Notes: I'd like to thank you all for your patience; I know that last chapter was a long time coming. I've been pretty busy with summer work (I know, I should have done it a long time ago) and other stuff. This chapter will be the last for some time, as I'm going away for a few days next Sunday, and I'll be scrambling to complete my Physics and Language/Composition assignments before then. And so, without further ado, the chapter I'm sure many of you have been waiting for…I do hope you enjoy it…
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The Second Day: Evening
Cloud giggled madly to himself as the song ended. He quickly overcame the fit and set the song to play again. Occasionally, the urge would come to him to listen to a specific song, and it would often take hours before he tired of it. Currently, he was laughing over a German industrial song about the importance of brushing one's teeth. Yuffie didn't really see the humor, but it was more than apparent that Cloud did.
After getting into Cloud's apartment, he had obligingly made her a salmon dinner (although at one point he had stuck his head in the oven, said "Sylvia?", then laughed madly at his own joke while not offering any explanation) and then proceeded to ignore her. Oftimes she wondered if the repeating songs and the babbling to himself was a way of relieving stress for Cloud. She had mentioned it to him a while ago, but he had laughed it off and just said he was enjoying the time he had to himself so he would be in a good mood when Sora got home, and cheer the assassin up if necessary.
Larxene hadn't called. Yuffie always hoped that she would call, and she usually did. Since she had a lot to arrange tonight, she probably wouldn't have the time. Still, Yuffie hoped for the best. Best case scenario, of course, would be Sora and Larxene swaggering in around midnight with huge grins on their faces, Sora bursting with pride about how he'd handled this one, and they'd have a loud and raucous celebration, resulting in Larxene or Sora or Cloud or any combination thereof treating her to a terrific night.
Oh, that would be nice, Yuffie sighed. Absentmindedly she picked up a book that had been lying on the couch and flipped open to a random page, part of her mind reading, but the majority of it waiting for the ringing phone.
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"Goes like this," Sora said in a reassuring tone, though Larxene wasn't the sort of woman who really needed reassurance. "The two of them get seated in the fourth row, dead center, right under the chandelier. I go up to the rafters and wait for about a half hour, then I cut the cords, let the chandelier go, they die, I get back to your office, you take care of the police, and we go home."
Larxene nodded in satisfaction. "Basically can't go wrong. All the police will get from the workers are the rumors about the 'man in the rafters.' That blond asshole won't be answering any questions, so we're bulletproof."
Sora grinned happily. "I love it when things go my way."
Pretty soon, Kai…Yamato will just be another name on a long list.
She could never be "just another name."
It's time, he said to his conscience, for you to shut the fuck up.
And, for once, it did. He gave Larxene a quick hug. "I'll head up there now. See you in a little while."
"See you," said Larxene as she relaxed in her office chair, peering intently at the paperwork that still hadn't been touched, but not really motivated enough to stand up and do something about it. Should I call Yuffie? she thought.
She loves it when I call even when I'm busy, but…nah.
She put her hands behind her head and put her feet up on the desk. I'll be seeing her in a little while, so why bother?
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As Sora climbed the long staircase to the chandelier area, he heard the opening strains of the musical, and tried hard to steel his resolve.
Had we been friends?
Friends don't do what I'm about to do to her.
Could we have been more?
This question hadn't really occurred to him before this moment. If he hadn't been assigned to kill Kairi Yamato, would they have had a meaningful relationship? Could they have been intimately involved? Might they even have married?
Arriving at that last question took far longer than the few seconds it took you to read it. For Sora, marriage was not just something he had never considered, it was something he abhorred. Change was the essence of all life. Stagnation led only to withering and death. His profession was one of a catalyst, a harbinger of change.
What might the city be like if he hadn't killed the mayor a few years ago? Would the drug problem lessen with the loss of Riku? Would Ansem ever have been found out and arrested?
But if I hadn't killed him, he tried to justify, he might have done something even worse to someone else. That look that Selphie had on her face…what if he raped her? Or threatened to? He deserved what he got.
Does Kairi?
What had she done to make such a powerful enemy? Would killing her sway the political climate of the nation? Could her death result in senseless loss of life?
What if I'm acting on behalf of the military or some right-wing lunatic? I don't question my clients, but…does someone who seems so sweet really deserve this?
But, if not me, then someone else. It's not like I'm the only killer in the world. This way…an instant of screaming, a fleeting pain, then oblivion. And this way…she'll never see my face. When her life flashes before her, she'll remember me as the good friend, maybe a potential lover, that she met just a few days before. And I won't forget her.
Someone else might do it…slower. It's better this way. The fear will only last a split second before the darkness overtakes her.
Sora's perception of death was not a pleasant one, nor was it unpleasant. He always found it difficult to explain it to people, especially those hopeless optimists who believe life somehow continues after death. To Sora, death was not a sad thing for someone to experience, nor was it happy. It was true and final eradication of consciousness, nothing more. It was, in essence, going to sleep without ever waking or dreaming. It's not like you would ever feel anything, because feeling was cut off from you, because there was no more you.
Sora's philosophy was that if there was an afterlife, then death would not need to exist. And since it certainly did…well, the rest, he felt, was self-explanatory.
Eventually he reached the top of the staircase and took a look at the area before him. The room was fairly large, and catwalks made up the actual floor. In the center of the room, suspended above the audience, was the massive chandelier, connected via cables to winches all linked to one switch, labeled "Phantom, end of act one."
There were four cables hooked onto the chandelier, and all four were connected to a pulley on the ceiling. The single cable that went from the pulley to the winch ran right above the catwalk. If the switch was pulled and the winch was activated, the chandelier would be lowered along a set path into the stage, where the first act would draw to its conclusion.
If the cable to the winch was cut, however, the chandelier would instantly fall to the floor, taking whomever was beneath it (in this case, Kairi and Roxas) to their grave. Sora smiled to himself, withdrew his knife from his pocket, and sat down near the edge of the catwalk to observe the events onstage.
Kairi hated being in this position. While she knew Roxas was probably right about their lives being in danger while attending the show, she was fully prepared to duck and cover should something threatening emerge. Every muscle was tensed, just waiting for the subtle click of a gun being cocked, or the sound of a scuffle in the wings of the theater.
This was the only way to lure their predator out of the shadows: by making sure they looked like prey. Roxas was sure that "he" would go for an easy solution, and the blond had expressed his suspicions about the chandelier above the seats, the possible use of a gun by one of the actors, and even the possibility of a bomb threat.
Kairi knew he was right, and could only agree for now. At this moment, even with all of their training, they were completely in the dark as to what "he" was planning, whether or not Sora was involved, and even whether or not they would survive the night.
Sighing deeply, Kairi tried hard to focus on her surroundings. Inside, she regretted not really listening to the play. She didn't doubt Sora when he said it was a terrific show.
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Sora's favorite number, one of the first big songs of the first act, started up, and his mind gave an involuntary lurch to happiness, as it always did when he heard this song, as eerie as some people found it to be. He refrained from actually singing along, but could not resist mouthing the words as the actors sang in wonderful harmony. The Phantom himself was singing now, which Sora always loved: the man cast as the Phantom was always an incredible singer, and this performance was no exception.
"Sing once again with me, a strange duet
My power over you grows stronger yet
And though you turn away to glance behind,
The Phantom of the opera is there"
"Inside your mind," finished a deep voice from nearby. Sora leapt to his feet as fast he could as he whirled to face the newcomer. The man in question was shrouded in shadow, but Sora could make out the smile on his face. "Lovely song, isn't it?"
"What brings you up here?" Sora growled. "Authorized personnel only, buddy."
The man laughed, and Sora was sure that someone would hear the man's baritone. "Very amusing. But I took care of any 'authorized personnel' that would come up here, Mr. Hikari."
Sora unsheathed the knife and held it out towards the man. No one except those he knew were supposed to know that name: to the rest of the world, he was Sora Akuma. "Who are you?"
"Why, you're very informal," the man responded cheerily. "Perhaps we can use first names here."
"Answer me!"
The man walked forward a little, and Sora backed up in shock. It was the tall man with white hair he had seen the other day, only now he could see that he was in fact different from Ansem. He was definitely larger, his hair was longer, and his skin was pale. He bowed low, and Sora saw for a moment what looked like the hilt of a sword at his side. "I am Sephiroth Valentine. I am pleased to meet you at long last, Sora."
An awful idea sprang into Sora's imagination. "Are you CIA?"
The man laughed again, as though he was genuinely amused. "Of course not, my friend!"
"What do you want?" Sora wanted to advance, but thought better of it. He didn't think he'd be able to take an opponent like this on without the element of surprise.
Sephiroth shook his head sadly before focusing again on Sora. "Dear me, do you really want to kill Yamato? If so, go ahead, I won't stop you." With that, he backed up a few paces and raised his hands above his head.
Narrowing his eyes, Sora maneuvered to beneath the cable, keeping his eye on Sephiroth, who didn't move.
"Although," he said, just as Sora was about to cut the cord, "it would be a shame not to hear them."
"The songs?" asked Sora, confused.
"Why, no. The last words."
"Of Kairi?"
"No," Sephiroth shook his head and smiled. "Of the beautiful blond girl downstairs."
Now Sora advanced, closing the distance between him and Sephiroth to a few feet. "What did you do to her?"
"Oh, I can't remember every little detail," he said, beaming. "But it would be a crying shame for her to die alone. You'd best get moving if you want to save her."
Sora shot the other man a look of pure hatred as he slowly sidestepped towards the staircase, keeping his knife trained on the silver-haired murderer. He made no attempts toward Sora, or towards his weapon, and Sora made a mad dash towards the stairs and began to bolt down them. When he realized Sephiroth wasn't following, he finally began to feel the pangs of real panic.
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Nothing could prepare Sora for what he saw when he burst into the office. The desk and most of the floor was coated with blood, and Larxene herself lay on the ground, shivering fiercely and spewing blood from her mouth with each breath. A cursory examination of her body told Sora that she had been run through, most likely with the sword that Sephiroth had carried.
When she saw Sora, Larxene's eyes started to tear with the effort of speaking. "Sora…a man with…"
"I know, I know," said Sora quietly as he yanked off his shirt and started trying to tie it around Larxene's wound. "Just lie still."
"Don't!" she cried with as much force as she could, and Sora paused. "Sora…please, Sora, I don't want to die…"
"It'll be all right," Sora assured her, placing a calming hand on her forehead, which was pale, like the rest of her, from blood loss. "I'll get you to a hospital, and-"
She tried to shake her head, but wound up crying from the pain it caused her. "Sora, please…I didn't want to die like this."
"You won't. Just let me lift you…"
This time Larxene's protests were ignored, and Sora noticed too late that she had been more than just stabbed. Sephiroth had flayed her back, and lifting her only caused gore to fall out of her as she cried more. Sora gently put her back down and held her hand, biting his tongue to hold back his own tears.
"I was supposed…to marry Yuffie," she said, her words slurring slightly. "I was going to propose to her as soon as she turned eighteen."
"She'll be all right," said Sora pathetically, knowing it wasn't true.
"Take care…of Yuffie, Sora…please," she gasped, before coughing up a torrent of crimson. "Sora, I'm cold."
He couldn't help it: Sora tried to blink back the tears, but they inevitably fell onto Larxene's arm. With one trembling hand, he put his arm around her, embracing her for what was surely the last time. "It'll be okay," he said, not knowing what else could possibly be said.
"I…should have called…tell Yuffie…I'm sorry, and that I love her."
"I will."
Larxene lifted herself with gargantuan effort and planted a kiss on Sora's forehead. Her blood dripped down into his eyes, so that everything Sora saw was seen through a red film. "I'm cold."
"It'll be okay," he repeated, when an idea popped into his head. "Don't worry, Larxene, it's a dream."
"…Dream?"
"Yeah," he said as he forced himself to smile. "Just a dream. You're gonna wake up next to Yuffie screaming, and she'll ask what was wrong, and you'll tell her, and she'll call you a scaredy-cat, and you'll laugh and kiss and go back to sleep. It's all just a bad dream."
She closed her eyes in thought. "The windows must be open. That's why I'm cold."
"That's right!" cried Sora, almost laughing. "We had pizza for dinner, that's why this dream is so weird."
"Ah…it all makes sense now," Larxene nodded, and then went limp. Sora put his head on her chest and sobbed, because he knew that, when his time came, he wouldn't wake up.