Chapter 5: Sephiroth's new looks
Sephiroth sits by the window and thinks about what Cloud told him. He stares at the stars of the night and the sky seems to shine, despite the moons absence. He thinks about Jenova, the cloned Sephiroth, Hojo, The Weapons, and Meteor. 'How did Jenova get the black materia in the first place? I know that I put all my power into protecting the temple and black materia itself...' he frowns.
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Vincent and Cloud sit alone at the table, the others either gone to bed or started on their way home."Vincent..." says Cloud as he looks at him, "How did you know that our Sephiroth is the real one?" Vincent looks down; it was a topic he never wanted to think of again.
"I know I haven't told you guys about my past, including Sephiroth. But I think I should tell you the story now." Cloud raises an eyebrow and folded his arms across his chest, leaning back to get more comfortable.
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At night, two guards carried Sephiroth into the small jail and locked him up, binding him with chains. Vincent hides on the roof of the Lab, watching the guards step back outside the cell from the barred skylight above. 'Sephiroth? What the hell is he doing here? Why have they locked him up like this?' thought Vincent as he watched Sephiroth begin to stir.
Sephiroth grunts as he wakes up and found himself in Jail. He looked around the room that looked like the Lab room. He heard footsteps sound in the distance.
"Hey! Let me go!" yelled Sephiroth as he stared at someone else entering the room.
"Bwhahaha...Nope, I won't let you go, my precious specious!" said the man in the white coat.
"Hojo! Why!" screamed a shocked Sephiroth. Vincent slipped around to an adjacent window where Hojo and Sephiroth wouldn't see him. He stared at Hojo with glowing red eyes, 'That bastard...after what he did to me! Now he is going to do something to Sephiroth!'
The thick walls of the cell, and the distance between them made it impossible for Vincent to hear the conversation inside. Hojo finished talking to the chained man and inserted the needle into Sephiroth's shoulder. Vincent curses under his breath, it would be much harder to rescue an unconscious person. Climbing to the next window, Vincent peers through the skylight; squinting to see into the dark room. He discovers that the room below him is the prison's security center. Quickly digging his claw into the bar-less window, he silently cut a hole in the glass just large enough for him to slip through. Sneaking his way into the room, Vincent looks around for a way to unlock Sephiroth's chains and hopefully open a way out of there. Seeing a series of cell numbers listed next to buttons aligned down neat rows, he struggled to decide which room Sephiroth was being held in.
"Never was the subtle type," Whispered Vincent, as he slides his gun out from a holster within his cloak. A barrage of bullets slammed into the control panel, sending a wave of sparks out from the broken electronics.
"Attention all security personnel: A malfunction was detected in cell #5. Please assist in the lockdown of the cell #5 complex."
The speaker blares from the hallway, Vincent sighs.
"Wasn't quite what I had in mind." He mutters, as a rumble of footsteps begins echoing closer down the hall. He leaps up the cut window and pulls himself back through.
"Humph, always when I'm gloating..." Hojo says as he looks back at Sephiroth in the chamber, he turns and waves over to some guards marching through the hallway. "Boys, take this prisoner and prepare him for a transfer to Midgar." The guards nod and march down the hallway as Vincent watches them from the roof. The flashback ends.
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Vincent can't lift his eyes off the floor, "That's how I knew about Sephiroth all along. I knew he wasn't the real one the whole time."
"Why didn't you tell us? We would have helped Sephiroth get out of there!" Cloud stares in shock at Vincent.
Vincent turns around and walks to the door before pausing. "I'm sorry." He leaves and vanishes into the shadows.
"Wait, Vincent!" yelled Cloud but Vincent was already gone. Tifa coughs as she walks into the room to clean the plates off the table. She looks up at Cloud,
"Why don't you take those black leather clothes in the closet and give them to Sephiroth?"
"Fine..." Cloud sighs as he walks into his room to pick the black leather clothes up. He walks back into the hallway and knocks on the door.
Sephiroth starts up as hears the knock from the door, "Come in." Cloud enters and drops the black leather clothes on the bed, "Here are some clothes. We're going to bed; hope you like them." Sephiroth nods his thanks. Cloud stands there a moment, then leaves the room.
Sephiroth looks at black leathers clothes lying on the bed from sitting by the window. He sighs as he turns around and watches the night's dark sky.
In the morning, the sun rises high into the sky. The birds sing as the fly over the town. The suns rays send a shiny gleam through the window and make the silver hair of Sephiroth seem to glow. Sephiroth opens his eyes slowly and yawns. He blinks a few times and grabs the crutches to get up. He walks to the bed and picks the black leather clothes up.
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A loud yawning sound came from Cloud as he sat sleepily on the table. Tifa walks past him and gently bonks his head, "Wake up, Sleepyhead!" She giggles.
"I'm awake, I'm awake!" says Cloud as he lowers his head to the table. Tifa snickers and starts cooking breakfast. The footstep sound from the hallway, coming toward the kitchen. Cloud's head is still lying on the table, and he doesn't see the person who enters.
"Hey Sephiroth." Tifa smiles as Sephiroth walks through the door. Her eyes slide from his feet to his face slowly. The dark leather boots he wore were made to cover up to his knees, which blended smoothly into the leather pants he wore. A ebony colored shirt and coat along with black leather gloves were wrapped around him. The silvery buckle on his belt and short metal studs on his gloves were the only change in the dark colors he wore.
"Wow, you look good in that uniform!" says Tifa as she looks at Sephiroth. Sephiroth smiles as Cloud looks up at Sephiroth slowly; "Nice..." then his head falls down on the table again with thud.
"After having breakfast, I'll cut your hair!" smiles Tifa as she sets breakfast on the table and bonks Cloud's head to wake him up again. Sephiroth walks over and sits down to eat breakfast. Tifa sits down and studies Sephiroth's hair.
"I should tell you guys about my real name..." says Sephiroth as he looks at Cloud. Tifa stops eating and raises an eyebrow.
(A/N: I don't know his real name so I made up his middle and last name.)
"My real name is Sephiroth Webb Valeria. I know Shin-Ra has files that read 'Sephiroth Shawn Shinzau.' So I decided that you guys are going to call me 'Valeria' from now on." Explains Sephiroth.
"Sephiroth Webb Valeria...sounds like a nice name." says Tifa. She glares at Cloud, her face saying 'our child is gonna have a name like his name!' Cloud scratches his head, "Er...I didn't know about that. I knew some people called you Mr. Shinzau in Junon...I would feel a little strange calling you 'Valeria.' But I'll try to do my best."
Tifa stands up and cleans the table, then puts the dishes into the sink. She picks up scissors from the drawer and waves with them playfully at Sephiroth. He sighs as he moves a chair away from the table. Tifa walks up behind Sephiroth and smiles. She feels the softness of Sephiroth's hair as she brushes it. Cloud watches them, his eyes still half closed as he doses off.
30 minutes later...
There are silver hairs spread around the chair that Sephiroth sits in. His hair is much shorter than before, the silvery strands are cut just above his shoulders. Tifa brushes his hair once again and feels that his hair is softer than before! She stops brushing his hair as she picks up a mirror to show it to him. He takes the mirror and views himself with it. He looks like a different man.
"So, what do you think?" Says Tifa, holding up a mirror for Sephiroth to see himself with. "I think you look handsome that way!" giggles Tifa. Cloud raises an eyebrow when he hears this.
"This will do. It feels much lighter with short hair!" laughs Sephiroth. Tifa nods as someone knocks at the door, "Come in!" Someone enters and walks over to the kitchen.
"Damn! You look like a fuckin' different man!" Barret's jaw drops as he first sees him. Red nods, "Indeed." He stands by Barret's side.
"Gee, thanks..." Sephiroth smiles, "By the way, my name is Valeria from now on." Barret nods,
"Awight, Valeria." Sephiroth grabs the crutch and gets up,
"I'm going out for some fresh air, I've been staying here for weeks." Tifa nods,
"You should be fine now, since people won't recognize you." Sephiroth nods as he leaves the house.
...To be continued. Chapter 6 coming up!