Author's Note: I'm sorry this is a little late. I am trying to stick to one chapter a week but I am having a lot of things going a little haywire right now.
There may be a week where I am unable to upload a chapter in the near future so if you do not see one by the end of a weekend, be assured that I will have one the following weekend or a note as to when to expect an update.
Markin: I'm sorry to keep you in such suspense but it is all for a good payout I promise. ;) Another really short chapter and I'm sorry there isn't much action in this one but I wanted to give you what I had at least. Hope you still enjoy it.
I do not own FF7 or any of its characters. Talin, Unit 28, and some other side characters are mine.
As always, I hope you enjoy and please R&R.
Chapter 65
In combined horror and wonder, the Silver General watched his young Lieutenant fall into the viscous green liquid of the underground lake. But Mako was nothing like water and the placid surface of the Well erupted into flame upon contact. In seconds, those flames engulfed Talin, leaving only ripples that would fade away long before the memory of watching the teen disappear beneath them.
The passionate, fiery redhead was gone in a heartbeat, and Sephiroth was left feeling colder than he ever had. He wanted to rage, to roar, to do anything to lessen the anguish, but all he could do was look out over the lake and try to think of what he was going to tell Angeal, Gen, and Zack...
The scuff and scrape of Rald as he made his way down the slope yanked the 1st back to the here and now and reminded him that he had an outlet for his anger.
The old man had seen Talin's dive into the Mako. Had screamed his outrage, and cursed the foolish child for his selfishness. Now, as he hobbled and dragged himself towards the edge, he was consumed with the thought of following his wayward stepson. He would join his Goddess, now that her gift to him was ruined, and he could serve her for-
Rald had hoped that Shin-Ra's lapdog was too absorbed in his loss to concern himself with a zealot returning to his own master, but he should have known better. The SOLDIER gave no heed to the curses and shouts the older man snarled at him as he was dragged away from the Well. Sephiroth could care less what this hated stranger had to say of him and let the ice he felt in his bones consume him. The frigid chill of his expression only dimmed a fraction when a glow cast long shadows around them and Masamune was summoned in a burst of flames.
Before Rald could do more than look on in mute shock at the display, he let out a choked shout as the sword once more found a home in his shoulder. Instead of pulling away after inflicting the painful blow, Sephiroth kept pushing, and the rock behind Rald put up little resistance to the enchanted blade. When he finally released the great katana, its hilt was all that remained outside of flesh and stone. Rald was left in a pain-filled purgatory as his body fought not to go into shock.
Seeing Talin's tormentor trapped and suffering did little to appease Sephiroth's rage. When his eye caught the glint of something on the floor, however, the General's mind supplied an exceedingly appropriate punishment. Quick steps carried him back to the edge of the lake, but he hesitated momentarily before kneeling to retrieve what lay there.
The straps of leather had been slashed in his fight with Talin and then, at some point, they'd snapped, leaving the blade harness to fall from the teen's shoulders just moments before the teen himself had fallen. Now, seeing the glinting blue of the blades from within the tattered wrapping, the 1st felt both a pang of sorrow and the burning need to use Talin's much-loved butterfly blades to avenge all the wrongs this man had done to the General's young SOLDIER.
"I had intended for your life to be in Talin's hands, not mine." The frigidness of his tone faltered as he spoke of his trainee, but there was no evidence of it when Seph turned back to face Rald. "You mean nothing to me, but your death would have offered him a sense of closure."
"If I mean nothing to you then let me go!" The demand was said with too much force and the movement of lungs and chest pulled painfully at Rald's impaled shoulder.
"I think not." The shadows cast by the Mako lake did little to hide the malicious little smile the 1st had as he slowly stepped closer. "While I had no intention of taking the task away from him, I will also not let what you did to Talin go unpunished. Even if I have to do it myself." Sephiroth stopped several steps away from the trapped man and, drawing one of the dragon-etched butterfly blades, leveled its point just above Rald's heart.
Terrified and seeing this as his final moments, Talin's step-father began to pray in stuttering shallow gasps. The General's eyes narrowed.
"Hmmm... Killing you like this has no honor and won't satisfy the need for retribution." The sword lowered and then, just when Rald stopped his muttered invocations, flashed up to leave a perfect, shallow slice along his chest. Sephiroth waited for the man's startled cry to fall to quieter whimpers before continuing. "That thought in mind, I've decided to leave your miserable life in the hands of another and let them decide if you survive this trial."
Rald's confusion was evident when he cracked his eyes open to look at the demon before him. The SOLDIER decided to enlighten him. "You believe in fate, in the will of your Goddess. Let's see if your faith is well placed." green eyes flashed with venomous disdain for the blind faith that had led this man to brutalize and cage a child.
"In Wutai, I learned about something the warriors used for interrogation and execution. They called it Lingchi, The Lingering Death. I called it pointless, but I think I can see its value now..." His tone was deadly serious. When Rald began to pray once more, cat green eyes flashed in irritation, but Seph simply spoke louder.
"For every five minutes that Talin is gone, you'll receive another cut," Rald's recitation ended abruptly and his face filled with horror and indignant anger.
"He went into the well! He isn't coming back!" The dark, quiet laugh from Sephiroth sent a chill through the condemned man.
"Then you'd better hope your Goddess intervenes." The 1st turned to point the butterfly blade at the lake, "We either keep going until he comes back," and he turned to face Rald, sword reaching out between then to rest half an inch from the previous slash, "or until you die as payment for your crimes." Both looked upon the other in the green-lit cavern and were frozen for a moment that stretched for an eon. Rald shivered from the cold rage he saw in the General's eyes and Sephiroth finally had the satisfaction of seeing true fear in those of his adversary.
The dark part of the SOLDIER that enjoyed the battlefield and seeing his enemies retreat in terror, purred with glee as Seph broke the silence of that moment. "It's been five minutes."
The muffled cry hardly registered in Sephiroth's ears as his mind spun with all the thoughts he'd set aside up till now. Turning from the curses and angry shouting of Rald, the silver General walked to the edge of the lake and reached in vain for the link that had connected him to his Lieutenant. The remains of the thread were still there, a shredded bundle that was slowly fading away as each strand fell. Instead of letting them fall or clearing it away, he gathered the filaments of light into his palm and aimed his thoughts towards where Talin had disappeared.
~Come back to me, little Phoenix. You've risen from the ashes once before... you can do it again. ~ The thought pressed further and further away, but the General felt nothing. As another minute ticked past, Seph's anguish turned to spiteful anger. He raised his eyes to look out across the lake and his mental tone was laced with contempt as he spoke to the emptiness around him.
~The life of one of your followers is in question, Goddess, so I hope you're paying attention. I can't imagine your much-praised mercy extends to his twisted deeds, so either let me kill this pathetic excuse of a man, or return Talin so he can finish what was started all those years ago. ~
He pushed the thought out into the ether letting it be taken by the void as threat or prayer, he didn't care which.
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See you next week!
