Too tired to give a full thing.
See other chapters for disclaimer.
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Angel Memories: Chapter 12
Interrupted Games
My heels clacked against the white tiles. Masamune swung heavily at my side, swaying back and forth until I placed a firm hand on the hilt. I felt colder, distant from everything. My eyes were sharper. My breath came easily and deep. I felt tense and ready for anything. I was through with their games. I was done with it and wasn't going to be the puppet in this production. I walked quickly down the white hallway, stepping with assured footsteps and never looking back. In front of me, the next door rose high upon a platform, glowing slightly. I reached the steps in a few powerful strides and stood there for a moment. I needed another card to get inside, but where do I get one?
"You can step out of the shadows now, you can't hide anymore," I said coldly, never turning around.
Behind me, I heard a low gasp and then a light step on the white tiles echoed through the hallway. The man began to clap slowly, gloved hands coming together again and again and then joined by a low whistle. Finally, the footsteps stopped and I heard the rushing of leather as the man turned to face me from the center of the hallway.
"Very impressive," the man said simply.
In a second, Masamune had left it's sheathe and I leapt across the hall, turning in mid air and cleaving a straight line through the man at his waist. For a split second, his eyes grew wide and he coughed up a small river of crimson. With a look of disgust, I lashed out with my foot and kicked the body away. It split into two halves and fell to the floor, spraying dark blood all over the floor.
"I'm tired of playing with doppelgangers," I murmured quietly. "Either give me the next card of come out and fight me yourself."
There was a loud whooshing sound and then the hallway went dark. The doorway at the end of the hall remained bright and glowing but the rest of the room went entirely dark. There was a small noise and then a man blinked into existence on the raised pedestal.
"If you insist, I'll do just that," Silver hair fell over his eyes in strands which he casually flicked backwards.
"You are…Zexion, right?" I recognized the man standing before me. "You tried to fool me with a vision of Aerith and you kept me from saving Riku from Maleficent's gifts."
"I am honored that you remember me."
I took a small step forward and readied Masamune. Then, I retracted my foot and stood up straight. "I said I was done with doppelgangers."
The clone faltered and disappeared for a moment. It reappeared with a startled expression and then placed a hand against it's forehead in annoyance. "You really are good, aren't you?" It flickered out of existence, leaving behind trails of shadow. "If you're going to be so damn stubborn, I might end up doing what you say."
There was another whooshing sound and the large doorway opened up, spewing light across the dark hall. Zexion stepped through the frame, silhouetted in light and placed a hand against his chin. "Is this any better?"
Without a word, I placed Masamune back in it's sheathe and took a deep breath. As the cool air slowly came into me, I let my energy expand inside my body. Closing my eyes, I calmly let the breath out, clearing my lungs and my mind. My fingers stretched outwards, flexing in the failing light as the door began to close. Zexion shifted uncomfortably on the pedestal. Silently, I opened my eyes.
"I will not repeat myself."
My energy exploded outwards, filling the hall and stripping the shadows from the floors and wall. The room shook and wavered under the pressure of my assault. Zexion shouted in pain and disappeared. Another doppelganger, as expected. The air grew hot with the intensity of my attack and grew to a boil. I remained in the center of it all, calm and collected as though I were simply standing still. My power poured out, crushing the white tiles and blasting away shadows.
All at once, the hallway flickered slightly and for a brief moment, I saw something different. There was a girl in a bright white room. She had a small book in her hand. Her blonde hair fell softly over her shoulder. She looked sad. Suddenly, a page of her book burst into flames and she cried out. Was she…in pain? Frightened, she threw the book to the floor. A man dressed in the same uniform as all the other members of the organization hurried toward her and took her by the arm. His violent brown hair splashed backwards as he shook the young girl. She began to cry. During all of this, the one page in her book burned slowly.
And then, I was back in the hallway.
"You idiot!" Zexion dashed past me and leapt up the stairs by the exit. The floor shook and the walls quaked. I stood up...I had fallen over? Zexion, the real one, fumbled in one of his pockets and removed a card from it. Quickly, he held it up to the doorway and it sparkled violently. Gathering my self, I leapt up and sped towards Zexion. He turned briefly as the door opened for him. With a look of frustration and indecision on his face, he dug into his pocket and pulled a card from it which he threw to me.
"I don't know why…but one of us wants you alive and it's not my place to go against his wishes," He shook his head and stepped through the doorway. "This room will stop existing soon…we'll talk soon enough though." And then he disappeared through the portal. In a flash, the doors sealed behind him.
I glanced at the piece of paper in my hand and stepped across the shaking ground. behind me, something exploded and echoed through the hallway. I glanced back at the other door and saw that it was on fire. Slowly, the hall began to burn away, leaving patches of something colorless. Is this…non-existence? It burned away, the tiles slowly melting and then evaporating into some substance that had no features. It looks like the Nexus.
I turned away from the rapidly disappearing hallway and raised the card in my hand over my head. It glowed softly and resonated with the door. Slowly it began to open, spilling light into the burning hall. The walls crumbled in around me until only the pedestal and the door were left. I felt the strange flames lick my heels as I stepped forward into the sparkling portal. I took a deep breath as I felt the alteration of being myself to being me of the past. Before I was entirely swallowed into the bright light, I felt one last question bubble to the front of my mind.
Who was that girl?
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(I dislike doing this…but I'm pressed for ways to make a change in scene and only having up to here seems like a cop out so, grimace…this is a divider, not the end.)
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There was a voice from across the room. Gravely, I opened my eyes to find one of my subordinates bowing profusely and mumbling apologies. The soft glow from the lights overhead grew brighter until it was too harsh to look at. My room is bare, save for a bed I don't use and a dresser with my different sets of clothing.
"Sephiroth, sir!" the man at the door saluted and bowed again. I waved a hand to halt his apologies and asked him to tell me why he was in my room. "Professor Hojo requests your presence immediately, sir!" With a wave of my hand and the assurance that I would be there as soon as possible, the man bowed and left the door, the cold metal slamming shut in his wake. Silently, I removed my sleepwear and donned my regular clothing, sturdy but flexible leather, and strode through the doorway.
The soldier who had awoken me had not told me where Hojo was, but that only meant that he was in the second lab. That was his favorite, wasn't it? That sick bastard did his best experiments in there. But it wasn't my place to criticize. He was only my father, and higher on the political food chain that I. The crowded hallways parted as I walked through and the sea of men in lab coats began to follow after I had passed. Soon I had a following of over thirty scientists. This was not uncommon, whenever Hojo called for me, it promised to be a fabulous experiment.
The crowd and I parted ways as I walked through a large double doorway of sliding metal. The crowd turned and marched up the stairs, proceeding into the observatory section of the lab. I walked with confidence and an air of annoyance through the decontamination hall and then passed through the second set of sliding doors. Lab 2 seemed to have been cleaned up before I had arrived. There wasn't a single scrap of flesh or bloodstain on the entire metal platform. The lights glared down from overhead and fell violently upon a large upraised pedestal in the center of the room.
"Welcome, Sephiroth," Hojo's voice echoed through the lab as it left the speakers placed at the corners of the room.
"What experiment today, Hojo?" I asked tiredly.
There was a snicker from the speakers and then Hojo said quietly, "No experiment, just a gift. It is your birthday after all." How considerate, the old man had brought me a present. I looked around the room and focused my attention on the raised platform. The metal box rose upwards and then sprouted two large prongs that held an enormously long object.
"A sword?" I was surprised. I made no attempt to hide my annoyance. For a moment, I thought about turning to the scientist and insulting him for his ridiculous staging of this event. Then, I glanced carefully at the sword on the pedestal. The hilt was dark blue, like the midnight sky anywhere else but Midgar. It swirled endlessly like space itself. I turned toward the large glass booth above me. "This is that cursed blade. The one that's been causing so much trouble." I returned my gaze to the sword. "Masmune."
"Yes," Hojo hissed with glee.
"The one that kills those who attempt to wield it. Anyone who touches the thing, dies instantly."
"That's the one."
"And you want me to take it as a present."
"Yes."
I sighed softly. I had been looking for a place to die. Now is as good a time as any I suppose. "You don't need to dress it up, scientist. It's an experiment." I strode toward the sword. "You don't need to sugar coat it for me." My hand stretched out towards the glittering hilt. "I am the general of SOLDIER after all." My fingertips brushed the hilt tentatively and then I grabbed it in a tight fist and pulled it swiftly from it's sheathe.
The world halted, for a second. Everything went dim and a group of excited scientists all gasped in unison. Then, time caught up with itself and the hilt in my hand shuddered violently. A tendril of dark red flame laced with purple electricity exploded from the point of the blade and swiveled to eye me like a snake. It looked at me with eyes that didn't exist, and then flashed forward.
"Stop."
The materia in my free hand glowed brightly as my MP drained into it. The small cyclone of energy halted in its attack, only centimeters from my face. The observatory above me let out a collectively held breath and I let go of the hilt which remained suspended in the air. With my heels clacking softly against the metal floor, I crossed the lab and stood, waiting on the other side for the spell to wear out. After several more minutes, the materia in my hand grew cold and the blade dropped out of the air. It fell to the ground and clattered loudly against the floor.
The tendril of energy, on the other hand, exploded forward, surging toward me with renewed resolve. It flew directly for my face with something akin to ferocity. It's like it has emotions, I thought quietly. Pulling two more orbs from my pocket, I dodged the flailing tentacle and muttered the two spells.
"Wall," I said, and a bright light exploded in front of, taking the form of a rainbow barrier. Then, for extra protection, I whispered the next spell and poured more MP into the next little stone. "Shield." Another wall of light formed around me as the beam of energy lashed out and connected with the barriers I had summoned. They flashed brightly and I saw the 'Wall' spell crack and then explode violently. After several seconds of struggling, the 'Shield' spell gave way as well.
With trained agility, I rolled to the side and dove over the raised pedestal in the center of the room. I landed softly next to the fallen blade and reached for the hilt once again. In a flash, the swirling vortex of energy reversed direction and soared toward me in a rage. With a small grin, I evaded the flying tendril and whirled around, whipping out the long blade and severing the head of the tentacle. For a moment, it hesitated and flickered indecisively and then faded into nothingness. The rest of the tendril soon followed and I felt the hilt hum quietly. Did it feel…respectful?
"Glorious." Hojo's voice resonated through the metal room as he breathed heavily into the speakers. "Absolutely amazing." Several scientists began to clap but were quickly silenced by a look from Hojo. "In any case, the blade is yours and research teams 1-5 will review the tapes later. I will be joining you so as to make sure none of you idiots fuck up this excellent data." Then he turned his attention to me and smiled widely. "You've made your father proud," his grin faded instantly as he grew somber once again. There was something awful about the way he said 'father' and 'proud' in the same sentence.
"But you have new orders from the president," he began. I rolled my eyes and stood at attention, ready to receive the orders. As Hojo opened his mouth to speak again, the back of my skull began to itch slightly. "You and three other members of SOLDIER are to be put on an assassination mission for ex-SOLDIER member Orrok Haverson."
"Orrok…" I muttered quietly. "SOLDIER, second class. He accompanied me on the field several times in the Wutai war." The itching grew larger and more violent, too difficult to ignore. It began to gradually turn into a pounding sensation that hurt my entire head.
"Do you have any…issues carrying out this mission?" Hojo's voice was soft, almost daring me to say that I did.
I opened my mouth slowly, preparing to denounce his accusation. The words rose in my throat and then stopped. My head pulsed violently and then I was replaced. My eyes hardened and I swallowed the disgusting words in my throat. My legs were quaking from the effort of being in this body and keeping the memory at bay but I opened my mouth again.
"Yes. I do have an issue with the mission." I began. My knees gave way under the pressure of taking back my body and I hit the floor hard, causing the metal to echo loudly. "I have a problem with all of this and I am not the killer you wanted me to be any more." I fell forward onto my face and I felt the cool metal against my skin. Inside my head, the memory of my younger self was screaming in protest. "I'm done with it, Hojo. I am not going…" I gasped for breath as the overwhelming force of my memories flooded over me. "To be…a pawn…of my own memories!"
The room shook with my final words. For a moment, it all blinked out of existence and I saw again, the blonde girl with the notebook. She was sitting with a pained look in her eye and clutching at her head as though it hurt. Then I flashed back to the laboratory as the me of memories evaporated and left my mind free and my own once again. Above, in the observatory, Hojo and the other onlookers froze completely, the memory interrupted. With sore legs, I stood up and shook myself free of the stiffness that came with struggling for my own body.
"Well that's not the way it goes at all…" A lighthearted voice spoke from the exit of the lab floor. Standing by the doorway was Axel. He smiled widely and clapped his hands together with glee. "I see you're starting to get a hang of this." He reached into his pocket and pulled out another blank card. "Well…I need to get going but here's your next card." He walked past me toward the other exit. When he reached it, he turned and said thoughtfully. "Although…you shouldn't try too hard…you'll end up really hurting her. And that would cause some serious problems for all of us." He walked through the door which glowed brightly and flashed once. "Later."
I looked down at the card in my hand and then pocketed it. One last time, I glanced around the lab at the frozen faces of Hojo and the other researchers. And then strode silently through the exit.
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Too tired for a full note here…but I like this chapter…cept for the break thing.
Thank you very much to Unita and xsaturnine for reviewing…it helped so much you guys. Everyone else…please review…im begging you. I need reviews to help me write…xsaturnine can attest to this.
Oh! Crap…I do have time for a full note here. Ok…so I'm thinking of putting the fic on hold soon. The reason for this is that I recently found some screenshots and magazine scans that show that Sephiroth will be in KH2. Now…I am obsessed with Sephiroth and I want to stick to his basic story as much as I can. So I'm thinking of postponing the fic after I get out a few chapters until I can play through the game and see his relationship with people. I have this crazy idea that he's connected with some one of the XIII order. I thought, cause the background was similar in the screenshots, that maybe he and Saix have something going on but I cant tell so maybe after a couple more chapters I might have to put this fic on hold til then. Tell me if you strongly disagree or have any concrete information on Seph's role in KH2.
I repeat, I am not postponing the fic now. There will be a couple more chapters probably.
