Chapter4
Cloud had decided to go and visit his other friend Barret Wallace, whom he hadn't known for as long as Tifa, but the two of them got along well. Barret let the blonde man into his house and the two caught up on what they had been doing lately, but Cloud mentioned nothing of the most recent events. Barret told him about what he and his daughter Marlene had been doing, and it sounded like they'd had fun. Cloud, on the other hand, didn't have as much to tell, but he said that Tifa was doing fine.
"Well that's jes' great. Least Tifa's alright." Barret was about to say more, but he noticed that Cloud wasn't really paying attention. "Yo, somethin' on yer mind, Cloud?"
The blonde man hesitated. "Yeah." Barret prompted him to tell what it was. "Just.. don't tell Tifa. She's not keen on this at all." Cloud went on to explain the recent events, all about the Shinra finding that Sephiroth was still alive, that he had no memory of anything he'd done, and that there could be a chance someone could make him remember anything and that the Meteor incident could happen all over again. He also mentioned the arrangements that Reno had made.
"Damn! Ya better hope them Turks can keep it under wraps. I don't trust 'em, but it looks like that's all we got. An' you make sure that Sephiroth don't go down that road again." Barret pointed at Cloud as he spoke.
"I'm not sure, Barret. He'll mention stuff to me and it'll bring back stuff I don't want to remember. Sometimes I think we're in the same boat here." Cloud sighed. "I came here not just to see you, but to think about some other things as well."
"Yeah, no prob. Take yer time. S'pose we don't 'ave ta worry too much." Barret sat Cloud down on a chair, then he pulled up another chair and sat opposite him. "If it's any help at all, ya can tell me."
Meanwhile, back at the Gamma Building, Sephiroth was just finished with eating a sandwich and was about to put the plate in the sink when he heard a noise that sounded like breaking glass. It was nearby, and as he scanned the room, he saw nothing.
"What the hell was that?" called a voice behind him, "Maybe we should go somewhere else!" Sephiroth looked behind him and noticed that Reno was there, his eyes narrowed in anger. "Did you hear that, Sephiroth? I think someone's up to no good!"
Something impacted the window pane near to where the silver-haired man was standing, shattering it and blowing shards of glass inwards. Sephiroth instinctively covered his head and dropped to the floor as the shards rained on both him and the floor. Reno pulled the jacket of his suit up against his face and ducked.
"What was that?" Reno brushed off a few stray pieces of glass and looked out of the broken window. Sephiroth got up off the floor and brushed himself down, picking out a few shards from his hair. There was a crackle coming from a large speaker on the wall beside the door.
"Reno! Reno, you there?" It was Rude speaking over the intercom system. Reno hurried over to the speaker and pressed the button to speak.
"Copy that, Rude. What's going on? We've got a smashed window up here."
The intercom speaker crackled again. "Looks like two guys are trying to break in. Five guards have already been taken out, three of them injured, one fatality. We need to-" Rude's voice was cut off by a loud crackling.
Reno felt his heart pounding. "Rude! What do those guys look like?" The only response he received was a loud crackling. "Rude, please respond."
The intercom still crackled, but Reno could make out a few words. "Black leather... silver hair... ...green... cat-like eyes..." The redheaded Turk panicked. Cloud was right - they had been followed. And the man he'd had contact with back at Shinra HQ... he matched Rude's description of the assailants. Was he involved as well?
"Wait, that sounds like..." Reno paused. "Rude! Keep your guard up! I think that those guys are the ones who are trying to make the Meteor incident happen again!"
"Reno... we need to- Ugh!" Reno heard a sickening crack over the intercom. His heart thudded in his chest.
"What's going on? What's happening?" Sephiroth asked from behind him.
Reno took a few deep breaths before he spoke. "Looks like there are some people coming after you." He took hold of Sephiroth's wrist. "We have to get out of here." The silver-haired man hesitated and tried to pull away. "Now!" Reno opened the door with his free hand and yanked Sephiroth out.
"What do they want with me?" The silver-haired man raised an eyebrow. Before Reno could answer, distant shouts could be heard. No distinct voices could be made out. They were about to head away from the room when Reno's PHS rang. He quickly answered it.
"I know it's you, Reno. I know you're trying to stop Sephiroth from fulfilling Mother's doctrine. If I were you, I'd give up. You won't succeed, because we will stop you." The redheaded Turk recognised the voice. It was the man who had been at Shinra HQ earlier. He was about to protest, but the line had gone dead. His heart began to thud again.
Sephiroth was about to repeat his question, but Reno held up his hand. "They want to convince you to do terrible things. We have to get the hell out of here." The two men headed for a flight of stairs leading down and hurried as quickly as they can. Whilst they made their escape, Reno was frantically punching in what he thought was Cloud's frequency on his PHS. He pressed the call button and waited.
"C'mon Cloud, pick up..."
Cloud had just finished talking to Barret about what was on his mind when he heard a dreadful ringing sound. He checked his PHS but it wasn't ringing. Barret pulled out his own PHS and saw it was his that was ringing. He answered it after four rings.
"Barret Wallace. The hell do ya want?" Barret heard Reno's voice over the other end, apologising frantically since he'd entered the wrong PHS frequency. "Never mind, Cloud's wi' me right now. I'll pass ya over." He handed the PHS to Cloud. "S'Reno on the line. Seems urgent."
Cloud took the PHS from Barret and asked what was going on. Reno explained everything as quickly as he could, and asked if the blonde man could come as soon as possible. Cloud said he would and ended the call, handing the PHS back to Barret.
"Gotta run. Reno needs help." Cloud stood up and hurried towards the front door, leaving before Barret could say goodbye to him. He jumped on his motorcycle, started the engine and sped off in the direction of the Gamma Building.
The speed limit on the roads didn't matter to Cloud. He kept the rev counter firmly in the red, not caring that he was doing over 100mph on a 30mph speed limit road. He had to get there as fast as he could, no matter what the cost. He'd rather have a temporary driving ban than have to stop Meteor all over again.
The moment he was outside the Gamma Building, he slowed down quickly before he slammed the foot-brake on and felt himself jolt forward from the sudden stop. There was no sign of Reno and Sephiroth. He left the engine ticking over whilst he jumped off the motorcycle and headed inside. Perhaps this was a bad idea. He heard the unknown voice's threats replaying themselves in his mind. The blonde man hurried up one flight of stairs when he heard a loud click behind him.
"You again, Strife? I gave you a chance, and look what you've done." Cloud heard a tutting sound before he felt something cold and metal press against the back of his head. "I should just kill you now."
Cloud's hand closed over the hilt of his Buster Sword. "I won't let you!" He whirled round and drew the weapon, swinging it downwards. There was a loud clang as it clashed with another weapon – a gunblade. He pushed forward to try and topple the wielder, but they didn't budge.
"Reno and Sephiroth won't make it far. My friend is already after them." The owner of the voice came out of the shadows and Cloud noticed he was dressed in skin-tight black leather. He had green cat-like eyes and silver hair that came almost to his shoulders. His side fringe hung over one eye. He aimed the gunblade at the blonde man, and Cloud rolled out of the way just in time as the shot discharged.
"It's no use trying to go after them, Strife! You won't make it!" the man called, but Cloud was already rushing up the stairs, not wanting to be delayed any longer. He quickly called Reno's PHS as he went up.
"I'm on my way!" he shouted as Reno answered. He ended the call and kept going up the stairs. On the way he noticed the man he had seen going out of Shinra HQ some time ago heading in the same direction. This wouldn't bode well if he got to Reno and Sephiroth before Cloud did. The blonde man picked up speed and caught up to the other man, swinging the hilt of his sword at him, knocking him out.
"Cloud! Where are you?" The shout was faint to the blonde man, but he recognised that it was Reno. He picked up speed again.
"On my way, Reno! Hurry!" Cloud reached a small corridor after another flight of stairs, and he stopped a moment to catch his breath. It probably wasn't a good idea to stop, since he felt his legs starting to ache. He wiped a few beads of sweat off his forehead just as he heard two sets of footsteps bounding towards him. Cloud looked up and noticed Reno and Sephiroth running over. They stopped to catch their breath.
"My motorbike's outside. I'll take Sephiroth from here." Cloud paused for breath. "Reno, you let Elena and Rude know." The redheaded Turk nodded whilst Cloud took hold of Sephiroth's wrist and began to lead him back down the way the blonde man had come alone.
The two bounded down the stairs as quickly as they could manage, just short of stumbling. Several times Cloud complained of the lack of elevators. Just as they rounded a corner on the staircase, the blonde man saw the other silver-haired man with the gunblade he had eluded before.
"If you have any sense, Strife, you'll let me take Sephiroth from here." He motioned with the gunblade.
"If you want him, you'll have to go through me." Cloud spat, readying his Buster Sword. At the same time, Sephiroth withdrew his katana.
"I may not know quite who I am, but I can remember a few sword moves." Cloud turned around and shook his head, but Sephiroth would not back down. He shoved Cloud into the wall and charged at the other silver-haired man, weapons clashing with a loud reverberating clang. The force behind the blow caused the assailant to topple down the stairs, and Sephiroth only just backed up in time. Cloud groaned and rubbed his shoulder where it had impacted the wall.
"That would've only slowed him down! Let's keep going!" Cloud ignored the pain and pulled Sephiroth down the stairs, and the two kept running. They heard footsteps coming up towards them. Cloud halted quickly, but Sephiroth accidentally pushed him as he stopped, causing the blonde man to overbalance. He made a frantic scrabble for the wall in an attempt to keep himself upright, but he ended up tumbling down the stairs. Sephiroth hurried after him.
"Had a nice trip, Strife?" Cloud knew who it was. He was almost on his feet before Sephiroth pushed past him, knocking him down again. He groaned and pushed himself to his feet, looking across at the man in the Black Cape. He was only just aware of the gunblade aimed at his head.
"Go!" Cloud ordered, pushing Sephiroth in the direction of a downwards flight of stairs. Several shots rang out, one ricocheting off the wall, one blasting a hole in a stair. The blonde man kept Sephiroth in front of him and took a backwards glance to see where the man wielding the gunblade was. He was too close. Cloud was about to run back to knock him out, but the other man fired a shot from the gunblade that impacted Cloud in the shoulder. He gritted his teeth to hold back the cry of pain. His Buster Sword seemed too heavy to wield, so he put it away, clamped his free hand to his shoulder and hurried back downstairs.
Sephiroth had stopped a few floors down when he realised that he and Cloud had been separated. He looked across at the upwards flight of stairs and saw that Cloud was half-running, half-stumbling down, his hand covering his shoulder. There was blood running down his hand and his arm. He asked about what happened, but Cloud shook his head and told him to keep going.
"You know how to ride a motorbike, Sephiroth?" Cloud asked just as they reached the front door of the Gamma Building. The man in the Black Cape shook his head. "Right, well you're just gonna have to learn as we go. My shoulder hurts too much, I can't ride it properly." They hurried outside and made for Cloud's motorcycle. The engine was still ticking over, just as the blonde man had left it. As quickly as they could, they jumped on the bike, Sephiroth at the front, Cloud holding on behind him. The blonde man quickly shouted some instructions and the motorcycle sped away. The other silver-haired man had just got outside and was firing off a few shots with his gunblade. The men on the motorcycle instinctively ducked.
"Where are we going?" Sephiroth asked as he looked around as much as he could whilst he kept his eyes on the road.
"Go that way!" Cloud ordered, pointing to a right-hand turn. The man in the Black Cape complied, but the motorcycle leaned dangerously over, almost throwing the two to the pavement. They heard another motorcycle engine behind them. The blonde man took a quick glance behind and saw that the silver-haired man with the gunblade was keeping up the chase.
"We have to lose him! That guy's still chasing!" The blonde man directed Sephiroth to take a left. Several gunshots whined past them.
"Which way now?" Cloud told him to take a sharp left. More gunshots. One ricocheted off the motorcycle, almost hitting the blonde man in the backside. He shouted a few more directions, but the pursuer was relentless. The two had to duck as several more shots whined over their heads, and they almost crashed into a car going the other way. Luckily Sephiroth had managed to swerve out of the way in time, but the motorcycle skidded to a halt. Cloud shouted frantically to get them moving again, but the engine had cut out. The blonde man looked over the other man's shoulder at the motorcycle's gauges and noticed the fuel gauge was empty. Damn,whydidIleavetheenginerunningearlier, he thought.
There was a screeching of brakes and the sound of an engine being turned off. Cloud and Sephiroth looked towards where the sound had come from and noticed that it was the one who had been pursuing them. His gunblade was aimed at the blonde man.
"Back away from him, Strife." Cloud stood firm and his hand closed over the hilt of his Buster Sword. "I said backawayfromhim!" The blonde man still stood firm. He noticed Sephiroth drawing his weapon and quickly stopped him. He thrust a piece of paper into his hand.
"Sephiroth, I need you to go to the place on that paper." The man in the Black Cape opened the paper and read the address silently. He put it away and was about to draw his weapon again, but he was stopped once more. Cloud pushed him in the direction away from the man with the gunblade.
"What are you-" Sephiroth began, but Cloud shushed him.
"Saving your life. Go!" The blonde man drew his Buster Sword but had to rest it against the ground for a moment when his injured shoulder sent a pang of pain through him. The man in the Black Cape was hesitating. "Go!" Cloud made a gesture with his head before taking his sword in both hands. Sephiroth took one, two, three steps back before turning around and beginning to run from the scene, heading towards the address he had been given.
"A very brave action... very brave indeed. Unfortunately you're just delaying the inevitable, Strife. No matter what you do, and how you do it, you can't stop Mother's resurrection."
Meanwhile, a few streets down, Sephiroth was still heading towards the address that Cloud had instructed him to go to. To him, it seemed like he'd been running forever. He noticed that as he got close to people, they cowered as he approached, fleeing as he got closer. He didn't fully understand why though; none of the few patchy memories he had seemed to yield any reason.
"You!" screamed a voice behind him. "You destroyed everything I cared about!" He turned around just in time to be struck across the side of his face, his head snapping to the side. The voice seemed vaguely familiar, but he couldn't quite remember...
"What are you doi-" he began, but he was struck again.
"You bastard!Don't even try to deny it!" Sephiroth blinked rapidly and focused on the owner of the voice. Her face was familiar, but her eyes even more so. "You burned down my home... you killed my friends... you murdered Papa!" Memories flooded back into his mind – the fateful Nibelheim incident, five and a half years ago. A simple investigation that had gone horribly wrong. He'd found out more about his own past then... and how the knowledge had changed him was terrifying to behold. He'd changed so suddenly... so quickly... so drastically. And there, amidst it all, the woman who was confronting him... her eyes burning with the same promise of revenge now as he had seen all that time ago. He saw how he wrestled with her back then, how he dealt her a wound that could have ended her life. Whether it was who he really was... that was a question that could be answered later. He couldn't deny that this had all happened, and she had every right to be angry with him.
"The only reason I haven't killed you yet is because Cloud told me that no amount of bloodshed can bring Papa back..." Her voice was choked up, and Sephiroth wasn't sure how to react. Too much information at once. None of it making much sense. He let out a sigh.
"I don't deny anything about what you've said." She looked up at him, their eyes meeting for a brief second before his gaze turned away from her. "But this... is this... me? Is this who I really am?" She tried to get him to look at her again, and as she did so and their eyes met once more, her name came to mind. "Tifa... who... who am I really?"
Tifa wasn't sure whether to feel angry at him or sorry for him. "I-I... whenever I look at you, I see... I see my home burning... and you... you looking up before... leaving... as if you didn't care..." Her anger came back to her. "And you never cared, did you?"
Sephiroth quickly turned away. "I should go. I promised Cloud I'd meet him somewhere." He began to walk away, but Tifa ran up to him and grabbed hold of his wrist, pulling him back a little.
"You stay away from Cloud... you're not taking away the only friend I have left from my childhood..."
The man in the Black Cape shook his head. "I'm not. He says he's trying to save my life, and Reno said that it was to stop people from convincing me to do terrible things..."
Tifa snorted at his explanation, but she let go of him and allowed him to go on. "If I find that Cloud has so much as a scratch on him, I'm holding you personally responsible. Now get out of my sight." The man in the Black Cape said nothing and went on his way.