Chapter Thirteen: Feelings Returned
Sephiroth made the call while the helicopter was en route.
It wasn't one he was looking forward to, but it had to be done. President Shinra picked up the phone, sounding annoyed. "Sephiroth, what is it?"
"Mr. President, I have some good news. Genesis had been broken emotionally," said Sephiroth. "I crushed him completely with my bare hands, and it will be a while before he gets out of that state. I doubt he'll be in any position to do operations. And since our enemy is relying on him for their army, that means the entire Genesis army may fall into disarray.
"Although, I should tell you that it is also conceivable each Genesis copy has a consciousness. In which case, the original might be controlled by them, rather than the other way around. It might be wise to prepare some countermeasures."
President Shinra gave a sigh of relief. "...Well, that should save me a great deal of trouble and give me time to locate his other labs. Zack Fair and Tseng staged a raid on one of their factories. Then he destroyed one of the areas where the Genesis clones are being manufactured.
"It was in Mideel."
"Angeal and Genesis' home town?" asked Sephiroth, unsurprised.
"Yes," said Shinra. "Zack located Angeal's Mother, and she did not know anything. The autopsy indicates suicide, but Zack believes Angeal killed her."
"Do you intend to debase him of this notion?" asked Sephiroth, curious.
"So long as he doesn't ask, you mean?" asked President Shinra. "No. We've already lost two of our best soldiers. Someone like Zack going rogue would only add calamity to a crisis.
"Which brings me to you.
"I feel I have an apology to make, Sephiroth. You have been invaluable to the company so long that I feel we've been taking you for granted. It is my hope that when you return from your leave, we can resume business negotiations. Hopefully in a more amicable fashion."
Sephiroth was surprised at the gesture but not unpleased. He did not entirely disbelieve President Shinra. "I would like that.
"However, at present, I have to head to Nibelheim."
"Nibelheim? Why?" asked President Shinra.
"Several reasons," said Sephiroth. "First, targeting Mako Reactors is an excellent way of hurting us with minimal risk. Nibelheim is an idea such target. Second, I'm hoping to tie up loose ends with Cloud Strife." There was also another reason, though Sephiroth wasn't sure what it was.
"You mean to arrange for his retirement?" asked Shinra.
"He means well, but he tends to blunder around and pick fights where he should not," said Sephiroth. "If he is left to his own devices, he'll end up joining Avalanche or going into mercenary work. On the other hand, he has been completely loyal to us, so it would set a bad precedent to remove him.
"If I head to Nibelheim with him, I can inspect the Mako Reactor and ensure security is tight there. Then I arrange for him to retire to monster hunting or something to that effect.
"We no longer have to worry about him, and we have a happy ending for the tabloids."
President Shinra seemed to consider it. But Sephiroth knew what his answer would be. "I see your point. I'll admit that the decision I came to earlier has been weighing on my mind. It was me who encouraged the boy, after all.
"Alright, Sephiroth, you have my leave for this. But once you're done, I need you back in Midgar." He paused. "One more thing..."
"Yes?" asked Sephiroth.
"I had my area of operations in Nibelheim for some years," said Shinra. "I recommend you be careful. I... well... just be careful. I always felt a little on edge when I was there, though I could never put my finger on why."
Sephiroth nodded. But he didn't see why that worked. Shinra had lived in Nibelheim for years, so why would he be on edge? And surely he could have found out if there was something wrong. Either way, Shinra hung up a moment later.
"Well, we are go," said Sephiroth, hanging up.
"How do you do that? Sound so cold-blooded?" asked Aerith, looking at him.
Sephiroth shrugged. "Oh, it's a habit.
"When you want to appeal to someone without a moral code, you can't do it by convincing something is the right thing to do. You have to convince them that doing the right thing is in their own self-interest. And then you also have to make them afraid of what you might do."
"Why is the fear necessary?" asked Cloud, across from him.
"If a morally bankrupt person is not afraid of someone. They will eventually try to exploit them," said Sephiroth. "It's inevitable, so you have to make it clear to them that you can do something to make their life miserable in return.
"The ideal state of existence is to be both feared and loved."
"Isn't it better to be respected?" asked Cloud.
"What do you think I just said?" asked Sephiroth, who saw no distinction.
"So uh..." Aerith looked forward. "Why do you have the passenger area sealed off from the pilot seat?"
"Security concerns," said Sephiroth. "Sometimes I have to discuss classified information the pilot doesn't need to know. I'm misallocating some funds, I admit."
"...Have you ever piloted a helicopter like this?" asked Cloud.
"Well, I read the manual while we were fueling up," said Sephiroth. "So, probably."
"Is there anything you can't do?" asked Aerith with a smile.
Sephiroth considered. "Forming long-lasting positive relationships seems to be one of my weaknesses. Everyone I'm friends with either goes away or wants something from me."
"Well, what about us?" asked Aerith.
"I wouldn't call our relationship long-lasting just yet, Aerith," said Sephiroth.
"Well, you were the one who said we couldn't go to the Gold Saucer," said Aerith. "So if it doesn't get there, it's on you." And she stuck her tongue out at him.
"I am never setting foot inside the Gold Saucer," said Sephiroth. "Never again."
"Oh, come on. Why couldn't we go down there and play a few games?" asked Aerith. "It could have been a lot of fun."
"We can hunt some monsters in Nibelheim if you want to have fun," said Cloud. "And we can make money for that."
"That's not fun," said Aerith. "Going on rollercoasters is fun. Playing party games is fun."
"Go snowboarding," said Sephiroth. "It has the same benefits of a rollercoaster and has actual skill involved. We're not stopping for a shallow substitute. Because the pursuit of pleasure is the fastest route away from happiness.
"One should instead strive to perform your duties and perfect yourself as a person.
"Cloud, this will be your first time home in a long time, won't it?"
Cloud nodded. "Oh yeah, more than I year.
"I kept sending messages to Nibelheim, but I never got a response from Tifa or Mom. I think there must have been some kind of screwup in the mail."
Sephiroth nodded. "Well, I'm certain we can discuss it with them when we get there."
"...Do you think the pilots are doing alright?" asked Aerith.
"They are professionals," said Sephiroth. "We should leave them to do their work and not bother them. Regard them as an extension of the helicopter until you actually have to know their names."
"That doesn't seem like a nice way to think," said Aerith. "One ought to know everyone by name if they can. Understanding other people is important, even if they aren't part of what you're doing."
"No, it isn't," said Sephiroth simply. "The ideal society is one where every element of society performs its function. The problem with achieving that society is largely one of implementation. What is a person best at? Is it right to force a person to do something they don't want to do if they are good at it? What should we do if someone is causing problems?
"These questions are all relevant.
"But once you have set things up, so everyone is doing what they are best at. And if they are perfectly happy with it, that is paradise."
"Without any free will, you mean?" asked Aerith.
"Well, that's the hard part," said Sephiroth. "And it is also why utopia is an impossible concept."
On they went, and soon came over the mountains to the town of Nibelheim. Cloud and Sephiroth looked down on it. And it looked...
Well, very nice and orderly. The perfect image of a doomed hometown. It had nice roofs, white walls. All of it was impeccably clean and well ordered, and almost everyone had a two-story house. It was the sort of place you never saw in stories unless it was going to get set on fire in a few minutes.
The helicopter landed by a helipad, and they stepped out of it.
"Here we are," said Sephiroth. "We'll land here and step out on foot."
"Thank you for taking us this far, Mr. Pilot," said Aerith, moving up to the window.
"I can hang around for a bit if you need a lift?" asked the man.
"We'll likely be here for some time. But thank you," said Aerith.
Cloud, however, stiffened visibly and looked at the landing pad, then up to the road. A road where Sephiroth had run into a mentally ill child getting attacked by a dragon. Something was... off.
"...A landing pad," said Cloud. "Was this built recently?"
"No, it has been here for some time," said Sephiroth, wondering if Cloud had been deluded enough to miss it. It was in plain sight of the town, and there had to have been some other means of transportation. "I only took a truck because I patrol the entire continent."
"Why didn't I ever..." asked Cloud. "Why did I try walking all this way? I never even knew about this place. I'm sure I could have...
"Nevermind. I was sort of... eccentric."
Understatement of the century, really.
Cloud walked toward the town with Aerith, while Sephiroth walked a little ways behind. Still, there was something that Sephiroth found familiar. Like he was going to see a person he'd known for a long time.
"So, this is your home?" asked Aerith, taking Cloud's hand. "It looks nice."
"Oh, yes, President Shinra used to live here," said Cloud. "He... well, he was the person who inspired me to make for Midgar. I'm hoping Tifa will recognize me, but-"
And then Tifa Lockhart showed up.
The girl had been waiting by a fence in a sundress with a large cap. She had long hair that flowed behind her as she rushed toward Cloud. Her frankly gigantic breasts were bouncing as she wrapped her arms around him. Cloud went stiff, probably in more ways than one as he tried to process things.
"Cloud! You're back!" said Tifa, hugging him tightly. "I was afraid you'd never return!
"I read about you in the papers, I knew you'd come back!"
"Tifa... I... can't... breathe..." gasped Cloud, whose lungs were being compressed between her arms and body.
"Oh, sorry," said Tifa, smiling and breaking the hug.
Aerith seemed to be looking on in something akin to jealousy while Cloud got some air back. "Um, Tifa?
"You remembered me?"
"Of course I remember you, don't you remember the promise we made?" asked Tifa. "I mean, I guess you didn't make SOLDIER, but that never mattered to me."
"Right, right, yeah, but... didn't you get my letters?" asked Cloud. "You never replied."
"Letters um... you sent letters?" asked Tifa. "I uh... I was never really good with mail."
"Is everyone doing alright?" asked Cloud. "I mean, I've been away a long time."
"Everything has been great. Especially with all the news coming in of your adventures," said Tifa, looking away with a blush. "Do you want to come to have a drink or...
"I mean, I've read about bartending, and I guess that seems the sort of thing someone ought to say in... this kind of situation..."
These two had serious chemistry.
That worried Sephiroth. No one Cloud had spent all of five minutes with ought to be this close to him. He looked to Aerith, who was looking at Tifa with a bit of a confused look.
"Yes, give me something hard," said Cloud.
"Right, come on," said Tifa, grabbing him by the hand.
Sephiroth and Aerith followed the two of them into a bar. A bar with absolutely no patrons in it at all. Every table was completely clean, and the man at the bar was polishing a glass that was perfectly clean. When was the last time anyone actually drank in this place?
Cloud, however, seemed to be in too much of a daze to notice. Which, perhaps, was understandable. If Sephiroth had just fulfilled a promise to a childhood friend. A childhood friend who Sephiroth found physically attractive, despite being completely uninterested in sex or women.
Wait, why was the barkeep nodding to Tifa and just filing out?
As if this had been rehearsed? Well, it wasn't impossible that someone had heard of what was going on.
"Something is..." Aerith whispered. "Sephiroth, something is wrong here. Where is everyone?"
"Oh, I'm sure they're busy with something," said Tifa. "You shouldn't think too much about what other people are doing." Then she looked at Aerith with curiosity and something else. Not exactly jealousy. "So um... are you Cloud's girlfriend?"
Tifa spoke as though she were concerned. But there was something about her body language that said otherwise. Was she contemplating a strategy? Tifa subtly moved toward Aerith in a way that could only be called seductive. Cloud caught sight of it, and Aerith was not unaffected, a blush coming across her features.
What was Tifa showing off?
"No, nothing like that. Well, not yet. I actually sort of tagging along," said Aerith, looking away. "See, I've been trying to save the planet."
"Oh, that's uh... interesting," said Tifa, leaning back on a chair near where Cloud was seated. Cloud himself seemed as if he was under a trance of sorts, focusing entirely on Tifa. "From what?"
Tifa was only focusing on Cloud.
And yet, she was able to refocus on external elements when they were relevant to that fixation. This wasn't gold-digging, as Sephiroth had experienced several times. Tifa's eyes told a very different story; there was an obsession there. But an obsession cloaked in the appearance of a downhome girl.
"Well, a lot of things," said Aerith. "See, there are a lot of bad habits individual people have gotten into. Those habits are contributing to a lot of serious problems. So, if everybody just broke out of the bad habits, the problems wouldn't be nearly as big.
"So uh...
"Well, I don't mean to talk your ear off. Sephiroth and I could give you some privacy if you want."
"No, that's fine," said Tifa. "You can stay. Well, if Cloud wants you to, I guess, but I don't mind.
"Cloud? Is everything like you wanted?"
Well, yes, to a disturbing degree. Too good to be true came to mind when it came to Tifa Lockhart. A perfectly devoted girlfriend. One whose first reaction to seeing her crush with another woman was seduction. Sephiroth wondered if he'd walked into someone's wish-fulfillment fantasies. Because this was all way too good to be true.
"...Yes, so, you're working as a bartender now?" asked Cloud.
Tifa sat down next to him, and Sephiroth felt as if he and Aerith were not forgotten. "Well yeah. I kind of want to start my own bar sometime, serve lots of people. Although, I'm more of an assistant right now.
"I've been training in martial arts, you know?"
"Really? With who?" asked Cloud.
"Master Zangan, of course," said Tifa. "He um... he's not here right now, got carried away on something else. But I've got some great skills now. Well, probably nothing compared to you but..."
"Trust me, you're probably overestimating me," said Cloud. "Most of what I accomplished was done by being quick on my feet and thinking things through. I mean, Sephiroth can destroy entire armies. But with most soldiers, if you're in the middle of a huge fight, something has gone wrong."
"Well, um..." Tifa stood up quickly to take a cup of glass off the wall and pour a drink from the bottle. "I did a bit of monster hunting myself. Though I'm sure, you and your friends could show me a great deal. So, what brought you back here so soon?"
"That's a bit complicated, I'm not sure I should go into it," said Cloud.
"You can tell me," said Cloud.
"...There were some problems after I got back from Midgar," said Cloud. "I needed to get out of the city for a bit, and Aerith had a good cause. Without Sephiroth, though, I probably would have never gotten here. Well, not as quickly."
"Oh, so your Sephiroth," said Tifa, looking up with disinterest. Then her eyes took on a glossy look. "This town has been waiting a long time for you."
Sephiroth had no idea what this meant.
Her words to Aerith, Sephiroth had taken was an attempt at seduction. This, however, was a simple statement of absolute truth. However, it disappeared a moment later. "That is, I mean, you're a legend, and plenty of people here would love to see you and speak to you."
Was no one else picking up on this?
Looking out a window, Sephiroth saw several people wandering aimlessly. As if pretending they were doing something. "...Well, I get that a great deal."
"So, how is your Father doing?" asked Cloud.
"Oh, um, he's well," said Tifa. "He's been under a lot of stress lately, though. See, um, his work has been causing him problems. I guess he was never able to really fit in with the other villages." That was... vague.
Vague and worrying.
That was it; Sephiroth was going to ask some inconvenient questions. And he'd better do it before Tifa completely ensnared Cloud in, whatever this was. Tifa had been very vague in her answers on anyone other than herself. "What's your Father's name?"
"Um, Brian Lockhart, why do you ask?" asked Tifa.
"And your Mother?" asked Sephiroth.
"Well... she died when I was eight years old," said Tifa, looking downcast.
"What was her name?" asked Sephiroth.
"Sephiroth, is that really..." began Aerith. Sephiroth raised a hand.
Tifa looked away, putting her hands behind her back. "I um... I'd rather not discuss that if you don't mind."
"Cloud, what is the name of the owner of this bar?" asked Sephiroth, deciding to change targets.
"What?" asked Cloud.
"Who owns this bar?" asked Sephiroth. "Was the man we saw someone you remember from living here?"
"I... it's been a while since I came back here, Sephiroth. I'm..." Cloud shifted. "I didn't spend a lot of time in bars."
"But you lived here your entire life," said Sephiroth. "Can't you remember if you'd seen that man before?"
"No..." said Cloud. "I can't, I... I think I'm having some issues from the war."
"Okay," said Sephiroth. "What was the name of your next-door neighbor?"
"I... I can't remember..." said Cloud.
"What was the name of any of your neighbors besides Tifa and her father?" asked Sephiroth.
Cloud was clutching his head now, but Tifa leaned in and hugged. "Hang on, Cloud, don't think about it. That stuff isn't important. Let's just pass over it and move on." And Cloud was listening to her words.
"Cloud, you mentioned before that Tifa had a group of friends who didn't like you," said Sephiroth. They refused to follow her up to Nibelheim, but you did and saved her.
"What were their names?"
"I... should remember this..." said Cloud.
"Well, they weren't your friends, after all," said Sephiroth. "Ms. Lockhart, perhaps you could answer the question."
Tifa stood up and clenched one fist. "Why are you upsetting Cloud like this, Sephiroth?! This is the day of his homecoming, and you're ruining it by focusing on stupid things."
"What were their names?" asked Sephiroth simply.
"They didn't have any, obviously!" said Tifa, as if that was a normal response. Is Mother supposed to name every single minor antagonist? They'd barely qualify as extras in a stage play! I mean... they are around here somewhere, Cloud. I guess she could name them if you wanted, but...
"It's not like anyone really cares about them. I mean... Cloud's the only one that is important. They only ever existed to be a barrier between him and me."
Dead silence. Cloud stared at his core motivation and realized that she was every bit as obsessed with him as he'd been with her. With interest, it seemed and lot more. Aerith looked around, and Sephiroth found himself speechless.
"Okay," said Aerith. "That leaves one other question.
"What the fuck is going on?"