Rill stared at the scene, numb with shock.
How could this happen? Who...it couldn't have been him. Sephiroth didn't do this. I know he didn't!
President Gunther Shinra, pinned to his chair like a bug on a corkboard with Masamune.
6 hours prior
Rill almost felt like she should be back in her office.
She was examining lists of casualties and updating their current status in terms of the available fighting force. Just in case Jenova had another wave of monsters in the wings to take them off guard while they were still reeling from her first attack.
If she wants to wear Sephiroth down, she has to do it by not letting him rest. But she must want him with his mind more or less intact. She has limited use for a madman.
Seated in the living room with Reno knocked out on the floor in a sleeping bag, it was the strangest sense of deja vu she had ever gotten. Like she should be back in her office with Reno sleeping on the couch. But if she were in her office, she wouldn't be studiously ignoring Yuffie and Marlene sneaking up on the redhead with markers in hand and matching gleams in their eyes. But that didn't account for the severity of her uneasy feeling. The planet was trying to warn her that something was coming. Not as immediate a threat as the attack, but bad news nonetheless.
But one name on the list caught her eye, calling her entire attention to it.
Lukas Astral.
Sergeant Lux.
She remembered him as being one of the more...outspoken admirers she had had back during her Shinra days. The list she was reading...was the fatalities of the battle.
Another name and face she knew that she had to resign to her personal memorial of those killed in battle.
Not mine. The sad pronunciation from the Planet made her freeze.
The term the Planet used to describe those overtaken by the Calamity. Lukas, Lux...had been possessed by Jenova?
She heard a distant, hiccupping cry coming from upstairs. Evan was reacting to her inner turmoil. Rill gathered up her papers and hurried outside to try and get some distance. She passed Aeris on the way, who stopped her and gave her a tight hug.
It is not your fault. But hearing that and knowing it was true didn't make the guilt go away.
Lux had been this...oddity that she didn't know what to do with. Kind of annoying even.
And now he was simply gone. She'd never roll her eyes at some cheesy way of greeting her. She would never have to steel her nerves against his attempts to flirt with her ever again. Irritating, slightly discomforting but consistent. And comforting for that reason.
What happened to him? How did she get him?
Aeris gave her another tight squeeze.
From what I can tell, Jenova has a few people that she managed to infect. And some of them...happened to fall under the right circumstances to be vulnerable to her. Meaning he had to have been injured, but she wasn't close enough to catch the infection before it took him.
How did it happen? He was listed under the casualties.
Aeris didn't answer. Not even through the Planet. She just hurried inside as Evan tugged at their hearts, demanding their attention because he was hungry.
In some ways, it did not matter. Lux was gone either way, whether he had fallen to monster claws or to his comrades' swords when he turned on them. It may give her a measure of closure however. Another name to add to her list...
Her phone started to ring. She had only limited numbers in it to prevent people from bogging up the chain of command to get her to solve their problems. So it was someone she would need to talk to... Glancing at the caller ID, Rill mustered up whatever energy she could.
"Unless someone is missing a limb, I don't care."
"I hate to be the bearer of ill tidings since it sounds like your humor is barely holding on." Rufus sounded grim. The Planet's warnings grew a little louder.
She vows revenge. The Calamity's liberator approaches. Be cautious
"Who is it?"
"Pardon?" She could hear Dark Nation chewing on something that had a lot of small bones in the background on the call.
"There's a short list of people who make me feel this sick. So who is it that's coming?"
"Firstly: My father has pulled some strings to get Sephiroth arrested for assaulting a civilian some months ago."
Her denial was reflexive.
"Sephiroth would never hurt a civilian." At last not without a good reason.
"I'm referring to when he made a...personal recommendation that Hojo and his arm should not be so attached to one another...?"
Rill's ire settled right away, and she gave a soft sigh.
"Oh, that. Yes, I'm not surprised that he would try and make a big deal out of it now. He has to do something to try and curb Sephiroth's current status as the city's savior. Making him out as dangerous and unstable would be to his advantage in case the shareholders decide they want him as the CEO of the company as a whole, not just the army." Things were moving in such a way that Sephiroth would even be added to the chain of command for the infantry. Heidegger was not exactly happy with this, but couldn't exactly argue without sounding like a petulant child.
It was the only relief she had in all of this that there seemed to be no evidence of Sephiroth getting possessed by Jenova on the battlefield. President Shinra could have done a lot with incriminating evidence like that. SOLIDER PR was so important because people could fear them so easily. They were human in appearance, but with the strength of half a dozen men for the weakest of them. Sephiroth especially had had PR agents working with his image for years. It was partially why the Silver Elite were never stamped out entirely. They provided a massive positive bump to his appeal, something President Shinra was eternally aware of.
Gunther Shinra was a master of manipulating public opinion. Having Sephiroth arrested was likely part of that. He had spent years building Sephiroth as a great hero, but now things had gone beyond what he had planned. It wasn't just Sephiroth's die hard fans who were singing his praises, it was everyone. Because everyone knew that he had gone out to personally dispatch the deadly plague bearing Malboros that threatened the city.
AVALANCHE were eco-terrorists and their activity was met with fear. But everyone lived for having the SOLDIER in black leather save the day… And Shinra saw that as a threat to his position.
"Unfortunately, my father is not so stupid as to actually commit to pressing charges against him while viewed in present light. He's sacrificing a lackey by having him press charges."
"Thus enabling him to 'save' Sephiroth at the last moment from bogus charges."
And if the few days of investigation shook something loose for him to use, then so much the better.
"Precisely. I'm working on negating that scheme and tying him to the arrest in the first place. The second piece of news is more relevant to you, courtesy of Gun out in Helena: Hojo is heading back into the city." She moved under the jacaranda trees that Sephiroth had gifted to her on her 18th birthday, their low branches brushing over her shoulders gently. Comforting, reminding her of happier times.
That could explain the foreboding feeling she was having. Sephiroth had messaged her, telling that he was still very tired and didn't know if he could make it down below for the evening. She could feel him heading to his apartment even now. She herself was contemplating if she would be able to sleep without going to check on him...
"Is he actually missing his arm now?" She was still numb on the inside from reading the list of deceased.
"...That's your only reaction?"
"Be grateful you even got one. I've been catching up on almost five years of backlog in military service records to identify who survived the battle." A soft intake of breath, the Planet murmured understanding and even a tiny inkling of sympathy was in her...arrogant, advantage seeking, manipulative, magnificent bastard of a friend. His tone was a touch gentler when he next spoke.
"Well...Understanding that you have had a trying day...I don't suppose I could persuade you to make the old man lose his head a little?"
Rill gave a low chuckle.
"Name it, Rufus." Equal exchange after all. He had given her a warning about incoming trouble.
"I would gladly pay you your entire yearly salary if you would come and pay the good General a visit."
She would admit...the thought was tempting. Not only because she would go visit Sephiroth, but because she would waltz in and out of Shinra Tower unmolested as long as there was no legal grounds for her to be held.
"Tweaking your father's nose like this? I'd do that for free."
"And here I thought you were dead set against ever working with me."
Her heart lightened with her quick reply, the comforting banter helping to soothe her.
"I still am."
"So cruel." And he sounded delighted.
3 hours prior
He smelt it long before anything else.
Cookies. Tea.
Sephiroth looked up from his paperwork, and was greeted by a welcome sight. Rill, dressed in civilian casual, not carrying her staff, with a familiar container in hand. In Shinra Tower, with a glimmer of mischief in her eyes. A flash of crimson cloth told him she was shadowed by Vincent. Insurance against her being 'invited' to stay longer. He approved.
"Still have papers to deal with?"
"I would think that being arrested would mean they would shuffle this to someone else." He rose to greet her, calculating what she might accept and what might be considered too friendly. He settled for clasping her hand as she handed him the thermos.
"I mean, you are supposed to be being punished."
He had considered that his holders were being remarkably lenient with him considering he was being held for assault and whatever other charges President Shinra could find to keep him here. He inhaled the aroma of the still warm tea. It took him back to when they were both younger and didn't go a day without seeing each other. When the biggest problem they had was balancing the chaos and productivity of the SOLDIER department.
"I would find it a more effective punishment if they just locked me in my office."
"I mean, they still might. I know there is enough paperwork for you to do that you could serve out a life sentence before you finish it all." This was said in teasing, but he had a foreboding feeling she was being all too literal.
His holding cell was spartan, but not barren. A plain desk, a chair, a cot and several boxes of paperwork that had been delivered from his office. A few changes of clothes were folded on a bedside table, plain shirts and slacks retrieved from his apartment. His iconic leather clad appearance was going to be kept as far from him as possible until this charade was over with. He settled on the cot, leaving her the chair, and broke into the care package. Simple treats with oatmeal and cinnamon. Likely most of the Flower House's food was tied up providing for their community.
"I take it you're not here to help me sort through this."
"Not exactly." Rill admitted with a hint of apology in her tone. Her gaze was serious.
"I'm trying to find out how President Shinra knew about our recent happy news."
Evan.
The baby was still less than a week old. Still small and squished. Still helpless. It was like every feeling he had had about Rill when he first started to get close with her, magnified proportionate to his own helplessness.
Not even a week old and already a target from greedy, grasping fools who did not know what it was to be satisfied.
"He will not touch him. Evan will never have to get within a mile of this tower."
"Agreed. But it still is concerning that the man knows about him at all."
"Are there any leads as to how he knew?"
Sephiroth took a sip of the tea, noting the presence of an extra suggestion of chamomile in the brew. Barely too hot still. He poured a serving into the thermos's top and handed it to Rill to share. The familiarity of the situation, tea and cookies, the light, conversational tone. It was all soothing part of him that had been on edge ever since he got placed in this cell.
"We only have the majority of the Turks on our side. And espionage is what they do, so a leak in that department is our best bet right now. I did pass some leads to Rufus when I left. He's probably chased them down, but there...can always be some that I missed."
Something else was weighing on her mind in addition to protecting her newborn nephew. He made a note of that to address it later. Family first.
"I thought most of our Turks were out of the city."
"They are. They are also still cleaning up after the Jade Weapon."
And since they were on that operation, they would not have passed information about Evan's birth to them until it could be done in person. Even with Reeve monitoring a handful of secured lines for them
That eliminated Gun, Katana, Legend, Rod, Shuriken and Twin Gun as potential leaks.
All the Turks with weapons as code names were given combat or protective detail assignments. The ones Rill had spent the most time around in her civilian life and in her work with the SOLDIER department. Sephiroth could also eliminate Tseng, Rude, and obviously Reno as leaks. (Reno in particular would sooner shoot himself than betray Rill.) And he believed that Gun, Emma, had recently been joined in the Turks by her younger sister, Elena. It did not put her above suspicion, but it did make it more likely that she was not the source of their leak.
"I've been taking this opportunity to review the men I had protecting the house as well. I can't run down many leads..." He glanced at a sheet of paper on the desk. Every name who had volunteered to help protect his family. Unofficial rotation. Rill took a picture of it with her phone.
"Any attachment to this?"
He shook his head, and Rill set it on fire with a spark of power. Her gaze fell on the tea she held and a brief moment later, steam rose from its surface.
Not steam. Mist. She was cooling it to her preferred temperature with a tiny bit of magic.
Sephiroth would never tire of seeing Rill casually use magic as an extension of her body. Comfortable in her own power. At ease in a way that she hadn't been in her younger years.
"I'll look into it."
Unbidden, Sephiroth wondered...how Genesis would have felt upon seeing her like this. Casually using magic to adjust the world around her to suit her.
He would probably have appreciated it. Very much so. That line of thinking was spoiling his mood with an unpleasant pall, but it needed to be addressed...
"The other part...The attack was focused around Genesis clones." Her grimace flashed over her face, the makeshift cup she held giving slightly as her grip tightened.
"Yes. The smaller swarms were as well. Likely to coordinate a force so large, she had to contribute as many as she did. Without them, the monsters lost their focus and reverted more to their natural instincts." He had concluded the same. But he pressed on all the same.
"All we have seen for years now are clones of Genesis, but never Genesis himself. Do we even know if he is still alive?" It was a cold question to ask about someone who had once been his friend, but it had to be asked.
"He has to be." Azure eyes flicked up to him. "And it's not just me being emotional when I say that. He is as much the lynchpin to the clones as the clones are to the monster swarms."
"Then why haven't we seen him? We both know the type of person he is. Even with the mental and physical degradation he must be experiencing, he wouldn't just sit back and do nothing. It isn't like him."
Genesis was a natural showman as much as a spellsword. Stealth wasn't something he did naturally. Oftentimes, he was the one drawing fire, or throwing it, to allow another squad to maneuver into a more favorable position. This disappearing act did not track with what he knew of him. Could he have changed that much in the years since he had last seen him?
Rill typed something into her phone before she handed it to him. Pictured on the screen was a heavy pall of smoke and a glimmer of fire.
"Some Turk operatives went to investigate some activity on the Nibel and Cosmo border. They found this."
"An active volcano." Sephiroth's mind collected information quickly from a little used part of his education. There were a number of volcanoes all over the world, but this...the tectonic plates that formed the Nibel Mountains were old, stable and hadn't had any recorded volcanic activity in centuries. This was unprecedented.
"It's still being confirmed with the locals, but the initial survey is saying that this took everyone by surprise. There were no precursors of volcanic activity in the area. Nothing hinting that it was coming."
Which suggested that this had not been a natural event. It was...suggested that with a sufficiently powerful caster, this type of event could be triggered. Or with the correct Summon materia. If he remembered correctly...
"Could Genesis have used one of his Summon's to accomplish this? He did have an Ifrit fragment." Rill shook her head.
"If he did, Ifrit only cooperated under immense duress. Eidolons do not work with the Calamity if they can help it."
Rill's hand had drifted to her bangle and the crimson crystals winking at him within the delicate flowers. He had gifted her Griffin and she had shown she had gained a seed of Fairy. Part of him wondered if she didn't have more surprises stored on her person... She was speaking again, thoughtful and contemplative.
"If at least one of them is mastered, you could trigger this sort of disaster with just a Quake and Fire materia." He paused in the midst of taking another sip of tea, giving her a look...
"Really?"
She paused for a second...then her face flushed slightly.
"I don't mean you specifically! Anyone with the mana capacity and that combination of materia could trigger a volcanic eruption if they were close enough to a fault line."
"Could you?" The idea of Rill being able to wield that kind of power was strangely appealing. She could probably make her own continent somewhere. Build a country from the ground up...
"Well, if I disregarded the long term consequences, knocked back five elixirs and had sufficient murderous intent, sure."
What an interesting idea...if Shinra kept on being persistent and bothersome like this, he would pitch the idea to her about making an island somewhere and terraforming it to suit her wishes. A small piece of homemade paradise...Maybe their talk two days ago was making him sentimental, but that sounded like a wonderful idea. Someplace that was just theirs to build from the bedrock up.
"So this is your proof that Genesis is still alive." Rill nodded.
"Jenova needs a host connected to the planet and the Lifestream in order to use magic. And for the destruction on the scale she seems to want, magic has to be involved."
"Technology could fit the same need." And it would cut out the human component if she could just operate a weapon. Rill rolled her eyes.
"With her control issues? No. She wants to destroy the world with her own hands. Or as close as she can get while still being held back from fully integrating into our planet. Genesis would fit her needs."
So would I.
"What is being done to find Genesis?" If he could do this in a civilian population, they would have an entirely new cause to worry if his grudge became more personal again.
"Terrance."
Naming the most fearsome Turk on the payroll was all the explanation Sephiroth needed to hear.
"Alone?"
"Tony and Caitlin are his back up. Sniper and Knife."
He didn't know the names personally, but if Rill did, they would doubtless be reliable.
Part of him was still very much leery of allowing unenhanced people to go up against Genesis, even some so capable as their Turk allies. Though perhaps unenhanced people were their best bet...
"Are they...prepared?" Were they inoculated against possession was what he was trying to ask.
"We did everything we could for them."
That was a yes then.
Sephiroth wished, not for the first time, that he was in a better position to handle this.
That he wasn't at risk of turning on everyone if he relied too much on Jenova's power.
He had avoided killing innocents only because Cloud had been able to occupy him. He had had no idea the blond had progressed so far...wielding multiple weapons seemed to be his niche. But bringing that up here where less than friendly people could be listening wouldn't be wise. He would have to wait until he got out to address this to Cloud.
It shouldn't feel this good that there is someone who I can trust to stop me if this happens again.
In fact, there were a number of subjects that he couldn't bring up where people might be listening.
"That's about as good as we can manage for the time being then."
Being benched and watched has never felt so frustrating.
Realizing his face had fallen, Sephiroth tried to erase the frustration in his expression. But Rill's eyes were sparkling with humor.
"You actually might be out of here a lot sooner than we thought."
"Oh?" Had they found some key evidence to excuse him from this charade?
"Your fanclub has been demonstrating night and day since they heard you were put in jail." Sephiroth suddenly felt extraordinarily embarrassed. He had first experienced it when Genesis jumped onto a table when caught up in reciting Loveless. But this was so much worse...
"They...have been."
"Mmhmm, very passionately I must add. They've already started a fund to post bail. As of last night, they had collected 50,000 gil just from their members alone and over 300 of them have volunteered to be character witnesses."
"Have I ever actually met any of them?"
"Since they seem to think of you as a tragic, misunderstood figure that is secretly pining for them, and not a socially awkward, massive dork, I doubt it." His reflexive frown was held back by the still present gleam in her eye.
She's trying to cheer me up.
Sephiroth wasn't sure what to do upon realizing this other than to eat another cookie to avoid saying anything more.
Her laugh at his response did draw a small smile out of him.
-vVv-
Outside the room, Vincent was pointedly aware of the stares he was getting. As some of his new...friends had put it, he looked like he was getting ready to attend a costume party.
It was in truth a protection however.
The news from above said that Hojo was going to be coming back.
Chaos seethed within him at the thought of the scientist. He could still remember the glint of glasses as he lay, paralyzed and mostly numb but still conscious as the man went about his torture. Carving open his insides to see how they mended themselves as Chaos struggled to keep his host and himself alive.
Vincent was not ready to let his face be seen and known. Not by that man.
Something had changed in both Nerilka and Sephiroth. The undercurrent of tension that had existed between them was mostly gone.
They must have come to an agreement.
But nothing else had happened. He was confident of that.
Vincent glanced into the holding cell during their visit to check on them. Seated with the treats Rill had brought, they looked as though they had forgotten everything in the world except each other. The guard was just trying to do his job but...Vincent subtly stepped into his line of sight, giving the pair behind him an illusion of privacy.
He wears happiness well.
Jenova's influence on Sephiroth was evident in his coloring. His military upbringing and extensive education shaped his manner and speech. But right now, together with the one he loved...Vincent could see Lucrezia in her son.
When the guard tried to speak up to interrupt the conversation, Vincent allowed Chaos to emerge, his eyes gleaming a feral, inhuman yellow.
The man fell silent and took a reflexive step back.
-vVv-
Rufus felt he should be recording his father's hapless fury. Staring down at the security cameras focused on Sephiroth's cell, Gunther Shinra looked a few blood cells away from popping a vein as he stared down at a completely and utterly relaxed Rill laughing with Sephiroth in the jail cell, the door wide open and unlocked.
"Have we found something, anything!?"
"The legal team will call us first thing when they do."
Which they wouldn't find. Rufus had made sure to close up any loopholes that the company might try to coerce Rill into coming back against her will. It had taken some judicious editing and backhacking to ensure, but he was committed now. The Sage was an asset to his cause and was most useful when she was free. And she was the best friend he had never had the luxury of having in his youth. He would do all in his power to make her and her family as safe as legally possible and even illegally if needed. Physical safety he was far less worried about. Anyone who tried to interrupt her conversation with Sephiroth would doubtless get a cat-eyed death glare and a healthy reminder that the general was legally allowed to retain his weapon as the commander in chief of SOLDIER.
Rufus took a sip of brandy, idly enjoying the abject frustration on his father's face.
It said something about how worried the company president was that he was relying on Rufus as a confidant in this scenario. He had been holding his son at arms length since he reached adolescence, his way of trying to push Rufus into being a better successor. Or maybe just not being able to comprehend being a decent father. But he was all but clinging to him lately.
He smirked into his glass, sure his father was occupied elsewhere, then typed out a text to Rill for her to read later.
Memo:
My father is a tool.
Memo:
Organize billboard campaign to announce this fact.
Memo:
Open betting pool on how long it takes for him to notice them.
Anticipating her responses to these texts, since she almost always would reply to them, would entertain him long after his father stopped being amusing.
"I've told the guard to get her out of there. How long has she been in there?!"
"About 20 minutes I think." Rufus said neutrally. It had actually been closer to 30. But as long as he kept on saying an increasing number, his father, too stressed to check the time himself, would gradually get more and more tightly wound. He was not trying to induce a heart attack or similar health problem but...It would make managing the aftermath of everything much easier if his father was out of the way. Even just temporarily.
And only the fact that he had spent so much time around morally upright people made it so that thought induced guilt as well as wistfulness.
A morally bankrupt, fat old bastard. He thought. And once upon a time, it wouldn't bother me that you were like this. Just that you were incompetent in doing it. Nor would I give a damn about removing you from my path by any means necessary.
Rufus then felt his phone vibrate. He glanced back at the screen and realized that Rill's phone had been in Sephiroth's hands when he sent those messages.
Per my observations, the billboards in sectors 3, 4 and 5 are never traversed by the president in any of his routine vacations or inspections. With the campaign being handled dominantly by these sectors, I would place 500 gil on him never realizing they even exist.
Respectfully,
Sephiroth
Rufus promptly had to bite his lip to keep from cackling out loud.
2 hours
Franklin was just a security guard. A lot went on that went clear over his head. It was a good trait in being a Shinra security guard. And his tendency to not ask questions had gotten him the well paying, but not popular job of guarding various persons of interest in the Science Department.
Don't think about it. Don't think about it.
He glanced at the large glass holding tank. It was covered with a cloth that was secured at the corners, but he couldn't help but think it was about the right size for a person-
Don't think about it!
Thinking led to questions. Questions led to demotions. At best. The worst scenario was caught between disappearing without a trace, or outright dying in a tragic accident of some kind.
Franklin had been told to watch the door, so that is what he did. Without wavering. No matter what sound he heard coming from behind it. Even if it was dark and he was wishing he had called in sick, or faked an injury. Maybe even gotten injured. Anything other than being here right now.
Don't think about it-
Liquid dripping. The tank was sealed it had to be a leak from elsewhere.
He inspected it, unwilling to lift the cloth covering it...until he saw that the tank had been opened from the inside.
And he heard wet footsteps on tiled floors.
1 hour ago
Sephiroth had thoroughly enjoyed Rill's visit. It had lifted a load off of his shoulders for a short time and the reprieve had been most welcome. And her visit, as well as the tea she had brought, had helped him actually get some sleep for a change.
He could normally sleep anywhere in any circumstances. A skill that was highly necessary for anyone in active military service. But being put in this box had deprived him to true rest for the two days he had been here. Hence he was grateful in a way for the mind numbing paperwork. It helped him at least get some sleep.
So waking well rested felt unusual-
I smell blood.
His instinct was to reach for Masamune. His hand failed to clasp the familiar hilt where he had left it in reach of his bed.
His eyes adjusted rapidly to the darkness as he searched for his weapon. Then scanned his cell again.
No change, Masamune was nowhere to be found.
Did someone take it in the night? The next pressing question would be then why didn't he wake up when someone entered? Had Rill's tea been that calming that it had knocked him out and kept him asleep? He hadn't smelt, tasted or otherwise detected any variance in the blend, or in the cookies. And Rill had been consuming them with him, so whatever would have been able to knock him out, would have hit her much more strongly.
The next thing he noticed was the door. It was standing open. It was shut and locked at night, per protocol. It had been closed and locked after Rill left his cell. He had completed another stack of paperwork and a guard had taken it away. Then he had laid down to rest his eyes for while...Someone had apparently turned off the light to let him get some rest.
What is going on?
The heavy scent of iron and rust was still alarmingly strong.
"Nichols." He called, recalling the name of his prison warden. "Was someone hurt? I smell blood."
There was no answer. He pushed the door open and peered outside. The hallway was dark save for a few emergency lights. No other cell was occupied at the present. He had the run of the corridor. The poor man who had been assigned to escort him here had even asked if there was one cell he preferred over others, reminding Sephiroth oddly of a nervous hotel staff member catering to an important customer.
The absent thoughts fled from his mind when he spotted a motionless body in the hallway, half in the light, lying in a dark pool of something red.
"Nichols!"
The infantryman assigned to hold the keys to the holding cell had been a decent man. His son was an admirer of SOLDIER. He had gotten an autograph from him for his boy. Sephiroth hurried over, inspecting his wounds quickly and carefully.
No luck. No healing materia or handy first aid of any kind. And while he had been permitted to retain Masamune, he was not allowed his materia.
"Nichols, can you hear me?" He checked for a pulse, but found none. He turned him over, the image of his face, twisted in perpetual surprise, sank into his mind to fuel some future nightmare. His back had been clean of any injuries save some faint spatter, but his front was soaked in crimson. The body was still warm to the touch, and had not yet gone rigid, the blood had only just begun to dry.
Less than an hour since he was killed.
He started cataloging the wound pattern to determine what he was up against. An intruder in the tower who managed to steal his weapon from his room and-
I know those cuts.
The clean lines in clothing and flesh alike showed an exceptionally keen blade had been used. The depth and angle of the wounds suggested someone of immense strength, definitely a SOLDIER.
His memory could recall dozens of such examples. Hundreds of them even. All seen and processed on men he had faced in combat. And defeated...with Masamune.
Why steal my sword from a locked cell to do this but leave me unharmed?
There were footprints in the blood.
That's my shoe size... And it also happened to be the same print and tread of his shoes. The exact pair he was currently wearing.
A gnawing fear began to writhe inside him. Attacking his heart without mercy.
"Is anyone there?" He kept his voice level and calm as he assessed himself.
Blood on his shoes. Tacky red prints leading to and from his cell. Blood on his hands. Was it just from examining Nichols? Or had something gone wrong. Had-
Did you do this? He hesitated to address the part in his mind where he kept Jenova trapped.
His only response was a female voice laughing at him mockingly.
Part of Sephiroth had gone numb. A conditioned response he had to blood or gore. He had trained it into himself to allow him to think rationally and clearly in the middle of a battlefield when all senses were being assaulted at the same time and he needed his full mental capacity to ensure the survival of his forces.
This time he just had numbness instead of rationality. It was like every delighted chortle from the Calamity stirred up a slurry of guilt, horror and rage that he couldn't contain or control. And she was gleefully riling his emotions so that he couldn't release the numbness to find his peace again.
Find out more. Contact back up. Even if I-
This wasn't random. That he was certain of. Sephiroth had time to think and process his enemy. While she could be subtle and calculating, her methods would never be so random as to have her goal be the death of a single infantryman. This was a being who had puppeted hundreds of monsters if not thousands in a coordinated attack to breach his defenses and try to possess him.
Sephiroth regretfully left Nichols where he was lying.
The security office at the end of the hallway was abandoned. Communications were either missing or disabled with the same blade that had killed the man. Nichols had been wounded only on his front. He had been facing whoever had killed him.
He heard something. Something I slept through. He was coming to check it out. And all injuries had been on his torso. The man had never had the chance to lift his arms in his own defense.
Fast. Not just a SOLDIER but a skilled one. And instead of coming after me, he destroyed anything I might use to contact help.
He felt as though he was being played. He had to consider that there might be another sleeper agent of some kind in the program. Someone who had been overtaken besides Lux.
Attempting to hail someone in the main security office yielded only silence. The lines were down, nothing seemed to be able to get through. No phone, intercom or radio. The saboteur had been quite thorough. And the blood trail led upstairs.
The endless amounts of stairs in the Shinra building were only partially marked with a blood trail. And the intruder had been covering a lot of ground in a very short time.
A rogue SOLDIER in the tower with his signature weapon. At least one man was dead. And Jenova sounded far too pleased with herself in the back of his mind. No words had been able to make it through to him, but he could feel her delight. Her pride in someone pulling this off.
So Sephiroth continued to climb.
At least until an alarm blared throughout the building.
"Intruder in the presidential office!"
Present
Rill regarded the security footage.
It clearly showed a silver haired figure wielding a nodachi sword enter Gunther Shinra's office. Since the man was notoriously picky about his privacy, no audio was ever recorded, just video. So she couldn't hear what the man said to Seph-
No. Not Sephiroth.
He spoke to the intruder, but she couldn't hear. But she saw his naked, animal terror. The red on the intruder's sword and whatever expression was seen was enough to terrify him.
But he managed to press the hidden alarm switch.
Not managed. Rill rewound the footage, watching the doppelganger holding Masamune pause and let the President see and react to him. With how quickly he had been moving, he could have dispatched the man before he even processed that he was no longer alone.
He was allowed to press it.
This ploy was meant to be as messy and public as possible.
Rill watched with a remarkable amount of dispassion as President Shinra died on camera. She watched as a being who was responsible for the near extinction of her race and the death of her culture died, alone and afraid.
And she felt only an inkling of pity. Not vindictive satisfaction, not horror. Just the pity of seeing a crushed worm on a sidewalk after a rainy day.
The man who had committed the murder left Masamune impaled in Gunther Shinra's corpse, stabbed through the back. Pinned to his desk like a bug in a collection. Then he turned and faced the camera. Another deliberate move, to make sure his face was seen.
The face was...wrong. The camera was grainy. The expression was something that would never have been taken as real.
A slightly damp nose touched her hand. Dark Nation whimpered until she scratched his ears. She watched the impostor leave the camera's range through the same door it had used to enter.
"Rill." She turned at the voice and saw Rufus. He clearly had been roused in the night to come attend this, still wearing stupidly expensive pajamas and his hair was a mess.
"The story already broke?" He nodded grimly.
"The entire city knows that Sephiroth has just murdered my father."
Her throat tightened and she felt ready to cry with frustration.
Jade Weapon had been successfully destroyed. Evan was born healthy and well and both he and Aeris were fine. They survived a massive Calamity possessed monster invasion and Sephiroth briefly getting possessed as well. It had been fine. It was going to be fine. They were dealing with the charges to get him out of jail...
"It wasn't him." She pointed at the image on the camera. "That is not him. The face is wrong, the hair is too short."
The movement was too predatory. The Black Demon without any of the General's humanity. She knew that it wasn't him. Would have staked her life on it.
"A silver haired man killed Gunther Shinra with Sephiroth's signature weapon on camera. That's all they needed."
And she knew it. That and the recent disagreements between the company executives was all Scarlet and Heidegger would need in order to get Sephiroth branded as a murderer. Nothing she said could stop this. People would react with shock and horror. They would disbelieve because of his reputation. But the deck was stacked against them.
"Any sign of the real Sephiroth?"
Rufus sped up the recording. Only 10 minutes after the president died, a more familiar figure entered the view. Sephiroth always looked slightly out of place in civilian attire in her eyes. Especially when he was covered in blood-
And another layer of Hades is revealed to this.
Sephiroth paused for a moment, she couldn't see his face, but she knew he was doubtless distraught, believing that he had in fact committed the crime before him...
Rill watched as Sephiroth took in the room in an instant...then he ran straight for the window. He shattered it with a hard blow, and then leapt out the window. Her heart leapt into her throat for a split second.
Until she saw something streak past the window.
He has a wing too.
How long has he had that?
But she was very certain that unlike the wing she had seen Angeal have, this wing was black. Like the Genesis clones.
"He's panicking." If he was going off by himself, he would be even more vulnerable to Jenova's manipulations. "I have to follow him-"
"Unfortunately, you can't."
Rill fought her reflex to deny that. If Rufus was saying it he had a reason...
"Why not?"
"Without Sephiroth's reputation to protect them, Aeris and Evan will need you here."
And he was right.
Scarlet and Heidegger would try to cannibalize SOLDIER to bolster their own divisions with raw manpower and muscle. Hojo was returning and the imminent threat that he had proved himself to be to her race. And there was the matter of that doppelganger that would need to be addressed. She could tell it wasn't Sephiroth, but the resemblance was too striking to be a disguised assassin. A Sephiroth clone, either acting on Hojo's orders or under Jenova's control. And she still needed to locate the Black Materia before Jenova got her hands on it.
Deja vu.
Just for a moment, Rill let herself cry.
Cry for the dashed hopes and bitterness of disappointment.
Then she straightened her shoulders, reaching for a familiar mindset. It settled over her features like a mask. Green summoning rings flashed into being as a small fairy emerged, a matte black slip highlighting her almost translucent dragonfly wings. She had tawny skin, and short cropped hair. Her ideal nighttime messenger. She moved to the little used desk and wrote a small note which she handed to the fairy.
Take it to Him. Her fairy responded with a deep bow, taking the tiny slip of paper and soaring out the early morning darkness. Rill had no illusions that Sephiroth would be moving at his top speed to create distance and it would take several days for her message to find him... He had fled without his materia, without the Seed materia that allowed them easy communication. That fairy would take much longer to track him down. But the drain on her mana would have to be handled.
Rill took a deep breath, then turned to look at Rufus who likewise straightened seeing what was in her face...
"I don't suppose that job offer you gave me 8 years ago is still valid?" She would have enjoyed his absolutely flabbergasted look more in any other situation but this one. Rufus composed himself quickly, already plotting and planning...
"I cannot say that it is." He mused, grave and pensive. "We are both far wiser than to limit ourselves to my paltry goal. Not with what we know is coming. What will you do, Nerilka?"
Rill pulled more serenity and grace to herself, the Planet was humming discordantly and unhappily in her ears. She could hear the song that she associated with Sephiroth fading rapidly into the distance and darkness as he moved further away from her.
"I will save Sephiroth from Jenova. And in doing so, I will save the world."
End Disk One.