Chapter 6

Touch me now

Used to be afraid to let it show, bow down(bow down)

A king in my own mind

Everything's in place, so much better from today…

A king in my own mind.

---

It was raining again. Dreary, the days had been. For so long now, the world seemed to be reflecting his own mind. A desolate sky shed many tears upon him, as a sign of sympathy, perhaps. He was unaware of the misery inside because his long worn mask of insanity had now melded into his face and slowly soaked into his mind, confusing and yet at the same time liberating his consciousness. The new sense of responsibility within had given him a cause, finally. After so many years of hiding, mourning and waiting, he was ready. The rain got worse. Sephiroth knew he would have to land somewhere in Midgcar. He hovered over the industrial city, the largest in the world, and shook his head. Such awful memories haunted this place, and he knew he was the cause of a few. Midgcar should be the first to go, he decided. The people and the city, all traces should be transformed or eradicated. Landing on the outskirts, Sephiroth reached a small gate. At the entrance were two guards, dressed in typical ALIEN uniform and chatting to each other, unaware of his landing or his approach. The city loomed over him, it's metallic eyes seemingly watching in anticipation… Sephiroth nearly viewed himself as a parasite, one which Midgcar seemingly didn't want to have back. Maybe it had thought Sephiroth was gone for good. Maybe. The guards had noticed him now. They turned to him and raised their weapons. Both Guard's visions were blurry due to the rain that fell from above, but they could make out a tall man with long silver hair and a black suit of armour covered mostly by a trench coat heading directly towards them.

"Halt! Who are you?" One of the Guards called out. There was no response, the figure simply continued gliding towards them. They looked at each other anxiously. The second Guard took an unsure step forward.

"We command you to stop, in the name of Rufus Alien!"

The figure did then stop. His silver hair fell in front of his eyes as he dropped his head slightly and began chuckling. He threw his head back and arched his arms out towards the sky. A sudden rumble of thunder made both Guards stumble backwards, slightly afraid of this unusual stranger. Sephiroth continued chuckling and slowly pulled out a long sword. He turned his eyes up to the first guard and silently dared him to attack. The guard instead continued backwards until he hit his back firmly against the gate. He jumped and swivelled round, at which point Sephiroth leapt forward and drove his sword through the Guard's armour and deep into his flesh. The guard barely managed a squeal before his eyes rolled back into his head. The second guard, meanwhile, stood rooted to the spot, shaking in shock and fear of what he had just seen. A sudden rush of panic took over his body. Not wanting to die, he aimed his gun and began wildly firing at Sephiroth. The bullets flew off in all directions, but none seemed to hit Sephiroth. The guard was unaware of this, and kept firing until he was out of ammunition. He stared in bewilderment and fear at the silver-haired murderer, unable to comprehend how he had managed to come out of the attack unscathed. Sephiroth turned to the guard, locking eyes with him. The guard felt his whole body freeze up. He could not have moved even if he had wanted to. In a matter of seconds Sephiroth had thrown the dead guard off his sword and swung it with expert precision at the frozen guard's head, slicing it clean off. The body fell to the ground, headless and still. Turning to the entrance, Sephiroth wiped a few marks off of his sword and sheathed it once more. He stepped next to the gate and pried his fingers into the cracks where the electronic doors would normally slide open once the correct verification was given. Sephiroth's verification came through forcing the doors to grind open, with a high-pitched screeching sound. When the were wide enough, he entered Midgcar. Alarm bells began wailing.

"Camera." Sephiroth decided it must have been hidden, as he certainly didn't spot it. Within seconds he was back into the air. He landed on the rooftop of a small building and jumped down into an alley, to begin his journey, the first objective being to find his lost son…

---

The six guards sent by the Turks slowly crept up the stairs of the church, straining their ears for any sound which may betray another being within their grasp, but all around them was nothing but silence and the sound of their own breathing. They reached the top of the stairs and checked around, there was no sign of anybody. There were three doors on the narrow landing, two on the right hand side and one on the left hand side, right at the end.

"Alright." The team leader turned to the five troops behind him. "Smith, you and Blitz check out the first one on the right. Uhmir and Beane, you guys take a look in the second room on the right. Gates and I will check out that room on the left. Be careful." His soldiers nodded and headed off to their respective rooms. Gates lined up next to his captain as they walked towards their room.

"Do you think there's anyone here?" he asked.

"Perhaps… but probably not." The captain replied as they reached the door. He put his hand on the knob and turned to Gates. "Be prepared to attack."

"Yes, sir." Gates nodded, aiming his gun at the door.

"Okay." The captain took a deep breath and turned the knob, slowly opening the door. It creaked a little as it opened. Gates scanned the room, ready to pull the trigger at any movement from within. The captain turned to Gates, who nodded the affirmative. The captain entered the room, and the last act of his life came as he turned his head to the right, and briefly saw a flashing blade on a collision course for his skull. Before Gates knew what had happened he had been stabbed in the heart by a man with a sword. Jim pulled the blade out and swiped at the head, slicing the top half of the skull off. There had been no noise other than the brief choking of Gates before his skull was cut in two halves. The captain lay on the floor, a large bleeding scar running from his forehead to the base of his noise, where Danny's sword had made its mark. The two rebels slowly ran to the door opposite Aeris's room. It opened at that moment and Uhmir let out a yell as he came upon the two rebels, he had no more time to do anything else, though, as Danny had taken a swipe at Uhmir's throat and let a fountain of blood exploded from within. Uhmir fell to the floor as Beane cried out in shock, before he could retaliate the two rebels were upon him. He defended himself for a few seconds, but Jim got round the back of him and sliced his sword into Beane's lower back. The soldier let out a muffled screech before collapsing in a mixture of his and Uhmir's blood. By this time Smith and Blitz and come out onto the landing. Danny and Jim were now face to face with the two soldiers. The guards looked over their fallen comrades briefly.

"Shit! Captain!" Blitz growled, aiming his gun at Danny.

"Bastards!" Smith too aimed his gun and they began firing. Danny leapt onto the wall and leapt off it straight into Smith, their bodies went rolling along the floor. Smith lost grip of his weapon. Jim blocked Blitz's bullets with his sword and quickly dug a small explosive out of his pocket, throwing it at Blitz. It exploded in his face. The soldier fell back, dropping his gun. From there his fate was sealed. Jim dealt Blitz his death quickly and ran over to where Danny and Smith were fighting. Danny had Smith pinned down but had no way to get his weapon. Jim stood over Smith's head, looking down.

"Wait!" Smith cried, but it was too late. Jim aimed the tip of the sword at Smith's head and plunged it into his skull, ending the final guard's life. Jim pulled out his sword and turned back.

"Those Turks will be coming soon. Bet they're more experienced than these guys."

"Yeah. We should leave now, we've caused Aeris and Jerad enough trouble." Danny ran into Aeris's bedroom, jumping over the bodies of the soldiers that had tried to kill him. Jim followed, wrinkling his nose as the smell of death came into the air. Danny stood on Aeris's bed and shoved his hand through her window. The fragile glass broke, and shards of it fell onto her bed.

"We'll have to say sorry, some time." Danny said, shrugging before breaking the rest of the glass and leaping out of the window. Jim climbed onto the bed and looked down, it was quite a drop. Danny was on the floor, holding his ankle.

"You okay?" Jim yelled down.

"Yeah, just come on already!" Danny got up, hobbling.

Jim gulped and took a deep breath. "Here we go…" He took one last look at Aeris's now bloody bedroom and then jumped right out the window.

---

The gunfire and yelling were muffled from where Aeris, Jerad and the Turks were, but it told the Turks what they needed to know. That the rebels were indeed here. They were confident that six guards would be able to deal with the maximum of two rebels. They waited. Aeris bowed her head, trying not to shake. Jerad looked back briefly, wondering what the Turks would do now that they knew they'd lied. He couldn't let them kill Aeris, even if he had to sacrifice his own life to save hers. He'd claim all responsibility, say that she had known nothing about it and that he was completely to blame. Whether they'd believe him or not was another thing entirely. Jerad hoped Aeris's past relations with Reno may possibly smooth things over a little, even though he was still furious about not being informed about the relationship. How had he missed it? The gunfire had stopped. There was now silence once more.

The Turks turned to each other, curious expressions on their faces.

"Surely those guys weren't…" Elena started.

"We'll find out soon enough." Tseng replied. They didn't have to wait long, for within a few seconds they heard glass smash, and the yelling of two men.

"Shit! God dammit!" Reno turned and ran out of the church doors, followed by Elena and Rude. Tseng stayed where he was, eyeing Jerad and Aeris.

"You had both better hope they come back with those rebels. Or things will certainly take a turn for the worse for you."

Brother and sister remained silent, glancing at each other. Aeris looked far more worried than Jerad, who always put on a brave face in spite of what was going on. She sighed and looked at Tseng.

"Why are you after them?"

"As if you don't know…" Tseng snorted. "I'm not fooled."

"Just leave us alone…" Jerad growled, knowing Tseng wasn't planning to do anything of the sort. He listened for any sounds that may give a clue as to what was happening outside…