Behind Black Curtains
An AU, Sephiroth and Tifa fanfiction
- by Amaranthos-
Chapter 37: Say Goodbye
In a fitted black dress, with black gloves and a black fascinator over her eyes, was my daughter - the grieving beauty in the crowd. She carries herself largely spaced out, with remote eyes and an expression of emptiness. Her red eyes are so dark and wistful and for a moment, I can almost see her hurting soul.
She fans herself looking down, completely in her own world. Poor thing…
She refused to sit with us in the honorary balcony, flagrantly adding she preferred to watch from the crowds like a commoner – someone unattached from us…
She leans against the railing publicly berating herself, scanning the empty arena thinking us all to our graves I suppose for our inhospitable actions, and I guess she's right. She always fought for people's rights and humanity and hence did what was right. But how could I explain to her in my gentlest fatherly voice that what she thought and supposed to be a wrong thing, in simple: the taking of a life, was actually the right thing to do.
Traversing something like that to Tifa was harder to do, as it was to say.
But no matter what…she would not forgive me. Because at the end of the day, I look like the plastic soldiers all about the arena, hungry for a death…
But if she only knew…
It was the morning of the execution and all about this grand arena were villagers, soldiers and members of the council all gathered for one common reason: the death of Sephiroth.
The environment was rather buoyant and lively for a death, and I figured…man could be so cruel to his own kind. Perhaps they didn't see the blood and bone in Sephiroth's body like their own, but he was very much a man who owned a heart and a soul. But no matter that, because at the end of the day all they wanted, was to see him die like an animal all for the sport and amusement and I can't imagine when we grew this bent. Complacent about death and who deserves it…
Not being able to cope, I suppose… I felt waned and tired to the burgeoning paranoia seeded in my chest.
To my sudden surprise, the crowd grows wild. Screaming and shouting are present, as the crowd stirs with a new energy, too discernible not to miss.
I can sense it in the air. The stink is heavier as I noted I clutched myself firmly to railings feeling like something… was about to happen.
Dragging him from the large metal gates like a ragdoll, was a beaten and trashed General. They dispensed him to the centre of the arena equipping him with a small silver blade.
He looks around, his brows deeper than usual and I can tell he's angry to be centralized in such a situation. I noticed his garment ephemerally shocked, it's the official Red Hearts uniform in black. Usually when they killed in this arena, the soldiers wore the Red Hearts uniform as a sign of betrayal and guilt, but also as a sign of mockery.
In Sephiroth's case, he was no Red Heart…and perhaps the best they could suffice was a black uniform. Sephiroth looks up uncongenially at the council and spits on the sand in front of them.
"Your neck is mine… Red Heart" he shouts to my father…
I swallowed…
The crowd cheers even louder, and I feel like this is a stage and we are the audience patient for the play. With the public appetite growing for his death, the doors below open and some twenty bulls are released into the arena.
Sephiroth refuses to be intimidated. With an impassive and stoic expression so unwelcoming, he pulls from his back a red cloth. The material flaps wildly in the wind. The bulls all around heave and scrape the ground aggressively at the single standing man. With so many all around, I'm not exactly sure Sephiroth can win.
He was already half-beaten, half up…who knows what would happen.
In the excitement of the moment, four bulls charge straight into Sephiroth. He agitates them by flicking the red cloth frantically. They run straight towards him and with an ease so effortless, he dodges the large animals, impaling a pair…
He jumps out the way trying to gain more of a vantage point from afar, but the bulls are riled up. In the chaos of the deaths of the other bulls, more bulls charge forward at Sephiroth. He dodges two, but the third to his back he doesn't notice. The large horns of the third bull connect aggressively into Sephiroth's wounded side.
Another bull charges at Sephiroth and he's caught pinned between the pair. I looked away, unable to stomach the horrible sight.
All around are people cheering and screaming buoyantly. I notice these people and I pity them for taking delight in something so morbid. I looked up to see Sephiroth kneaded into the wall by three bulls. The more I stared, the more I couldn't stand to be here. It was with mixed emotions I swallowed the chaos before me.
His blood is smeared on the walls from the violent animals and all the while I grab onto my seat for my dear life.
But just like that he pivots himself in such a way, he pushes himself off the wall and jumps onto the bull, slashing it open. Covered in blood he runs forward slashing at another animal, filming himself into a new layer of blood. He effortlessly kills as his blade sings death into the bodies of the impaled. One by one, the animals fall to the floor.
The large bulls once shook the earth, but now they are empty with no life.
Sephiroth weak and tired out… stumbles to the floor, supporting his body with the measly blade. Breathing hard and rasped, I could see him worn out from the loss of blood and savage beatings of the animals. He looks up, some five bulls circling him.
With a dark smirk on his face, I could tell he was determined to die like a God. Go out with a burning glory. And with everything he had, he traverses his energy into the blade impaling another animal.
He eyes the other bulls carefully, clutching his bleeding side tightly. As he kept moving I could see blood gathering to his feet. If he didn't die from the loss of blood, he would die from these animals.
Grabbing the red cloth on the ground, Sephiroth waves it at the four bulls. The bulls run so fast, so angrily towards him and with a speed so fast..so outrageous, he slashes through them emerging on the other side, standing still. The bulls behind him stand for a second until they fall apart in pieces.
The crowd grows startled, stunned that he did it… but also…he's killed them unnaturally gross.
Sephiroth flicks his sword clean before falling to his knees completely worn out. With all his energy fading, I feared the other trickeries of death the council had planned for him.
And to my shock my father stands, ejected from his seat looking down at the waned General.
"You will gravel, you will bleed and you will die like the people you have taken." My father musters.
Sephiroth weakly smirks.
"You bestial man…" my father shakes his head.
Sephiroth laughs, clutching his bleeding side, spitting the blood from his mouth.
My father lifts up Sephiroth's Masamune inspecting the long silver blade.
"You have killed many with this famed blade" my father stares at the blade, "at the very beginning such a blade was given to you…" he pauses, "you were very much a part of this blade as it was to you…" my father flings the blade to Sephiroth, "now you will hold it one last time..."
Sephiroth crawls to the blade, clutching it tightly.
"General Sephiroth, legend to the darkness and inflictor of sadness, today you will die like a man. The final justice for your darkened soul" my father returns to his seat.
Sephiroth enlarges his smirk; blood trembling down the sides of his mouth.
"Neverrrrr!" he bawls at my father.
A large cage is rolled onto the field with several men labouring over the metal prison. Many flee back but one stays to open the door. On opening the cage, a large old bull much bigger in size to the smaller bulls, comes out aggressively jumping up and down. The black bull's shiny coat is ruined to scars of all sizes. I suppose this must have been the famed animal used at the arena nowadays.
The animal with driven instinct, runs into a tired-out Sephiroth. Sephiroth at first is too slow to react and takes the first of the animal's unceremonious horn jabbing, being tossed into the sky before landing on the floor in a heap. The animal returns, dragging Sephiroth through the dirt, bruising his body. Vivid red streaks lined the floor and for once I knew it wasn't the animal who was bleeding. It was Sephiroth.
The animal tosses Sephiroth away, running around the arena building up its speed.
Sephiroth all the while lies on the floor, collected in dirt. He slowly pushes himself up, coughing blood and clumsily standing to his feet. Weak and ruined in bodily injuries, I know he doesn't have it in him to finish this battle.
But the crowds kept cheering; their feet pounding and resonating loudly. They wanted Sephiroth dead and Sephiroth refused to oblige. I swallowed, somehow absolutely torn and devastated by the horrible sight before me. All I wanted to do was scream at the council to stop this madness. But how could I begin when my voice was buried deep within me.
Sephiroth stands to his feet, bringing his blade squarely in front of him. With a smug expression on his face, the animal jumps in the air, only for Sephiroth to roll under slashing the great bestial bull open. All the blood and guts spewed out the animal and Sephiroth stood triumphant.
The crowd goes silent as he's done the impossible: he's survived.
With my heart pounding loudly, I rejoiced. With gladness in my eyes I looked at Sephiroth elated he had done it. He survived. It wasn't easy to watch him do it...but he did it.
My father studies the man for a moment, intently focusing on Sephiroth; and with a wave of his hand, snipers appear on the ledges of buildings ready to fire.
Immediately I stood to my feet.
The sound of a rifle goes off as it aims directly for Sephiroth, who jerks forward grabbing his shoulder. He's been hit.
Tears flooded my eyes. I couldn't bear to watch them kill him this way. This by far is the most inhumane thing I have seen.
"Yame (stop)!" I screamed loudly.
The world around me finally comes to a stop. Silence fills the air and the grey heavens above me, listen for the first time.
"You treacherous people!" I bawled at the council, "you are no different from Black Crescents. Watching animals being killed in an arena is one thing but watching a man die for leisure and sport, is just sick. And we have the right to say we are righteous and that our love ones are more important than their own. We do not exhibit the qualities of a great empire when we do as the enemy - treat each other with anarchy" I cried
"There can never be peace between nations when they copy each other into ruin" tears fell down my cheeks.
"If there's anything, anything good in your bodies…" I wiped my tears away, "share it for someone other side the principles of your own" I opened the gate, descending to the arena.
I deftly walked forward to Sephiroth.
My father shouts out, "Tifa… stop!"
"No father… you stop" I shouted back.
I refused to listen to the council. I would not listen anymore. I advanced towards the weak Sephiroth, who stood shaking and shivering, losing blood dramatically. With the blade still in hand, I could see drips of blood running down the sharp edge.
Silently I approached him and with nothing more than a small space between us, I whispered…
"Where do I begin?" tears in my eyes.
He throws the blade to the floor.
I looked down. How could I put myself to stare at him after everything we've done.
Deftly he brings his bloodied fingers to my chin, raising it gently.
"You…" he whispers
I cried harder.
"You.." he repeats…edging his teeth together.
I winced, "Sephiroth" I whispered…
"Say…good bye" he breathes in deeper…
I froze. Unable to register that sentence.
I shook my head and for the first time I showed the world how I felt. I grabbed onto his shirt and I pleaded with him with my face pressed into his cheek, to live. He averts his head to mine and his fading green eyes, for once holds no malice, no hate…just resolve for me.
He places a hand on my cheek and pulls me toward him.
We stood there, together…in the arms of each other.
It was a frightening feeling knowing that everything in the world could suddenly, disappear.
"I remembered when I first saw you" I cried softly, "you were such a brute…" I bit my lips…
We stood there listening to the soft sound of our heartbeats. His heart made a sickening sound as it slowly began fading. His face was growing pale and it wouldn't be long before he died.
I cried so hard in his arms.
"You made me so mad" I shivered
And his heart grows softer…
"Until one day…something happened."
And softer it wanes…
"And I wouldn't undo it if you gave me a second chance." I trembled, "Sephiroth" I cried…
I loved him so much and now…
"Please don't go where I can't go" I breathed against his neck.
His pulse grows fainter and fainter…
It was in the silence of our moment, we heard a soldier shout out.
"Dangerrrrr!"
Before long, the world goes into loud explosions and fire. The sounds of guns fire off and everything goes from bright to burning red and black ashes. Descending from the heavens, was a black hawk helicopter.
Looking up, I could see men in black uniform jumping out the helicopter. They landed either side of Sephiroth and I, pulling us apart. One of the men grabs me and yanks the rope while the other wraps Sephiroth in a protective brace. Before I know it, we're ascending into the helicopter…and then it hits me… these aren't my father's men…
"Welcome back, Tiffy" comes a grueling voice…
The hairs on my back stood on edge as I turned around…
"Scarlett" I shivered…
She gives a smug smirk… "found yah!"
To be continued…