Author's Note: At last, another update. This is a pivotal chapter in the story. And yes, I have taken some creative license with some events of the game's original story. This is fanfiction, after all; I promise I've done a decent job. I wouldn't like butchering this wonderful game's story either, so I have no reason to do so. Please review, and enjoy! Much love to you all.
Chapter 16: Trail of BloodAphrodite frowned at her cards, glancing shiftily from her hand to the pile of cards on the cheap wood table.
Elena raised her brows. "Nothing higher than King?" The three other Shinra employees they had been playing with watched Aphrodite expectantly. Two of them were secretaries who had temporarily abandoned their desks to play with the two Turks, and the other was a middle manager in a burgundy suit.
She looked up at them and shook her head meekly.
With a grin, Elena slammed her last card—an Ace—onto the pile and giggled, her hazel eyes bright. "Well, I'm the servant. Looks like you're the slut, 'Dite!"
"I hate this game!" she cried, throwing her pathetic hand of cards (consisting of primarily 3's, 6's, and 7's) on the table in frustration. "Let's play Spit. I am so much better at that game."
The Shin-Ra manager began to rise, and Elena opened her mouth to speak, but the P.A. halted them both, crackling to life.
"Attention, all Shin-Ra employees and visitors. This is President Shin-Ra. You no longer need to worry. AVALANCHE has been captured by the Turks and jailed on the 67th floor, as well as the two specimens that escaped from the laboratory…"
Aphrodite's eyes widened. Two specimens?
"Wow!" Elena's eyes were huge, and the two women, as well as the other employees, exchanged glances. "Looks like we don't have to worry about terrorists on the loose anymore!"
The Shin-Ra manager looked contemplative for a few seconds, and noticed Aphrodite's surprised expression. "That must have been them on the train… Those rowdy hooligans!"
She gave him an inquiring look.
In reply, the manager said, "I found a group of suspicious-looking folks on the train a few days ago, after the Sector 1 Reactor exploded; that giant black man would have pummeled me if it weren't for the buxom brunette who came to my rescue!"
Aphrodite furrowed her brows; his description of two of those people struck a familiar chord within her. A large black man and a "buxom brunette"… Hadn't she met them by the specimens' elevator just a few hours ago…?
.-.-.-.-.-.
"Man, 'Dite, I'm tired…" The redhead rolled over in his bed and looked up at Aphrodite, yawning.
She smiled and ruffled his messy bangs, removing his dark glasses and setting them on the nightstand as she smoothed the sheets and sat on his bed. "How are you feeling?"
"My arm's killin' me…" said Reno, glancing at his right arm, the one that hung in a sling. "The nurse said it'll be fine in a week or two…said it wasn't that bad, but it hurts like hell. My leg won't heal until a few weeks or so pass.
"I'm so sorry it happened to you, Reno," Aphrodite's smile faded. She tucked a short curl behind her ear and brushed a fiery-red bang from his face. "I wish I could just take your pain away."
He sighed. "Nothing you can do, 'Dite."
His turquoise eyes wandered to the white sleeveless nightgown she wore, one Elena had let her borrow. It was a bit tight on Aphrodite, considering Elena was more petite than her, but it was better than walking around in underwear. "Your strap's slipping again." Reno reached out and brushed it back onto her shoulder, his rough fingers trailing along her dry, pale skin.
Aphrodite grinned sheepishly, blushing. "Thanks."
His hand remained on her shoulder, stroking it gently. He didn't seem to mind the desert-like dryness of her skin. "'Dite, I heard you singing once."
Her eyes blinked at the spontaneity of the remark, and then widened in slight embarrassment. She liked to sing often while doing things like cooking or working; could he have heard her then? Oh, Holy. How humiliating! "W-When?"
He furrowed his brow, as if trying to remember something. "A little over a week ago…when you were cooking that horrible macaroni and cheese."
Her own brows rose, and her eyes remained wide. That macaroni was disgusting! She really was a terrible cook. "You heard me?! How embarrassing…"
"But why? You have a pretty voice," murmured Reno. He coughed, removing his hand at her reaction. "Not so loud, 'Dite! The nurse'll come in and kick you out, and then you'd have to sleep in a broom closet or something."
"Sorry…"
Shaking his head, Reno was silent for a while. He then tilted his head towards her. "'Dite, I know this is gonna sound stupid, but…"
"But what, Reno?" Aphrodite cocked an eyebrow, concerned.
"Well…" He trailed off and closed his eyes for a moment. Then he reopened them and gazed into Aphrodite's own eyes. "Could you…sing me to sleep? I won't be able to fall asleep with this aching arm…"
Had Aphrodite been in a more playful mood, she would have laughed at him and called him a pansy, but in this case, she did not, for she knew that he was not in the best of states. However, she was still shy about singing, and lowered her eyes, brushing a curl behind her ear.
"Please?" he pouted, enlarging his eyes and puffing out his lower lip in a uncharacteristically childish, pleading way. He seemed to regress to an earlier stage of his life, looking like a small, deprived child who was afraid of monsters disturbing his slumber and wanted his mother or sister to help him fall asleep peacefully.
"Gah, the puppy face! I can hardly resist…" A small grin curled the corners of her lips, and she edged a little closer to the redhead. "Fine, but I'm not doing this again!"
Reno just smiled. It was a rare sight: the Turk smiling, not smirking and flipping his bangs suavely. Noticing how nice his true smile really was, Aphrodite silently decided he should show it more often.
The young woman cleared her throat. "Okay, here goes…" She reclined next to him, leaning on her arm, and took a deep breath.
"Good night, sleep tight; no more tears. In the morning, I'll be here…"
Reno's eyes were smiling with appreciation. He sighed sleepily, as if the calming melody soothed him.
"And when we say 'good night,' dry your eyes…"
He was smiling again, his face lighting up like a child being sung to by his mother.
"Because we said 'good night,' and not 'good bye'…"
His eyelids slowly drooped as Aphrodite's soft, unpretentious voice lulled him to sleep…
"We said 'good night,' and not 'good bye'…"
Her plain, gentle voice faded into the tides of slumber as the lullaby ended…
"Good night, Reno," whispered, Aphrodite, leaning closer.
And as he slept, Reno thought he felt a pair of lips brush his forehead with a tender goodnight kiss.
.-.-.-.-.-.
"Wake up, wake up…"
She tossed and turned in her bed, whimpering at the sinister voice urging her to awaken.
"It is time… We must do away with the man who tries to steal the Promised Land from Mother…"
"No…no…" grumbled Aphrodite, grasping her white sheets as if she'd disappear if she let go. "Leave me alone, Sephiroth… Let me be…"
The evil voice cackled in her head. "Aphrodite, it is absolutely essential that you wake up. Take my sword, the Masamune…"
She bit her lip, squeezing her eyes shut. "Leave me alone!" She covered her ears, trying to ignore Sephiroth's voice. "I don't want to kill anyone!"
"So be it! If you will not rise to fulfill your duties, then I shall wake you myself!"
Aphrodite was numb; she began to lose her sense of self, and felt another soul invade her body. She tried to fight it off, but again, she proved herself to be the weak person that she was. The viral being took over her mind and body, and she lost herself.
Sephiroth had possessed her.
She opened her eyes and sat up, suddenly cold. She had nothing to shield her from this outer and inner frigidity except for Elena's nightgown.
The infirmary was dark, drafty, and silent.
Aphrodite stared emptily at the redhead sleeping on the bed adjacent to hers. His flat belly rose and fell with each deep breath, and his pale face was relaxed in his peaceful slumber.
She tried to remember that he slept so peacefully because she had sung him to sleep, but the sinister voice of this cackling being boomed in her mind, and consumed all thought.
"Forget him… He distracts you from your mission."
Aphrodite bit her lip, sliding out of her bed and rising.
"Hold out your hand and take the sword…"
She obeyed, and a katana of over 5 feet in length appeared in her left-hand. She stared at the sword emptily, gripping the hilt.
"Leave this room, girl, leave…"
She had no choice. Her bare feet shuffled as if they had minds of their own, and the mindless Aphrodite crept out of the infirmary, no longer watching the sleeping Reno.
Her slippers made soft patting sounds as Sephiroth forced Aphrodite to walk down a hall of the 67th floor. In her left hand, the Masamune scraped the stiff, freezing air.
"Sephiroth," in her mind, she tried to call out to the viral being possessing her, "Why must you use me?"
"Because you are the only remaining Cetra bound eternally to Mother and I," hissed Sephiroth's voice. "Why, you're just another of my clones. I could easily use any clone I wanted, but you're special. You have been searching for the Promised Land ever since you were born, and since you are bound to us—unlike your brother and the flower girl—your soul will guide us to the paradise we have sought for so many years…"
Aphrodite unconsciously ground her teeth.
"See that guard down the hall?" said the voice suddenly, changing the subject and seeming to assume that the discussion was over and she now agreed to her duties. "Kill him."
Her eyes focused on the guard in red who watched over the jail cells, and her feet pushed her down the hallway. The guard stood at the corner, his body turned away from Aphrodite and towards the jail cells.
"Now's your chance… Kill him! Now!"
Aphrodite bit her lip and gripped the sword with both hands, raising the Masamune just a yard or two away from the guard. Her hands shook. No…
Suddenly the guard swiveled around and stared at her in horror, his eyes the size of saucers. "What are you—"
He never finished his question, for Aphrodite thrust the Masamune deep into the guard's chest.
The possessed Aphrodite pulled the sword effortlessly from his chest as the shocked and bleeding man stumbled backwards. She stared at the guard emptily, watching him fall to his knees, then slump forward, flat on his face.
He was dead.
"Well done, Aphrodite, well done…" Sephiroth's nonchalant voice congratulated her. "Do me a favor and unlock the second door to your right."
Aphrodite had no choice but to obey. She kicked the guard's corpse aside and stopped in front of the second cell door. She raised a hand, and the mechanical door glowed crimson, sliding open.
She stared down at the cell's two occupants, but her mindless eyes could not recognize Tifa snoozing on the bed and Cloud snoring softly in the corner.
"Now, Aphrodite, Leave these vermin. Go back down this hallway and turn the corner. Mother awaits us in the laboratory…"
Aphrodite stood, dumbfounded for a moment. Her pupils dilated. Mother… Jenova… "Yes, Mother… Mother wants to be freed. Mother must be freed…"
Who were these words coming from? Her voice… it didn't sound like her voice. Somehow she heard a man in her voice… Sephiroth?
As the possessed young woman trudged through the corridors, she looked to her left and her eyes fell upon a tall mirror on the wall. But the reflection, the person who looked back at her in the mirror, was not Aphrodite.
It was a tall, silver-haired, and green-eyed man in a black cloak, holding the Masamune treacherously in one hand.
-.-.-.-.-.-
Gripping a bleeding Masamune, the clone arrived at the 67th floor laboratory. Aphrodite looked behind her to see a bright crimson trail of blood. The mark of murder…
The mark of a possessed clone.
"Mother…" whispered the woman, once again hearing Sephiroth's voice instead of her own as she crept to the tank where Jenova was stored. She placed a hand on the door, staring blankly at the window that filtered a flowing lavender light, trailing her blood-stained fingers on the glass…
"Open the door! Free our mother at last!"
Aphrodite's fingers trembled violently as she pointed at the bolts that secured the door. The iron bolts fell out, one by one, onto the floor, clanging against the tile.
At last, the door opened, and the blinding purple light exploded in Aphrodite's face.
"Oh, Mother," whispered Sephiroth in her mind. "At long last, she is free! And now we shall gather the rest of the mindless clones for your Reunion…"
Aphrodite covered her eyes, the Masamune falling from her hand and clashing against the floor. The clanging of its steel echoed in her head. She couldn't bear to look at the evil creature that came before her, like a divine apparition ready to welcome her into paradise…
-.-.-.-.-.-
"There he sits, Aphrodite!"
She lingered in the bloodied stairway, watching the man working at his desk on the 70th floor. Aphrodite gripped the Masamune lifelessly as Sephiroth spoon-fed her instructions.
"Aphrodite, he plans to take the Promised Land away from us, and I cannot allow that… The Promised Land belongs to Mother and I. He must be dealt with immediately…"
She stared back at the working man ahead, her lips parted. "I must do away with the thief…" She did not recognize her whispering voice.
"There, that's a girl…"
Her nightgown swayed gently as her feet carried her to the 70th floor, and she watched the oblivious man working at his desk.
Absolute silence.
"Go, go in for the kill! Teleport behind him…"
Aphrodite didn't know she could do it, but the supernatural power from within awakened. She vanished and reappeared behind the fat man.
Standing behind him and his desk, her hands gripped the Masamune again, and she held it up above the President ominously, ready to strike…
She froze.
What the hell am I doing?!
"What are you doing, child? Go! Impale him!"
Now it was no longer just Sephiroth's voice, but both his and Jenova's.
"No, my child! More murder?!"
Another voice broke through the din of her evil masters, an ironically calm, soothing voice yelling in panic.
"P-Planet…" whispered Aphrodite, completely frozen in mid-attack. Sephiroth's hold on her began to weaken. "Sephiroth…Jenova…Mother…Planet…"
In the midst of her internal struggle, her target suddenly jumped, swiveling about the stare up at her.
"What the—!" exclaimed the King Vermin, his evil blue eyes wide in horror. "Sephiroth?!"
"Fool!" rasped the dual voice of Sephiroth and Jenova. "Kill him already! Ignore the foolish Planet!"
"No, my child!"
Aphrodite's blood boiled…with the cells of Jenova and the spirit of the Planet…of the Cetra… She could take no more.
"What are you—" The fat man was about to reach for the button to call security when Aphrodite kicked his rolling chair, spinning her target around.
"I won't let you have the Promised Land!" shrieked Aphrodite, in a voice not her own. The anger and fear and sorrow and frustration boiling up inside of her finally exploded and a blood-curdling scream echoed from her throughout the Shin-Ra building as Aphrodite Sorrows drove the Masamune into President Shin-Ra's back.
"Well done, my puppet!"
"No, no, my child… The Calamity and her son have stolen you from me…"
"I have no more need for you now, girl. You're risky business… Mother's own body will be more willing to do my bidding than your filthy one. Now I'll leave you here, soaked in blood!" The hell-bound voice cackled in her head. The Ancients wept in her heart, and the Planet mourned in her soul.
And suddenly the presences of Sephiroth and Jenova vanished, leaving Aphrodite alone with the manifestation of her sins.
The President of Shin-Ra, Inc. was dead.
Aphrodite blinked, her vision refocusing. "Where am I?" She could hardly distinguish the softness of her voice. She inclined her head, and froze at the sight of the President's corpse.
"Oh my God, oh my God…" Her voice shook, and so did her hands when she held them up to herself.
Blood…
She looked down at herself to see fresh blood staining her nightgown, just like the white carnation she had once worn, the one that had turned to red from her blood.
Nothing could describe the horror on Aphrodite's face. Her skin was deathly pale, save for her bleeding funeral flowers, and her Mako-tinted eyes were no longer empty, but full of terror. Her hands shook violently and she stared in revulsion at herself, then at the red-suited corpse.
"I… I killed… the P-President… the President of Shin-Ra…Inc…" her meek voice quavered. The power, strength, and evil it contained when Sephiroth possessed her were gone. She could not stop shaking. "Murderer…"
What if someone was watching? Was the surveillance camera working? She had no idea, but she had to get out of here…fast.
Aphrodite hardly noticed her heavy weeping and sobbing as she left the dead President at his desk, breaking into a mad dash out of the 70th floor.
She ran and ran down flights and flights of stairs, crying the whole way. She didn't know where she was going, but she continued to sprint through corridors and staircases, the slap of her blood-stained feet against the cold floor and the wild rustling of her bloody nightgown echoing off the walls.
The voices resonated within her mind, leaving a deep scar… Sephiroth and Jenova… the Planet… the Ancients…
Aphrodite escaped into a facility that doubled as both a locker room and a laundry room on a floor she did not know the number of. Biting her lip, she peeled off her nightgown and underwear, tossing the bloody articles of clothing into a nearby washing machine. She mashed random buttons on the panel, added detergent and bleach, and left the machine to churn and clean her clothes as she dove into a shower.
Her whole body trembled as she yanked on the hot water switch and reached for the soap, the stench of blood and death emanating from her bare, filthy figure. "Oh, Planet… How could I have… gone against you again…?" She sobbed as she scrubbed and the hot, steamy water poured on her, cleansing Aphrodite of her blights and melding with her tears.
The drops of water would wash away her outer stains, the evidence of her crime...but they would never cleanse Aphrodite of the evils and scars, of her inner demons… Never.