, but even there they had to fight their way. Two robots attacked them from the next lift but were swiftly destroyed. Indeed, these rebels kept getting better and better. This would be interesting.
He watched them destroy the robots and fight the guards downstairs, even though he lost them for a moment when the cameras couldn't follow them everywhere. But soon the rebels appeared on one little screen. Sephiroth smiled and started to laugh when he saw that they were driving two cars, a truck with the girls inside and the gun-armed man in the back, and a convertible with Highwind driving and the red beast on the backseat, down the stairs. He was overjoyed when they drove straight through a window and landed on a highway that lead away from the headquarters. The cameras wouldn't show him anything more, but he was sure that the small group would survive until he could catch up with them again.
The news of the president's death had spread through the house and people were running all over the place when he stepped out of the small security office. He could have waited for the people to calm down before leaving, but after that the guards would be on the lookout for anyone who looked like trouble. It would be easier to leave during this confusion.
He had considered heading straight back to the crater, but curiosity kept him here. He wanted to follow the rebels a while longer, see if he could manipulate them and if they could be used in any way. And he wanted to know what it was what Rufus wanted out of him. Sephiroth had never really talked with the younger man, had only met him a few times, in some board meetings years ago, when the blond had barely been in his teens. He'd seen Rufus around more than that, always followed by bodyguards and Turks. He recalled that Tseng had been teaching the boy at some point, Shin-Ra wanting a son who could stand up for himself no matter what. The head of the Turks had told him, in a long ago conversation, that the boy was intelligent, and was showing ruthlessness that could some day become trouble. The boy, if not brought up with some sense and discipline, could end up being a worse dictator than his old man.
Sephiroth smirked and shook his head, watching from shadows at the people running past him. Rule the world with fear. That was understandable, everyone knew that the president had spent years building his empire. Keeping the throne with fear would be much easier, not to mention cheaper. Rufus could do it, with no consideration to what it would do to Midgar and its people, and eventually to the whole world. The humans might be worms, but some of them were very arrogant ones.
But what did the new president want with him? How had he learned that he was alive? Newspapers had stated, after he had disappeared after the second disaster in Nibelheim, that the great General Sephiroth had died sometime during the Nibelheim incident, as it would go down to history as. No matter that the Turks, some Soldiers and few people in Rocket Town had seen him alive and in one piece after the incident. They would be either ignored or bought silent. He didn't know if even the president had known that he had survived. Hojo had known. No one else should have known. So the professor must have told them.
That still didn't explain what Rufus wanted him for. Did he want to find the Promised Land? Did he expect that Sephiroth would take him there? He shook his head again and stepped out of the shadows, confident that his spells would hide him from the people rushing by. He had no idea how to get to the Promised Land. Alive, that is. Old stories said that when you died, your soul would join the Lifestream and you would find supreme happiness in the Promised Land. As far as he knew, that was the only way to reach it. But if Rufus Shin-Ra knew of another way, he'd be most interested to hear of it as well.
Following the officers, Soldiers and executives, he walked back towards the president's office. The mass of curious people were kept out, but he pushed his way through them, no one paying attention to him.
The Turks were there, as well as all of the usual suits; Heidegger, who for once wasn't laughing, Scarlet, looking her best although she must have just gotten out of bed like the rest of them, Reeve, who just stared, pale-faced, and of course Palmer, who kept stuttering "Sephiroth did it" again and again. Rufus stood apart from them, watching the scene with a cool, aloof look on his face. Sephiroth walked to him and around the new president, watching him, judging the man. Rufus twitched suddenly and looked around, making the silver-haired man smirk. Could the blond sense him? Maybe. Let him. Rufus was too cocky for his own good, thinking he could just use the General like he wanted, thinking that he would obey such commands.
Rufus turned suddenly, his blue eyes scanning the room behind him, looking straight through Sephiroth. He smiled and began to laugh, so much this all amused him.
They shouldn't have been able to hear a thing, the spells muted his voice as well, but the executives looked up and around as one while the Turks pulled out their weapons. Maybe they couldn't hear him but they could sense him, somehow. That and their fear only made Sephiroth laugh louder, and he enjoyed the chills that clearly ran down the spines of people who he'd never had thought would own ones. He turned on his heels and walked out of the room, leaving his past where it should be, behind him.
This had been the best night in years. He couldn't remember when he had had this much fun.
Rufus stood in front of the large window in the president's office. HIS office. The body of his father had been taken away, and he was now alone with the Turks. His pet, Dark Nation, who had been injured in the fight with the Avalanche, was resting under the large desk, not caring that the floor was still red with blood.
The Turks, Rude, ever stoic behind his sunglasses, Reno, arm and head still in bandages after the fight at the Sector 7 pillar, and the newest one, a young woman named Elena, stood in attention on the other side of the desk, although there wasn't any noticeable difference between Reno's attention and the usual slouch. Rufus had just finished filling them in on what had happened with the rebels and how they had gotten away.
The blond president flipped his hair from his eyes and turned back to the Turks. "They can't have gotten far yet. Rude, Elena, follow them, and make sure they don't get in our way. Reno, you check the security tapes from today, see if you can see them and Sephiroth. We need to find him before they do. You two, as well, follow any leads of Sephiroth. Understood?"
"Yes, sir!" Elena exclaimed enthusiastically. Rude just nodded while Reno lifted the tip of his electric rod to his temple as an acknowledgement. Rufus nodded and the three Turks disappeared noiselessly from the room.
The new president of the Shin-Ra corporation smiled and sat in the new chair that had been brought to him just half an hour ago.
A.N:
"You're doing it again!"
The author snaps from her allergic daze and turns to see Zax glaring at her. "Huh?"
"You give them a bit of me and then ditch me for chapters! This is what, the second one, and I haven't even been mentioned yet?!" The Soldier screams, throwing his arms around.
"Chill, man, a little more and I'll throw you back in. Ok?"
"Can't you see that the people want ME, you jerk, not this... ... ...not-me-ness... ...thing..."
"...gee, Zax, I didn't know Cloud was contagious... snicker"
"You callin' my buddy dumb or something?!"
"No, but you almost make it sound like you don't believe Sephiroth can keep the reader's interest. It's like you're calling him boring or something..."
Zax frowns and twitches. "Um, well, that's not exactly what I meant... uhh..."
"Zackery. A word, please." Comes the General's chill voice, making the Soldier-boy twitch even more.
"Busted. Please leave a review!"