Chapter 18: A Mother's Touch
Everything burned inside.
And everything was blurry outside.
Shelke Rui was curled up in a ball, barely garbed in ripped up rags. She stared at her nine-year old face in the smooth reflection of the hard mettle she tried to sleep on. She couldn't help but angrily swat at that weak redheaded face. And her eyes... where had the brown gone? It was all blue-glowy... it didn't matter, nothing mattered, and everything hurt. She had been on her way to Midgar, she had been taken from Sh... shal... sh... her sister, told she was gonna become a SOLDIER, then someone blew everyone up and she was taken away. They had stabbed her with a needle, then she had woken up in this cage... she didn't even know how long ago it had been.
Then they had dragged her out by her hair, kicking and screaming, as they brought her down a hall into another room, strapped her down on a table...
She curled up tighter into a ball, sobbing. They had cut her open, poking and prodding. It had hurt so much. She had passed out in pain, woken up, passed out again, over and over again, barely able to scream. They put something into her head, near the spine, she could feel the metal pressure. They had told her it was a chip, that if she didn't behave, they'd blow her up. That was only the beginning, they kept cutting her open, testing her for something, trying to understand 'synaptic net-dive'. She didn't even know what that was, only that she could do it, and it brought her pain.
This last session, they had pumped something into her, blue glowing liquid with black spots in it down big needles into her arms and legs and chest. IT HAD BURNED! It still burned, her arms and legs and chest were still bloody from her scratching at them, trying to get the burning out, but that only made it hurt worse. She wished her big sis was here, she wished sh... shal...
She gave a frustrated scream. Why couldn't she remember? She had a sister, she knew she did! Why couldn't she remember? Things were slowly turning spotty for her, of times before being in this dark room and cage. It wasn't fair! It wasn't fair...
She hated this.
She hated them.
She hated how pained and empty they made her feel.
She hated how that emptiness was slowly getting worse.
She hate hate hate hate HATED them!
"And you have every reason to my child," came a soothing voice, "Hold onto that hatred, and it will guide you."
Shelke gave a startled yelp and sat up, scrambling to one side of the cage and peering out into the darkened room, trying to see who was there. She squinted, but no shadowy shape sprang out at her. "W-whose t-there?"
No one responded, and Shelke honestly couldn't tell where it had came from. It felt like everywhere. She waited a few more minutes, but when nothing happened and no one else spoke, she laid down on the metal surface again, curling up. She thought about what the voice had said, to hold onto hate, that she had every reason to. For the longest time, she could remember being happy, being with her big sis, smiling all the time as they played. She hadn't had a reason to smile in what felt like a long time. The creepy men had taken away every reason to, hurt her so much...
She hated them
And she focused on that hate...
Shelke was led out into a room, forcibly stripped down, and thrown into a shower of glowing blue water. But it burned, everything it touched burned. She hit the doors, the walls, screaming in pain as it washed over her, until all she could do was curl up on the ground and sob...
"Shh, it will be alright my child," came a soothing voice, "So long as I am with you, everything will be okay."
She looked up through through blurry eyes, blue liquid burning them and making it so hard to see. She thought she saw a blue woman with glowing red eyes kneeling in front of her, hand reaching out. It couldn't possibly be real, but when the woman ruffled through Shelke's hair, touch so gentle and loving, easing the pain she felt, Shelke let out a sob and reached for the woman. The woman smiled and drew her close, holding her tightly, and in the arms of the blue woman, all the hurt went away...
The woman cared so much, and took away the pain...
So when the bad people came to take her way, they looked down at her with confusion at the happy smile on her face. They kicked her, causing her to lose focus and make the blue woman disappear. Shelke snarled and lashed out angrily, but they pinned and beat her down before dragging her out of the room. She looked back frantically, seeing the blue woman again, reaching out for her, but the bad people took Shelke away from her, no matter how much she screamed and fought and reached back for her...
So she hated them all the more, for taking her away from the woman's love...
Shelke was brought to a new person, a woman in white armor and leathers, with a crown on her head, an eyepatch over one eye, and a sword in her hands. "I am Argento. The Restrictors have instructed me to teach you how to fight."
"She will teach you the skills you need to kill those you hate, the Restrictors," whispered the blue women's voice in her head, "She hates them too, a sister in your suffering."
A sister...
Shelke smiled at the white woman, her new sister. "Okay."
The woman, Argento, looked momentarily taken aback by her attitude, a hint of a frown on her face, before she led her into a wide room, with racks of weapons on the wall. She gave her two short swords that she called EM-Sabers. The lessons were long and hard and more than a little painful, but at the end, when she was dragged away by the bad men, Shelke saw the blue woman again, watching her proudly over the shoulder of Argento, so Shelke smiled a wide bloody smile.
And Argento looked at her, disturbed...
Eventually, they permanently let her out of her cage, showing her this 'Deepground'. It was an awful place of decaying machines. People ambled about, and those without helmets or masks had faces so filled of depression and fear it twisted Shelke's stomach. Fights broke out with ease, and no one stopped the stronger from beating down the weaker. In fact, people laughed at it, laughed at someone else suffering instead of them. Shelke was led about by a cloaked man, a Restrictor, as he showed her the rotten kingdom they lived in. She saw people killed before her eyes for absolutely no reason, she wanted to stop it...
"Stay your hand," warned the blue woman, "You are not strong enough to stop the suffering, not yet my daughter."
D...daughter? But... mom had died years ago... hadn't she?
"Pay attention when I speak to you, brat!" spat out the Restrictor, slamming a fist into the back of her head and knocking her to the ground, he kicked her, hard, across the hallway they were walking down, "Get up."
Shelke struggled to, raising her head to glare hatefully at the man.
"Hah, that one's got spirit," came a savage purr.
The Restrictor turned away to speak to someone, "No one asked you Rosso, go cull the ranks or something, I'm busy."
A red teenager walked into view, sauntering over to the Restrictor. Dressed in a red cloak coming up to her neck on her back, her stomach bear, silvery clothes covering her legs and chest. The young woman had red hair and eyes, eyes so devoid of life, filled with pain and agony and anger and hate and madness. Shelke briefly felt the urge to flinch away as the woman started towards her. "But I want to play with the new recruit."
The Restrictor sighed. "She's not to be killed."
Rosso pouted but kept on walking.
"Do not fear my child," whispered the blue wom... whispered Mother, "Your sister hurts, and lashes out. She doesn't mean what she is about to do. The hated ones drove her to this, shattered one of my children to the point where I can not even whisper to her through her suffering."
Rosso knelt down and grabbed Shelke's hair, wrenching her up, face close to face, "So, what do we have here, hmm? What pitiful dredge have they dragged down here from the surface?"
She rose to her feet and threw Shelke to the ground and kicked her, drawing her blade and driving it clean through one of Shelke's arms, pinning her to the floor. With Mother's touch however, Shelke didn't even flinch, didn't react to the blood spilling out of her arm. Rosso tilted her head, curious, and knelt down next to her again. "Come now, won't you even scream for me? I love making those from the surface bleed."
From the surface... she said it twice... almost as if...
Shelke studied her for a moment. "They've never let you out of here, have they?"
Rosso froze for a moment, before rage played across her face. She grabbed the back of Shelke's head and dragged her closer. "Watch yourself, lest I show you why I am Crimson."
Shelke leaned forward as much as she could, planting a soft kiss on Rossos's cheeks, making the teenager freeze, startled, before Shelke whispered, "It's okay sister, me and mom will make it all better. We'll kill the bad men, and we'll take you to see the sky."
Rosso let go and pulled away, standing up yanking her sword free. She took a few steps back, staring down at Shelke, red eyes meeting Shelke's own. There was something in Rosso's eyes, was it hope?
Or was it fear?
She didn't know, but Rosso turned and walked away, legs steadily picking up speed until she broke into a run and disappeared from view.
The Restrictor slowly approached. "What did you say to Crimson to get her to react like that?"
Shelke merely smiled at him. She was going to kill him one day.
The Restrictor kicked her head, and Shelke blacked out.
Mother began to steadily speak more and more to Shelke as time passed.
She spoke of her journey, seeking out those from countless worlds to become her children, to take home within her. Of how she had found this world, and shown it's people her love, only to be cruelly rejected and attacked. She spoke of waking up, and discovering that she was imprisoned, that people used her to make children that she could not touch nor guide nor love trapped in a tank of the burning blue liquid. She spoke of her struggles, of steadily trying to reach out to her children while pretending to be asleep so her jailers did not act, day by day, week by week, month by month, year by year.
Sometimes they could hear her.
Most of the time they could not.
Mother spoke of Shelke's brothers and sisters. Of how there were two separate families, above and below the surface. She had tried to focus on the surface family, as they would be in a better position to help those below. Then Mother spoke with such sorrow, of how her brothers on the surface were being taken away, that a wicked woman was turning them on their family. Mother showed her an image of the woman, teenager really at this point, a flash of brown hair, glowing blue eyes resting upon a soft face. There was something... odd about her eyes, so older than the rest of her face...
Shelke hated her.
Hated her for taking her brothers out of Mother's reach, preventing them from helping those down below.
Mother told her about her most powerful brothers, of Sephiroth, of Angeal, of Genesis, their strengths, their weakness, how they acted. She lamented with such sorrow it brought tears to Shelke's eyes, of how they would have to kill their family because of the hated woman. So Shelke cried for them, cried with a deep ache for the family she'd never get to know.
Then Mother spoke with wonder. Of finding a child so much like Mother herself. Mother knew hatred, so deeply, so passionately, and had felt Shelke's hate of those who hurt her. With the surface family lost, Mother reached out for her child, determined to help and guide and love her. They had touched, and thus, Shelke had brought her such hope, a chance to save her children below the surface. But it would be a long time coming to be able to break free. Especially since Shelke was alone, that her brothers and sisters did not know Mother yet.
But Mother could help her make them know her.
If Shelke would allow Mother deep into her mind.
If Shelke would accept Mother into her heart.
Her body.
Her soul.
Mother could make her stronger, faster, smarter. She could change Shelke, make her able to give pieces of herself to her brothers and sisters with but a touch, to make them resonate with Mother, to give them the gift. The gift would spread through their bodies, breathing new life into what had been taken from Mother to make them. She would be able to speak to them, guide them, and they would know their family.
But Mother promised that Shelke would still know her best, as her first child to hear her will, her most beloved daughter.
What was Shelke to do before such care and love but accept?
So Mother nestled into Shelke mind, her body, her soul, and promised to make Shelke the best she could be, and that one day...
That one fateful day...
When they finally came together and became one...
She'd make Shelke the most gifted, most beloved, and most powerful child that Mother had ever born...
And they'd make everyone who had ever wronged Mother pay...
"...and as such, SND can also be used to not only delve into the Worldwide Network, but into other their target's minds," instructed the Restrictor.
"Another reason you are so like me, my beloved daughter," whispered Mother, "You can project your mind, and with my guidance, your will, onto others. This 'Synaptic Net Dive' they speak of is but the first step into a world so much larger, that you and I alone are able to touch. You will be able to bend minds to your will, to destroy them if need be."
"Can I heal them instead?" asked Shelke.
"Heal?"
"Rosso."
"Oh my sweet caring child," said Mother, a phantom touch ruffling Shelke's hair, "How you care for your siblings. Perhaps you could mend Rosso, make her able to hear me. But not yet, you need practice, and we cannot do it when the Restrictors are watching. But when the moment arrives... yes... with my guidance, we can help Rosso rejoin the family, for we will need her power and skill and..."
SLAP
Shelke cringed briefly as the Restrictor spat into her face, "How many times do I have to tell you, Shelke? Pay attention!"
There were snickers from some of the other Deepground personnel present, "How they think she'll be a good Tsviet is beyond me, she's always off in her own brain damaged head."
There was an audible growl from Mother in Shelke's ears. "One day soon, they will suffer for their transgression's my child."
Shelke merely smiled up at the Restrictor, fingers slipping into her pocket, for the explosive chip that had once been in the back of her head, that Mother had managed to push out of her carefully, leaving skin and cells around it to fool its sensors to think it was still buried in her flesh. One day, all to soon, she'd bury her sabers into the black hearts of the Restrictors.
One day soon...
Shelke the Translucent.
Only half there, caught up in her own make-believe world.
Crazier than Rosso, often caught talking to herself and whispering to her 'mother'.
A baby Tsviet that had been handed her tittle and rank just because of her SND, not truly worthy.
A clinger, always trying to touch and hold people.
Soft and weak.
Somehow still smiling and laughing despite the bleakness of this place.
Like a surface dweller, not a true member of Deepground.
Yet...
The only member of Deepground that unsettled Argento...
The one with a creepy smile that promised death...
Only half there, suffering punishment, but not feeling its effects...
The one that the Restrictors treated harsher than the rest, unknowing fear guiding their actions...
The one whose silent defiance drew others to her...
The only one able to sooth Rosso...
The only one able to calm Nerro in his chained wailing fits...
The only one that Weiss refused to harm after their first and only spar, no matter the Restrictor's will...
The one whose touch made others as Translucent as she was...
The one who made others family...
The one whose Mother whispered quietly to them...
Whose Mother freed them, placing their flesh covered explosive chips in their pockets...
Whose Mother instructed them to wait for the right moment, for Mother's will to spread...
For Deepground to slowly free itself...
For the Tsviets to age and grow stronger...
Shelke was the only one who stared into the eyes of the Restrictors as they beat her, appearing so oddly cheerful, yet filled with such malice and hate...
The only one that when one looked into her eyes, they found two sets staring back out at them, eyes flickering between mako blue, and green catlike slits...
Author's Notes:
Translucent: (of a substance) allowing light, but not detailed images, to pass through; semitransparent.
Transmitting and diffusing light so that objects beyond cannot be seen clearly.
Jenova needed a host to act through, but rather than go for the obvious super powerful Weiss, I chose Shelke. Little Shelke that so many would underestimate and not take seriously, not until it was to late. Whose young body is so easy to mold and change. Who fits Jenova's plans perfectly. There will be more Shelke chapters later on, this is but the first to set the ground for her/Jenova. I considered her to be a more tragic choice, so bound to Jenova, and I do love tragedy.
Aerith is going to be absolutely distraught when they eventually meet. :evilsmile:
Review Responses:
Azure Shine: Banora would eventually be massacred in the future, but this is before than, and with Aerith's actions, not going to be destroyed. I'm a bit confused, not use what? The Goddess Materia? That was from Minerva healing Genesis, but Minerva is kinda dead, so the Goddess Materia would do nothing. Hojo's location isn't going to be revealed for a long time, and Hollander is already dead, Genesis killed him. Angeal is most likely going to keep the wing hidden.
V01dSw0rd: Perhaps it would have been easier 'shrug'. And yes, Aerith was overwhelmed by visions from Minerva, and what she had been thinking about was buried underneath them. Hmm... huge materia... hadn't thought of using them. I'll think on it.
Camixsss: Mmm, the letting go will be kind of painful for her, and not really up to her at all. Not going to spoil what forces it. :D.
NocturneX: Oops. As for Jessie, I could always make her a SOLDIER, hell, Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie could be a trio in SOLDIER since there won't be any AVALANCHE to join. IDK, we'll see.
Guest/Patrick the Observer: Thanks.