Chapter 3: Estuans Interius Ira Vehementi

Sephiroth awoke and looked around. He had no idea where he was. Though with his emotionless expression, he did not show it. He had awaken in a hallway that was made of metal on all walls and the floor, with many complex lights and buttons. To him it looked like Shinra's main office building.

Sephiroth was wondering if perhaps this was a Shinra building. He also wondered why it had not been destroyed or how he even arrived at such a location. Perhaps the entire planet was not destroyed after all? This meant he had more work to finish. He looked calmly to his left down the hallway. He saw signs of construction on the hallway's structure.

"No one has such technology, besides those fools at Shinra." Sephiroth commented out loud. "Where there's Shinra there's their fool of a president, Rufus." His mind made the connection. Sephiroth, always holding a passionate hatred for most people, felt his blood boil. Although he despised the human race as a species, he hated Shinra's leaders most of all. All he wanted was to run his sword across the necks of those fools who had barbarically brought him into being.

He turned to the right slowly and began to travel down the hall, noting the slight construction along the way. As he traversed this empty hallway he began to hear footsteps that were not his own. Up ahead appeared three men dressed in a white armor. Must be Shinra's new uniforms; much has changed, thought Sephiroth.

These new Shinra soldiers were talking about an emperor, who had come to a battle-station to oversee construction. Sephiroth had no clue what the heck they were talking about. The term emperor had not been used on for anyone on Gaia in a long time.

The soldiers caught sight of Sephiroth. "You there, freeze!" one of them commanded over a crackly electronic speaker built into his helmet. They drew guns from holsters on their belts. "I have no time for this foolishness," said Sephiroth. "I shall dispatch these fools quickly." He reached for his katana. He placed his right hand on his hilt and lunged forward. He reached his consciousness into his materia. Haste!

In a bluish magical blur he drew his seven-foot sword, and ran his sword through all three of their abdomens in one quick dash. He disengaged his hasted dash as his long white hair billowed behind him. He sheathed his sword as the men's bodies separated in two and fell to the ground. "Hmmph. Pitiful." He snorted and moved on.

Something ahead of him stood out. Two men dressed in crimson uniform stood with rifles hoisted over their shoulders. Along with this crimson uniform were some very elegant red helmets as smooth as the surface of processed materia. They had a look of great dignity and pride, standing as if they were guarding something or someone important. Sephiroth was pretty sure he knew what these were... members of SOLDIER, in new uniforms, guarding President Shinra. Sephiroth did not want to tangle with a SOLDIER, it wasn't worth the time and many of them were infused with the blood of his mother, Jenova. He would have to convince his brothers to join him later.

He used his mental power and reached within his materia. Sleep! The men in front of him visibly began to grow weary and fell to the ground in a crimson pile of cloth. Sephiroth stepped towards the men and made sure they were asleep. "I shall return brothers." He reassured the peaceful men. He stepped over them to the double sliding doors and pressed the button to the right of the door. With a gentle whoosh, the doors slid open. Inside this dark room, there was a man in a chair in front of a large circle window looking out across the night sky. Beside him stood a man in black, breathing heavily as if through a respirator. This must be Rufus.

Rufus, he couldn't believe he could finally execute his revenge in person. "At last Rufus, I can draw your pathetic existence to an end," he said. The man turned around. He was dressed in a hooded cloak that shadowed his face. At his mouth you could clearly see was a wrinkled and scarred old man. He spoke with great annunciation. "Rufus, who is this Rufus?" He looked over at the man next to him. "Lord Vader, dispose of this filth." "As you wish, my master." Replied the deep voice of the black man. He drew a stub of metal from his belt, which quickly became a glowing red sword. Sephiroth, no longer concerned that this man wasn't President Shinra, drew his sword. If it was a fight these fools wanted, it was a fight they would get.

Lord Vader made the first move. He jumped high into the air and landed in front of Sephiroth. Sephiroth held up his sword to parry to blow. The swords met and about 3 feet of Sephiroth's sword were severed from the rest. Sephiroth was inwardly surprised but showed no sign of it. He jumped backwards. He couldn't beat this man with his sword, he would have to use magic. He reached into his materia. Bolt! Lightning shot from Sephiroth's hand and hit the man. Lightning surged through Vader's limbs as lightning surges through a machine. This man had robotic prosthetics.

The old man chuckled, "As I expected you know the Dark Side of the Force, your force lightning is indeed powerful. Your anger serves you well." What on earth was the old guy talking about? Vader dove towards Sephiroth and took a swing at his head. He shifted backwards swiftly dodging the blade. This man was tough. Sephiroth used his fire materia. Vader held up his glowing sword and with a flash reflected it. This guy could anticipate moves! Sephiroth called all his power he leapt forward and a single black wing grew out of his back. He used the black wing to his advantage, keeping his steps light and swift. He dove for the broken half of his sword. He tossed the half still attached to the hilt at Vader. Vader swung his sword and knocked Sephiroth's from the air in two pieces. Perfect! Wasting no time, Sephiroth dove forward while Vader was distracted. Vader raised his saber and the fierce melee came to a pause. Both combatants had their swords at each other's throats.

The old man cackled again, "Good, good," he laughed. "You are powerful and your hatred rivals my own. I can sense that you crave power and if you would join my forces it is power you shall have." Both Vader and Sephiroth lowered their weapons. Vader's red sword disappeared into its hilt. "I have all the power I could ever need why should I join you?" Sephiroth inquired. "Do you not know who you are dealing with? I am the emperor of this galaxy." Said the old man. "People call me Emperor Palpatine, but you, my powerful friend, may address me as Darth Sidious and this is my apprentice Darth Vader." Sephiroth's expression did not change, he still had many unanswered question: the significance of the title "Darth", the fact that humans had traversed a galaxy, and the force

"I sense your confusion, such things will be explained to you in time," said the emperor. "Tell me what your name is my friend." Sephiroth paused. "My name is Sephiroth." "Sephiroth, if you need more convincing of the power of this empire, take a look." He signaled his hand out the window. Sephiroth looked out maintaining his expression but inwardly shocked that they were in or bit around a planet. "This battle station is in orbit around the planet, Despayre." Despair, a word Sephiroth had made a centerpiece of his life. "Watch as our power is demonstrated upon this world." He hit a button on his chair. "Fire at will, commander." He barked. For about 5 seconds, nothing happened. Then, a green beam shot out from an unseen source above the window. In a bright flash, the planet of Despayre was reduced to a pile of rubble. Amazing, something that he had to struggle and fight for to accomplish had been done to another world in a matter of seconds. Sephiroth allowed a grin to spread across his lips.