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Mecha stared after Sephiroth as he left. Her tentacle slid into the hole and she made ready to leave. Another Jeno was on its' way. She tore out of the hole and towards the water. Little did she know that was the direction the Jeno was coming from. It dove at her as she neared it. And she dodged to the side. A tentacle lanced into her leg immobilizing it. She hacked off the tentacle and proceeded to move away. Another lanced into her other leg. Then it grabbed her.
"May your Jeno joining be sweet as rain rebirth..." it threw her down and slipped in through a wound it had caused. She cried out for a mere second, before she fell into unconsciousness.
Mecha awoke a few days later with both legs bandaged. She sat up and looked about. She rubbed her head.
"Where in the name of the holy Materia am I?"
"You are in Kalm," a voice answered from behind her. She looked at the man behind her with his short/longish spiky black hair.
"Zack? First Class SOLDIER Zack!" The man shook his head.
"I'm his nephew..." Mecha nodded. "I am Marcus.." Mecha sighed a little. Marcus left the room leaving her to her thoughts. She heard him rummaging in the kitchen and she slid off the bed she was sitting on and walked out the door. Marcus walked back to find her gone. She had climbed on the roof of the house and was staring at the huge city of Midgar. She leapt from the top of the house and ran towards Midgar.
"Mecha!" she heard a strong voice yell. She skidded to a stop and stared in the direction the voice came from. She saw a figure in black with its back to her. She recognized the platinum hair and darted into Midgar. She ran into the sector 5 slums and into the church. There she ran into the back and flattened herself against the wall.
"Sephiroth..." she panted. Jenova wasn't too far away cackling.
(He's on his way now! He saw you enter Midgar!)
'More like you told him.' She cut a glance out the door to see Sephiroth pass the church doorway.
(I said nothing to the imbecilic dolt!)
She flattened against the wall at Sephiroth's call for her. Her heart raced as he turned and wandered inside the rebuilt church. His footsteps echoed halfway down the main hall and stopped. She listened to the silence for a few minutes before daring a look out. Sephiroth was on his knees and shaking. She put a hand on the doorframe at the sight of him on his knees, with his trenchcoat fanned underneath him. She reached up and touched the pink ribbon in her hair. It gave her an idea. She pulled off her cloak and head cloth. She then pushed up her hair and tied it in the ribbon. She spotted a robe beside the door and donned it elegantly. She wondered how she was going to become different in the eyes. It would have to do as she was. She wandered out and looked at him. He was bowed, his platinum hair hanging over his shoulders. She then heard his whispering.
"Please don't let her flee from me again... she's having so much trouble. I just want to help her..." Mecha kneeled in front of him and placed a small hand on his shoulder. His Mako green eyes looked up at her.
"Who do you speak of?" she asked. He raised his face even more and she saw how pain stricken it really was.
"Mecha," he choked out.
"This Mecha," she said thoughtfully, "may flee for a reason." He raised his black leather gloved hand to his head.
"But why?"
"There is a reason Sephiroth." she had avoided looking at his face for too long. She now looked him strait in the eye. "She's not ready." Sephiroth blinked. His hand moved to hers and closed around it.
"Why?" She freed her hand.
"I must go..." he took her hand again.
"Don't... I know it's you Mecha.."
"That I am, but I can't stay long.." he put a hand on her robed shoulder.
"I uh... Jared likes you... and...Mecha shook her head.
"I know you do too..." with that she stood and ran in the back. He got up to follow her, but she was gone.
She walked into the Shinra headquarters a while later. She stared at the huge glass double doors deep in thought.
"I wonder what it took to be a SOLDIER?" she walked inside and went up the elevator to the new head scientists office.
"Who are you?" Norman Osimmier asked.
Mecha blinked and replied, "The sister of the only one you couldn't wean off of Mako..." Norman looked up from the tube of Mako he was looking at.
"Well I'll be a beach plug! Mecha where have you been!" Mecha shrugged.
"Around... I need a favor.." Norman removed his glasses revealing a pair of soft amethyst. His gray hair was short and spiky. He wore a nice long-sleeved light blue business shirt with a midnight blue tie under his labcoat. His black slacks framed brown loafers. Mecha blinked at the man who had spent several years taking care of her.
"What's the favor?"
She looked down as she replied, "I need an injection..."
"What!" Norman shouted. His shout was heard all the way to the bottom level of the Shinra building.
"I need the injection..."
"You know I can't give you the injection without authorization from Cloud!" Mecha looked at Norman.
"Cloud cannot know... he doesn't even know where I am..." she looked out the only window in the lab. "The Jeno are fusing with me now... I need to get the injections in order to survive them..."
"They've started fusing with you!" Mecha nodded. "That must mean-!"
"I'm 20. My birthday isn't much farther away..." Norman walked to Mecha and lay his hand on her shoulder.
"I'm sorry..." Mecha gently pushed his hand away.
"I need to become stronger... to fight Jenova... Hojo... he ruined my chances..."
"I'll tell you what Mecha," he began, "you work under me and I'll give you what injections you need. I won't log them, so you must accept the risks... if I'm caught during this process I could be in grave danger."
"I will protect you... you saved my life not once, but many times..." she looked up. "We must disguise me..." Norman nodded and handed her a pair of contacts to make her eyes purple in color. She put them in and he gave her a labcoat and a pair of glasses. She moved her cloth to become a headband and hid her cloak in the closet. She became a lab technician in seconds. Norman led her to a mirror and she tied her hair in a bun with the pink ribbon of Aeris's. she pulled wisps of hair out and smirked.
"Perfect. Now you are a lab technician. Now for a name tag. What will you be called?"
"Call me Ashe."
"You need a last name too."
"Hmm... how about Colur."
"Ashe Colur. I like it."
He took Mecha downstairs and got her a job underneath him as his assistant. She told him about Sephiroth's want for the files Hojo had before.
"You can handle the files Ashe.." she nodded and moved to the file cabinet as Sephiroth walked in.
"Which one of you two is Norman Osimmier?" Norman looked at Sephiroth over his glasses.
"What do you need?"
"I would like access to Hojo's files."
"You have to speak to my assistant Ashe." He pointed at Mecha who was digging in the file cabinet. Sephiroth walked to her. She was grumbling in a rather rude manner at the cabinet, as she couldn't reach the files she wanted.
"Would you like some help?" she jumped and almost fell to the floor, but Sephiroth caught her. She blushed.
"Um why yes. Could you reach the Jenova files for me?" he blinked at Mecha's interest for the Jenova files. He set her upright again and reached to the files she wanted easily. He put them in her hands and didn't let go.
"Why did you want these?" She looked up at him.
"Research..." that caused him to grin.
"Don't go insane." She blinked remembering she had told him that not too long ago.
"Didn't you want to look at them as well?" he nodded. "Maybe we can look together... but I have to organize them first. Come back tomorrow. I should be ready to read them over with you by then." Sephiroth nodded and let go of the files. Soon he left.
"He seems rather nice," Norman observed. Mecha looked up at Norman from where she was.
"He's in love with someone..." Norman looked at her as she looked back down. She pushed up the glasses and stared at the mess of papers in front of her. "That can change a man.."
"Who is he in love with?" Mecha looked up and removed the glasses. She sighed.
"He should say, not me... but I can tell you this girl loves him too... maybe not as strongly, but still..."
"Ashe?" she returned to the papers.
"Forget I said it..."
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Sephiroth walked from the building deep in thought. Ashe reminded him of Mecha, but he didn't know that it was Mecha.
'Mecha where are you... I'd rather work with you on those files instead of Ashe...'
(AHAHAHAHA! Mecha avoids you like the plague! She will go for Jared for sure! He's stronger! His offspring will be more to my liking!)
'More like more under your control. I've seen how he handles himself. The children won't have my or Mecha's fire to be free of you. That is why you fear us being one..'
(You are still easy to control!)
'I am not!' Jenova cackled in his head.
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"Are you sure you want the injections?" Mecha pushed up her sleeve.
"Yes, just be ready to run or catch me." Norman placed the needle on her arm and pushed it into her skin. She winced in pain and groaned a little. She felt pain lance through her as the Mako entered her bloodstream. Her groan turned into something forlorn as her eyes rolled up into her head. Her eyes closed and she fell after the needle left her skin. Norman dropped the syringe so he could catch the poor girl. He lay her back in the chair to let her rest, but didn't strap her down as Hojo used to do. He left and got a cool cloth to put on her head as she slept in the chair. She would soon awaken.
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"Owwwww..." Mecha reached a hand to her head as she sat up.
"Easy Mecha.." Norman said quietly.
"Ashe.."
"Sorry.. I forgot for a second." Mecha nodded.
"It's ok Norman. Thank you for helping me out." She got up from the chair despite Norman's command to stay down.
"Ashe please lay back down... you are not strong enough to stand yet." Mecha looked at him with purple eyes behind black rimmed glasses.
"You want to keep this hidden correct?" Norman nodded. "Well then let me back to working..." she moved staggeringly to the desk where the Jenova files rested in a messy heap.
"Ashe," Norman called to her. "I'm going home. Don't stay up too late. You are welcome to sleep in the bedroom." Mecha nodded and picked up a paper about Sephiroth. She vaguely heard the door close behind her as she began to read Hojo's scribble about his son.
3/27 15:52
Sephiroth has responded to the Mako testing. Now his reaction to the cells of Jenova are quite interesting. He died within hours of the initial injection, but revived in a matter of minutes. It was well past my wildest expectations. My son. A super SOLDIER for Shinra's army. He must undergo more testing! Several thousand cc's of both Jenova's cells and the Mako will round him up to about six times his strength of his small five year old body. I am very pleased with the testing my son has endured for the sake of –
It was cut off right there. The rest of the page had been torn off to prevent further reading. Mecha grinned to herself as she knew what Hojo had done with that page. He had found her reading it at the age of four. He strode to her and savagely ripped the page from her hands. In the process the page she was reading now was torn. He had hidden it in a vent where she couldn't reach. But now she could. She took off her glasses and labcoat, then proceeded to climb on top of the filing cabinet she was digging in earlier. She found it hard in the slacks and dress shoes she wore. She glared at the shoes and wished just the slightest that she were able to wear her boots again. She then remembered her tail was exposed and that made her easy to identify. She jumped off of the cabinet, threw on the labcoat, and climbed back up. She pulled on the vent to get it open as Sephiroth wandered in.
"You do maintenance too?" she pulled the vent free and toppled from the filing cabinet. Sephiroth raced towards her, but she crashed into the floor with the heavy vent cover in her hands. "What were you doing up there?"
"Looking for something?" she shoved the vent cover off and got up. She climbed back up, reached inside the vent, felt around, and pulled her hand back when she hit the stack of papers. "Didn't I tell you to come tomorrow?"
"I needed to talk to someone about something..."
"What's that?" she climbed down, papers in hand, and, as he replaced the vent cover, put on her glasses.
"I'm beginning to like this girl, but she keeps running from me."
"Do you know why she runs from you?"
"She has a reason she won't tell anyone..."
They talked for a while before Mecha said, "Could it be because she wants to protect you?"
"It could be, but why would she want to protect me?"
"From what I've- AGH!" Jenova lanced into her head cutting her off.
(You cannot seriously care about him!)
'I can! I can if I want!' she held her head in pain as Jenova screeched.
(He is a failure!)
'No! He's not!' Sephiroth placed a hand on Mecha's shoulder.
"Miss Ashe? Are you ok?" Sephiroth was pale faced at seeing someone in pain for some reason that wasn't obvious.
(I'll make you easy to find Mecha.)
"No..." came her reply to both.
(Yes I will!)
Mecha scrunched up her face in pain as Jenova began to twist parts inside of her.
(C'mon Mecha! I know you're fighting to keep the limit inside...)
Mecha doubled over and cried out.
(Let it go! Become the Jeno!)
"I will never!" Mecha screamed, snatching up the papers of the Jenova project and disappearing deeper into the lab. Sephiroth blinked. He was dumbfounded why Norman's assistant did this. He walked after her, his boots making clanging thumps on the metal grate of the floor. Jenova laughed in his head as he rounded the corner where Mecha was. She was shivering heavily and the devastated remains of a white labcoat, a length of cord, a broken pair of glasses, and a pair of black dress shoes were all that remained of Ashe. Her disguise. The rest of what she was wearing was torn leaving her with barely enough to cover herself. The shirt had been ripped by something, and the pants were in shreds.
"Mecha?" she turned her head to look at him from under her wild hair. He lay a hand on Mecha and a tentacle snaked around his hand and up his arm. It gently caressed his face and slid from his arm.
'So this was the surprise you talked about. How many more tentacles does she have?'
(The Jeno will keep coming and adding them to her body. Until I no longer need them. When-)
'You're in utter control of her body? I doubt that.' He picked Mecha up like a hero would carry a heroine in the movies.
"Put me down Sephiroth.." he looked down at Mecha.
"I have to get you out of here before they find out what you did to Ashe..."
"I'd take it with the valor bestowed upon me... besides," she freed herself of him and moved to the closet. She dug out her things and put them on. She then cut her purple eyed gaze at him, "I am Ashe.."
"You're Ashe? I told you how I felt without realizing it?" Mecha nodded.
"And I played the perfect nice stranger. Not knowing what your dilemmas were. Not understanding until you told just enough." Sephiroth grabbed her by the arms and faced her to him.
"Why?"
"I told you as Ashe. To protect you.. and the others."
"From what?" she blinked out the contacts.
"Why... myself and the Jeno..."
"But that isn't fair to us Mecha... we want so badly to help you."
"You can't. This is my chance to save someone. Besides. You're the only one who can track me. You're not helping me by chasing me alone... get the others. Find a way to kill Jenova before my twenty-first birthday. Then I can be free.." Sephiroth nodded.
"But Mecha how will I find you in the end after all is done?"
"You won't... I'll find you..." with that she freed herself and was gone.
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"Where do we start?" Sephiroth stared after the direction Mecha had gone.
"Why don't we start where I started," a voice said behind him. He turned to face Cloud and Tifa. Tifa was carrying a new baby boy. This caused Sephiroth to crack a smile.
"Sounds like a plan to me." Cloud walked over and clapped him on the back.
"Now. What Vincent has told me is that..." Cloud talked on and on about everything Vincent told him and how different Sephiroth was from the last time. He led Sephiroth to his house, where the others were waiting. Sephiroth told them what Mecha had said and they nodded.
"So she really was... is trying to protect us," Jared said.
"And she wants us to kill Jenova by her 21st birthday," Sephiroth stated.
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Mecha stared at the papers as Norman gave her yet another injection.
"Those monsters are dropping on you like flies now.."
"Yes I know.. after 3 more injections I can't come back.. I'm risking too much..." Norman nodded worried about the girl. He finished the injection and helped her to a tank to rest in. He had purposely filled it with the Cryo-Mako, his special formula for Mecha whenever she came for help. She slept there for hours, before awakening, much stronger this time, and disappearing. She soon found herself on top of the Shinra building staring at Cloud's house. She saw Sephiroth standing alone in the rectangle of light that was Cloud's front door.
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Sephiroth saw Mecha atop the Shinra building. He thought it was someone else at first, but the way she sat there gave it away. That and a short appendage waving behind her. She raised her hand and disappeared out of his sight again. He walked a little farther into the darkness as she disappeared.
"Mecha," he said almost inaudibly. The others didn't hear what he had said and left him to his inclinations.
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Hours later, Mecha stopped next to the ocean. A frozen block of ice was floating in the ocean. A small grin spread across her face. It would take the group weeks to catch her as they weren't agile enough to make the leap. Maybe Sephiroth was, but the others would keep him in sight. She backed up and made a running leap towards the block of ice. She landed on the edge and it began to tilt. She scrambled upwards to stay on, but it tilted even more. She gritted her teeth and clamped her fingers into the freezing cold ice. She lost all feeling as she climbed up and let the ice tilt back to being flat. She panted as she let the ice drift north towards Bone Village.
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She pulled herself ashore near Bone Village. She flopped on her back and lay there to rest.
"Damn... what a rush.." the ice block had melted several miles offshore and she had to swim the rest of the way. She stood up and walked through the woods near Bone Village. The people looked at her strangely as she entered the town. She paid them no mind as she moved to the ladder and climbed it. She was about to walk into the sleeping forest when the foreman stopped her. She looked at him blankly.
"No one has entered that forest for 24 years now." She shrugged and took another step. "I beg you stay out of that forest. It is holy ground now."
"Who deemed this place so holy I can't enter!" she glared at the man with her blue eye.
"Why the president of Midgar."
"Then tell him I had important business..." she turned from the man and walked into the first fringes of the forest.
"I can't do that."
"You can. Stop delaying my mission." She ignored anything else he said and moved farther into the forest.
"But only an ancient can find the way through there!" the excavation group cried. She turned slowly keeping her tail securely around her waist.
"What do you think I am?" that shut them up. "And it's Cetra... not ancient." With that she was gone from Bone Village.
She exited the sleeping forest with no problems, except for the creature at the end. A spiketar. It had sprung up after Sephiroth had been killed around twenty-five years before. She panted heavily her sword laying beside her while she leaned over to take a break. She sat down and dug in her pouch. She found it empty of all except an elixir, an X-potion, and a turbo ether. She would have to wait until she got to Icicle Inn to get more. She picked up the elixir and drained it, bringing herself to full health and MP. She leaned back against the cool rock and closed her eyes to rest them. Soon she had fallen asleep and was dreaming.
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Sephiroth and the crew waited in Fort Condor for news of Mecha walking by. They were soon brought news of the people seen walking by in the past month. A man had brought a book and scanned through it.
"Nope no black haired girls this month." The man shut the book and wandered off. Sephiroth was getting angry. He slammed his fist into the wall next to him cracking the rock.
"This is the fourth town we've checked for her!" he put a hand on his forehead and pushed back his hair.
"There could be millions of places to look Sephiroth," Jared replied. Sephiroth cut the most evil look at Jared.
"We've got two months to find her... if you want to slack off go ahead!" he yelled in the boy's face. Cloud and Cid pulled him back.
"Hold on Sephiroth!" Nanaki interjected. "We will split up. You take your path and we are going to get Vincent." Sephiroth looked at the red creature and let them hold him.
"Sounds fine.." he grumbled. Cloud and Cid soon released him and they left for Junon.