Chapter 2: He's baaaaaack!
Cloud and Red help the limping man over to the dump area where Barret and Marlene are. Once they approach them Barret looks up and sees Sephiroth.
"What the hell! Marlene, get out of here!" Yells Barret as his eyes lock on Sephiroth. He raises his gun-arm in a flash and levels it at Sephiroth.
"Hold on!" yelled Cloud, holding Sephiroth by his side. Barret walks toward Sephiroth, his gun-arm still pointed at Sephiroth's head.
"What, are you fuckin' out of your mind! Why the fuck you helping HIM!" Stammers Barret, reluctant to lower his arm.
"W-why does everyone want to kill me? I'm so lost." Says Sephiroth. Barret blinks when he hears this, "What the hell!" Cloud gently pushes Barret's gun-arm down and tries to explain what he could. About 15 minutes later, Barret finally understood Sephiroth's situation.
"You mean, we fought a clone the fuckin' whole time? Damn, that clone fooled us real good!" Barret frowns. Cloud nods,
"Yup. Now, we need take Sephiroth back to our town (Kalm) to stop this bleeding." Sephiroth covers his wound with a rag. Barret nods, feeling a shiver run down his spine as he takes Sephiroth's arm around him for support.
They walk over to the truck and, after gently setting Sephiroth down in the back, start the engine and drive away. Another flashback hits Sephiroth. He remembers about riding in a truck with 4 soldiers and heading for some town. He sat on the box and watched a young man with spiky, black hair who was excited over the mission. He talked to the other soldier to the left of the spiky, black haired young man, "Why don't you take your helm off? It might make you feel better." Said Sephiroth. The soldier nodded and removed his helm off to reveal his face. His hair was blond and just as spiky as the other. The flashback faded into a clouded haze.
"Hey...I think I remember you; you with the spiky blond hair." Says Sephiroth while he looks at Cloud. Cloud is surprised that Sephiroth remembers him from 7 years ago.
"What did you remember?" asked Cloud. Sephiroth told him what his remembrance had showed him of the past. Cloud nods, "Ah that would be Zack and I, Cloud. We were riding on the truck for a mission. You were asking me to remove my helm because I was having motion sickness from the long ride."
"Ah, yes. Zack and Cloud." Said Sephiroth, "But I still can't remember why we were on the mission." Cloud sighs; he knew it would take a long time to get Sephiroth's memory back. He figures that he should let Sephiroth figure it out by himself. He might find something to remind him from the past. They finally arrive in Kalm. They help Sephiroth out, but Cloud puts a black cloth on Sephiroth's head so people wouldn't recognize him around town. They walk over to Cloud and Tifa's house and open the door.
"Oh, Cloud, I didn't know that you were coming back so early!" says Tifa as she walks into the living room. Cloud gulps and doesn't know what to say to Tifa since her father was killed by Jenova...well, a clone called Sephiroth. He helped Sephiroth sit down on the couch.
"Don't uncover your face until I say so." Cloud muttered, thankful for putting the cloth over the injured man's face. Sephiroth nods softly. Cloud turns back to Tifa and tries to open his mouth to explain, but is interrupted by Tifa.
"Who is this?" she asks, a worried look on her face as she eyes the bandages on the injured leg. Cloud blinks at Tifa, struggling for the right words.
"Um, please don't be freak out or yell at me while I try to explain." he says slowly. Tifa looks confused, but patiently looks at him and waits for him to explain. Cloud knew Tifa would freak out when she heard his name. He sighs, "Tifa...this man is..." Tifa raised an eyebrow,
"Who is it hon?"
"...Sephiroth." Cloud finishes the sentence. Suddenly, Tifa screams and raises her fist toward the startled man.
"SEPHIROTH! YOU KILLED MY FATHER!" Cloud snatched off the dark cloth covering his face in time for Sephiroth to see an enraged Tifa dashing toward him. He quickly puts his arm up to shield himself, when Tifa is stopped short by a huge hand; she looks up at Barret holding her wrist,
"Tifa!" Barret struggled to remain calm. "This is not the Sephiroth you're thinking of. This man is the REAL Sephiroth, look at his necklace, and see if you remember it." He points at Sephiroth's neck when Sephiroth lowers his arm down. The savage snarl on her lips fades as she looks at the large medallion around Sephiroth's neck.
"This..." she puts her hand to her mouth and gasps, "The Talisman of the Dragon!" She kneels down next to Sephiroth, "I'm so sorry!" Sephiroth blinks, slowly, struggling to recognize the woman.
"You...you know me?" he looks at Tifa. Tifa blinks, finding it hard to believe he can't remember her from the past.
"You don't remember me?" asks Tifa. Sephiroth shakes his head, "No, I-I lost my memory and I don't know what's going on around here."
"Tifa, his memory may be come back by days or weeks or months;" Says Cloud, "He'll be back to normal again soon, and might be able to tell us what really happened after that bridge fell down." Tifa sighs, working to shake off the shock of seeing the man of her nightmares alive again.
"All right," Tifa stammers, her voice shaky, "He can stay here, but he won't able to leave the house since people around here know the Legend of Villain."
"T-thank you, ma'am." Said Sephiroth as he relaxed on the couch, shifting slightly to make his broken leg more comfortable. He had learned a lot about what happened between fake Sephiroth and Jenova...well, not the whole story. Cloud tells himself that he will tell Sephiroth the whole story once he has memory back...hopefully.
...To be continued. Chapter 3 coming up!