So this story has been abandoned for quite some time now, but my little sis has convinced me that I should pick it up once again. Hopefully you all will toss a few reviews my way, but regardless I intend to polish this story off this time, and perhaps start a new romance. Enjoy everybody!
"My! Aren't we high class fighters. Training in the gym, eh?" chided Zack in his typical tone.
"You need to practice fighting on less then inviting surfaces. The wax will serve its purpose well enough," Sephiroth replied coolly as he slowly crouched down into his signature fighting position. Zack merely smirked in reply, answering by assuming his own fighting position.
"I will wipe that smirk off of your face," Sephiroth said, knowing that challenging banter was the best fuel for Zack.
"We'll just see about that," replied Zack in a much more sober tone. The two fighters leaped at one another, and the sparring match was under way.
The air hung oppressively throughout the room, sweat lingering upon every available breath. The original silence of the empty gym was now echoing with grunts and the sounds of bone connecting with bone. This was the atmosphere any room assumed when Zack and Sephiroth decided to have a sparring match. Neither man could seem to gain ground on the other as they continually circled each other in a graceful dance of sorts. An astounding amount of perspiration suddenly began to prickle upon Zack's brow. Taking full advantage of the mild irritation, Sephiroth manage to plat a low blow to Zack's gut.
Zack recoiled with great force as he went sliding across the newly waxed floor. Sephiroth merely stood there with his arms crossed, foot tapping in an agitated rhythm, with a peevish look gracing his pointed features. "We must train, now is no time for joking around," Sephiroth whispered angrily to himself. He pain stakingly unfolded his arms and slowly began to walk over to Zack. Sephiroth suddenly stopped dead in his tracks taken aback by the image crossing his vision. Zack's eyes had rolled back into his head leaving only the whites of his eyes left visible and twitching. His body began to spasm vehemently, his abdominal muscles acting separately from those of his legs creating a horrifying image of illness. Sephiroth's mind began to race wildly. No one thought could connect with another, leaving his mind a frantic and chaotic mess. His stomach seemed to crash through the floor under his feet, the floor that seemed to be dropping out as well. He ran over and fell to his knees next to his seizuring comrade. He placed his head in his lap and cradled it trying to protect the skull from the mercilessly hard floor. Sephiroth did the first thing that he could pulled from his fear ravaged mind.
"Help…" the words spilled forth from his trembling lips as little more than a horse whisper. He repeated the word again and again. Hoping, praying that he was gaining control of his speech, and that somehow he would gain enough volume to be audible to some passerby.
Sephiroth was not sure how much time passed until help finally came and the doctors finally arrived on site. Time had lost all pertinence. A cruel looking syringe was inserted into Zack's neck and drained of its contents. The flailing trailed into a weak and constant twitching. The needle was carelessly dropped to the ground as two of the scientists dragged his limp and virtually lifeless body out of the room. Sephiroth took an instinctive step forward, but was stopped by the other scientists. Sephiroth could only watch as his comrade, his second in command, his only true friend was removed from the room. He stood dumbfounded and utterly alone as the remaining doctors existed. Sephiroth cringed as he heard a loud retching sound echoed from just outside the door undoubtedly protruding from his second in command.
Sephiroth stood in stunned silence for several moments before forcing his feet to move him elsewhere. As he stepped outside the door he noticed a janitor busily cleaning what must have been the remainder of Zack's episode. Something very peculiar caught Sephiroth's eye; The color of the vomit was not normal. It was a bizarre greenish color with a purple tint to it. Sephiroth furrowed his brow.
"That cannot be right," he mused to himself. Instinctively he went back into the sparring room to examine it. His eye immediately fell upon the needle that was carelessly discarded upon the ground. Sephiroth carefully picked up the syringe to examine it. Sephiroth had simply assumed earlier that it had been a tranquilizer of sorts. The tube was completely drained of all of its contents.
"Damn it," Sephiroth cursed in a tone barely audible under his breath. In his frustration, he flung the needle against the wall, shattering the useless item into millions of gleaming shards. The actual needle fell down into the spot where it was initially dropped. Sephiroth momentarily cast his glance downwards, and something caught his keen eye. A small drop of green liquid lethargically dripped from the tip of the needle. Mako. Sephiroth knew the substance all too well.
Sephiroth gathered him self and exited the room, determination in every long stride.
"Something is not right," Sephiroth mused to himself, "and I intend to discover what."
The night descended heavily upon SOLDIER HQ. Every floor seemed to be silent and every living thing claiming much needed rest; Even the marble statues seemed to be sleeping under the vale of the night. One lurking shadow, however, was not content with sleep. Sephiroth had other plans for this particular evening. He was on a mission. Tonight he was the avenging angel.
Sephiroth waited patiently for the elderly Professor Sands to exit his office. The old man was a perfect target, easy. The unsuspecting scientist opened the door only to meet with long graceful fingers entangled around his neck. The old man quickly went limp due to lack of oxygen. Sephiroth gently laid him on the floor, and removed the key card from around his neck, gently smirking to himself. Leaving the still body, Sephiroth proceeded to enter the nearest heating vent.
The 97th floor stood as eerily silent and stark as ever. Due to the ungodly hour of night, there were no torturous and tormented screams to fill the air. The only remaining trait hanging in this air was emptiness. The stark silence was suddenly shattered by clanging of metal upon cold tiled floor. Sephiroth dropped down out of the newly opened duct and landed with grace far superior to that of the grate.
"I still know this building rather well," Sephiroth mused to himself, as he had landed in his target room. Hojo's secretarial office.
Sephiroth strode over to the vast line of filling cabinets and began to peruse the countless headings. His eyes stopped at a highlighted file with the word PRIORITY stamped brazenly across the face of it. Sephiroth picked up the file entitled "The JENOVA project." He began to thumb through its contents examining every page with excruciating curiosity. With each page that he passed. His eyes began to grow wider, and his breath more ragged. Each page was laced with records of human experimentations. Fellow SOLDIERS put to death because they went stark raving mad, SOLDIERS they were told had died on missions. Countless names filled countless pages. His eyes rested upon two names in particular…his name and Zack's.
An odd sensation was growing in the back of his mind with each bit of infuriating information that was divulged. Not fear and nor anger, just a feeling that overwhelmed the senses. The door suddenly swung open, and Sephiroth dropped the file to the floor, the documents scattering about the room. Hojo's assistant Kaidance stood in the door way simply looking at Sephiroth. She dropped to her knees and began to place the documents back in their folder. She finished her task under the unwavering eyes of Sephiroth. She calmly stood up, look him in the face and stated,
"You know I must tell Hojo about this."
Something suddenly snapped inside of Sephiroth. A cruel and malicious smirk began to play upon his thin lips. A low and sinister laugh slowly crept out of his mouth, as he slowly raised his brightly glowing eyes to meet hers.
"I believe you will find that difficult," the words rasped out of Sephiroth's throat.
"And why is tha……." In a single swift motion, Sephiroth unschethed his Masamune, and lodged through the base of Kaidance's throat. Smirking all the while, his head slightly tilting off to once side as if to admire his work.
"You tell me," he stated evenly as he twisted the blade cruelly in his lifeless victim. Her only reply was a slight gurgling noise. He pulled the blade slowly, exiting his prey. The young assistant's cold body fell upon the hard tiles, papers once again littering the floor about her crumpled corpse.
A cold and maniacal laugh filled the empty air of the laboratories. Sephiroth kneeled down next to his fresh victim, all the while chuckling to himself. He lifted her cold chin as if to make the lifeless body listen intently to his words.
"It is not wise to toy with me my puppet," cooed Sephiroth, " I am, after all, the puppet master, and I shall make you dance for me." He dropped her head and swiftly walked away, his coat ominously billowing behind him. Giving the illusion that he was a dark angel of sorts. His unwavering eyes burned a brilliant shade of green. Mako green. There was not a trace of sanity left in his entire personage.
Sephiroth stopped suddenly in his tracks, and spun around. He stared blankly back at the room which he had just exited. He sauntered back and shut the lights off. Sephiroth's head absently lolled to one side.
"Good night dear puppet," Sephiroth whispered as he shut the steel door behind him.
Author's Note: Alright a wee bit dark I know, but hey Sephiroth is crazy after all. Give me some feedback, I would love to know if it is too dark, just enough dark. Please enlighten me:)