Disclaimer: The Final Fantasy VII Compilation belongs rightfully to Square-Enix. This amateur effort at fan-based fiction is in no way making profit off of the licensed characters described therein, nor is it associating any new original characters to Square-Enix either.
Chapter Five
Ment was arguing with her. They always bucked horns, never seeing eye-to-eye, Sephiroth noticed. Perhaps it was a rivalry, a battle of wills between the veteran scholar and the young, ambitious historian that was named project leader instead of the seasoned Ment? Sephiroth had seemed to discern just as much from some of Ment's mannerisms. However, this was no mere dispute about whether or not the diggers should be allowed to trade shifts. Their unyielding wills were coming close to an ultimate, and probably ugly clash.
"Enough is enough, I say. We've already lost enough good people on this cursed trip." Ment met Dahlia's glare without backing down or relenting to her stubbornness. Sephiroth knew first hand that would get the man nowhere.
"We're not leaving," she maintained. "There's still too much to do."
"Don't you care, Dahlia!?" This time it came from Myrna, who stood closest to the dead Genesis copy. Sephiroth had yet to inform his ex-wife that it was not the real Genesis Rhapsodos, as he had only just entered the Loveless Room as they began arguing.
"Of course I do-,"
"No! I mean about us, your team!" Myrna Wallace, even at her full height seemed to grow small with the growing despair. "All you've done is demand results, and as our friends drop dead like flies around us, all you can think about is that stupid Keystone!"
Dahlia opened her mouth to bark back, but Ment put up a hand.
"She's right. I understand what it is to be passionate about the work, about the history… but Dahlia, this is bordering on obsession!" Pointing at her face, Ment added, "Have you looked at yourself lately? You don't sleep more than two or three hours a night, hell knows when you last ate, and even with Sephiroth here, the Sephiroth, you don't seem to understand how serious and dangerous this has all gotten."
"Serious?!" Dahlia cried. Stomping towards the copy, she pointed at the would-be Genesis. "I knew this man! He came here for some reason and died for it! I think that I'm obligated to find out what it is about this place that has made that happen to him!"
Myrna crossed her arms over her chest, hazel eyes narrowing skeptically. "You knew Genesis Rhapsodos." Dahlia scowled at the disbelieving tone. "Genesis, the SOLDIER First Class."
"That isn't Genesis Rhapsodos."
The three of them turned to Sephiroth in shock, finally realizing that he had been with them in the room all along. He walked past Myrna and Dahlia, kneeling before the copy. Like the ones he found back in Wutai, the copy shared Genesis' same features, but this time Sephiroth found himself surprised to see that the clone's hair had been grayed and his face sallow. A ridiculous theory came to his mind; that Genesis' copy had died of old age rather than by the curses and traps laid out in the tomb. He shook that thought immediately.
"So who is he?" asked Myrna, and he could sense that she was feeling secretly satisfied about doubting Dahlia's claimed acquaintance with Genesis.
"That's classified information," Sephiroth said immediately, "reserved only for designated SOLDIER personnel and specially ranked members of the company."
Ment threw up his arms in exasperation. "See? This is bigger than us now. Now the company is going to want in. Didn't I tell you this was all about the Wutaians or something? I knew it the moment Sephiroth first stepped foot here."
Dahlia rolled her eyes up towards the ceiling. "Not everything has to be a conspiracy theory, Ment."
"We walked into more than just a set of Cetran booby traps," Ment claimed. "Wutai wants what's down here, I'm telling you!"
Before she could open her mouth, Sephiroth stood, cutting off any further bickering between them. "That is for the corporation to conclude, not you. From now on this site will be cut off from any of your personnel while Shin-Ra conducts further investigation."
"What!?" Dahlia burst out, just short of screaming her head off at him. "Sephiroth, you can't just-,"
She froze upon receiving the full force of his glare. "The expedition will be postponed until further notice. Now we will return to the campsite to prepare for the return to Cosmo Canyon while I call in for the necessary people."
Myrna sighed in relief. "Thought you would never say it! Thank goodness!"
Ment began to follow her out of the Loveless Room. "Can't thank you enough m'boy. Finally, someone with enough guts to put her in her place."
Guts have nothing to do with it, Sephiroth thought petulantly. You'd have to have lived with her.
As he expected, Dahlia went off on him the moment they were alone in the Loveless Room. "Well, you win Sephiroth. I hope you're happy now. Why don't you just spend the rest of the time trying to completely ruin my career while you continue to ignore the friends that need you?!"
"Don't start with me, Dahlia!" he barked at her.
"You started with me!" she retorted. "Like always! Here I thought it was over years ago, that we could just leave one another to our own devices and never even have to contemplate the thought of each other ever again, but as usual you prove me wrong. You win the round, and yet it's never enough. You always have to prove that you're better, that you're the one in control even when we're over! I'm not one of your little subordinates Sephiroth. You can't just order me around like some brainless SOLDIER drone!"
Sephiroth whirled about, snarling. "Get it through your thick skull that this is not about you! Believe it or not, there are more important beings in this world that don't have to revolve around you, particularly myself. You think that I care about your little Black Materia mania?" Cruelly he simpered, savoring the slapped-on-the-face look her features took, the stunned and even pained pause. "I could care less. I'm here to finish a job, and if that means decommissioning the project then so be it. Shin-Ra made it clear that they cannot afford to lose any more researchers, but if you want to stay here and die with all your precious rocks and empty graves then be my guest."
He left Dahlia there in the Loveless Room as she no doubt tried to form an argument other than the numerous amounts of curses and insults she no doubt had for him in that fuming little brain of hers. Sephiroth walked off out of the main burial chamber and through the passageways towards the exit, the rush of the familiar conflict with her gradually fading. It felt like old times, when their marriage had become nothing more than a constant power struggle, not unlike the ones she often shared with Ment. Perhaps it was just in her nature to try to control men, Sephiroth wondered bitterly.
Still, with the presence of Genesis' clones, Sephiroth knew he had made the right choice, even if part of it was influenced by his variance with Dahlia. There were bound to be more, and Sephiroth needed to get reinforcements to the tomb site as soon as possible before Genesis had the chance to attack the workers again. The goal that seemed to be the most obvious was the evidence of Loveless having existed during the time of the Cetra, but to what end? What would Sephiroth's old friend have to gain from reading the old epic on a slab of stone other than wasted time?
I come here to give you a chance at survival and yet you show up anyway. Sephiroth shook his head at the audacity of it all. Apparently it was destined for him to confront his friends, no matter what his actions.
Under his boot something crackled softly, and Sephiroth lifted it to find some stray papers. He huffed in annoyance. Probably Dahlia's mess.
Some words popped out at him from the long rows of printed data. 'Rates of Degrading Tissue.' Sephiroth bent to pick up the leaves of paper, frowning at the rows of numbers, dates and percentages. There was no existing body tissue in the summons' coffins for Dahlia to carbon-date… As he turned the pages over, Sephiroth's eyes widened. The notes were signed 'Hollander.'
Gunfire suddenly echoed through the corridor, and crunching the papers in his fist, Sephiroth dashed back towards the burial chamber, the murals and busts a blur he did not bother to recognize. Within a matter of seconds he had passed the Shiva room, and in the original entranceway of the tomb he witnessed a half dozen Genesis copies making way through the Ramuh room and into the burial chamber. Sephiroth rushed forward, Masamune's long edge slicing through the backs of the crimson-clad soldiers. They fell in a heap at Ramuh's doorway.
Copies have nowhere near the vitality of the original, Sephiroth concluded as he proceeded into the burial chamber. Four more Genesis copies were firing machine guns at the Once and Future King's coffin, chunks of stone flying off of it as it gradually crumbled. As soon as Sephiroth killed them more copies filled the burial chamber to confront him. Out of the corner of his eye he caught Dahlia dashing from behind her cover and up the stairs towards the second floor.
They surrounded him in a circle and as Sephiroth readied himself to strike, a mechanical whirring filled his ears. A machine that was far too large for the doorway into the chamber crashed through the narrow opening, taking with it whole sections of the ancient wall. Gratingly it rolled forward, brandishing a number of miniature laser cannons and missile launchers. On the very front of the machine's hull the Shin-Ra corporation's logo was displayed.
So he took more than just the SOLDIERs.
"You're to come with us, General," said Genesis' voice, from the right, though it lacked his friend's charismatic personality completely, the harmonious emphasis Genesis often gave to his words from having cited Loveless frequently.
He tracked me down? Sephiroth wondered. "Why?"
"For extraction," was the clone's only answer, his expression guarded by his helmet like the others.
More Genesis copies followed in after the stolen Shin-Ra weaponry, until it seemed that the entire chamber was filled with them. "No," Sephiroth stated simply. "If Genesis wants a word, he'll have to come to me. Death is his only fate should I go to him."
Sephiroth pulled Masamune towards himself, raising the sword so that the hilt was level with his face. All around him flames swirled until they burst outward in a massive repulsion of Sephiroth's power. Some of the screaming clones flew back from the force, hitting walls while those that had been far enough away to escape damage opened fire on him. The machine launched a missile at him, which he dodged. The Once and Future King's sepulcher was finally blown to irreparable bits.
Then the room went dark as Sephiroth slid Masamune out of a copy's stomach. A deep guttural laughter echoed against the walls while the sound of hooves click-clacked from every direction. There was the shrill neighing of some animal while Sephiroth heard bones crunch loudly. When the flames reignited themselves on the wall scones, an armored man continued to stomp on the body of a Genesis copy from the top of his massive black horse.
Your souls are mine to judge, Calamity pawns! Sephiroth looked to the other side of the room, where a dark robed figure reached out with pale hands. The clones nearest to the apparition coughed harshly, until they spit blood out from under their helmets. Another clawed at his own chest, as if some invisible force was squeezing the copy's heart into paste.
The armored horseman galloped at a group, his blade cleaving members in half with one strike. Shin-Ra's machine targeted the summons, Odin and Hades, sending missiles and blasts from the laser cannons that covered the entire room in small explosions. Sephiroth spun with Masamune as he felt a hard tug on his arm.
"Come on!" Dahlia exclaimed, flinching slightly at his raised weapon. "It's open!"
"What is?" he asked, following her out of the chamber. Genesis' copies, distracted as they were by the summons, did not notice their departure.
Passing through the Ramuh room, Dahlia stopped at the tomb's original entranceway, pointing at the exit that had been sealed previously. Beyond the entranceway lay a long stone bridge out into the jungle.
"But how?" he asked her as they hurried for the exit.
"Three will release thee," she recited. Together they stepped out into the daylight. "I chose the three."
"There were only two," he pointed out.
"Yes," she agreed, "and four days ago I chose Ramuh. That makes three."
The bridge spanned high over a large lake, to the left of which roared a waterfall. To their right was the end of the lake as it plunged yet again downwards as a second waterfall. Quickly they ran towards the end of the bridge, but soon afterwards the machine guns were firing once more from behind as the Genesis copies caught up.
Sephiroth turned, spinning Masamune rapidly in front of him as the bullets flew for them. Caught in the motion of the spinning blade they were whirled away, going off as they struck the sides of the bridge. Suddenly a rocket blasted out from inside the tomb, crashing and exploding just in front of Sephiroth.
The bridge shook and began to easily crumble. Sephiroth grabbed Dahlia as the floor gave underneath them, and she screamed as they fell into the lake. The splash stung hard as they landed and the immense current immediately started to pull them towards the next waterfall. Sephiroth kicked hard against it as Dahlia thrashed about in his arms, trying to keep her head above the surface.
As the bullets pierced the water around them from above, Sephiroth ceased the struggle against the current, despite his protesting ex-wife, who attempted to swim against it herself. Grasping her more securely he let the current take them towards the edge, even as Dahlia beat her fists against his shoulder. Within seconds he felt the weightlessness of the long free fall, down into the white foam and spray that hid whether there were sharp rocks at the bottom or not.
Once more their bodies slapped water's surface, turning Sephiroth's vision momentarily white from the pain. The rushing waterfall pushed them downwards into the depths of the lake. In the darkness he could not see Dahlia, and felt his grip on her slipping as she was pulled away by the torrent. He caught her wrist for a moment but then lost her, the shock of it causing him to lose some of the breath he had held in for the plunge.
Sephiroth kicked his legs as hard as he could, reaching his arms out for the hidden surface. He knew not how deep into the water he had been pushed. His leather gear and boots made him heavier, and with some trouble he threw off his black coat, leaving him free to swim up towards the free oxygen.
"Dahlia!" he shouted over the waterfall's roar once he broke through. Sephiroth looked about, seeing no sign of her. Quickly he swam about, submerging more than once to see if he could glimpse her underneath. Finally he found her body at the lake's shore, laying face first in the gray sand. Sephiroth trudged to her form and turned her over. She was unconscious.
"Wake up or I'll leave you here," he muttered, gently shaking her. She had to have been awake long enough to have at least swum to shore. Sephiroth guessed that it was merely exhaustion that caused her to pass out.
Plain brown eyes fluttered open, and for a moment Dahlia smiled up at him contentedly before scowling just as easily once she realized where (and when) she was. Sephiroth sat back on the sand as she sat up to look around at the surrounding jungle.
"So what did he do, clone himself somehow?"
Sephiroth looked over at her and nodded, and while she inevitably and shamelessly stared at his bare chest he noted the circles that were now deeper under her eyes. Ment had been right about her recent habits, as she seemed thinner as well.
"I'm about finished here," he told her, looking away. "I'm going to return to Midgar. You won't have to be 'bothered' by me any longer."
Dahlia squeezed the water out of her drenched hair. "You forget that I still live there, and you've put me out of a job until I can find another place with possible rare materia and artifacts. Besides…"
Sephiroth looked back at her as she stood, dusting off her soaked pants. "Hmm?"
Dahlia kicked off her brown hiking boots and sat back down. "Before the um, clones came, there was someone else. He asked me to lead him to you."
"Who was it?" Sephiroth demanded, looking fierce.
"I didn't recognize him," she replied, "but from what he was wearing, it looked like he worked for the science division."
"Was his name Hollander?"
Dahlia shook her head. "He didn't say. When I refused to show him anything, he left and then the copies came to kill me."
She jumped, startled as Sephiroth set a nearby bush aflame in anger. "Lazard and the President were right. You were right. There was no reason for me to come here." The scorched plant crackled as the flames slowly began to eat it away. "Genesis was banking on the fact that I wouldn't follow the trail to Banora. So instead he chose to attack a place that had nothing to do with him, yet would have attracted him anyway."
Dahlia titled her head, looking puzzled.
"The Tomb of Those Who Still Fight," Sephiroth clarified. "A sanctuary for summons, but also a place where the oldest version of Loveless is now known to be inscribed in certain parts of the ruins. I'm sure there were more secret rooms like one you discovered in the burial chamber."
"So he activated the traps too?" asked Dahlia. "We were too careful with our methods of excavation, so I know it wasn't us. He must have opened a secret room like I had but then set them off by doing so."
Sephiroth didn't respond. He looked abruptly at her as she kneeled beside him, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"If it's worth anything at all to you, I am glad that you came."
Sephiroth made a small huff and avoided her gaze. "You're only admitting that because I'm shirtless now."
Dahlia stood straight again, smiling mischievously. "Maybe." Sephiroth shook his head, smirking. "Anyway, with my team going back to Cosmo Canyon, you wouldn't mind giving me a ride back to Midgar would you? It won't be you that has to explain to the bosses why two-thousand years worth of priceless artifacts were destroyed by one of Shin-Ra's weapons."
"Don't be so sure," Sephiroth answered. "I'm sure the Board of Directors would use that as another excuse for budget cuts on the SOLDIER program. That'll make Lazard real happy."
Sephiroth lost his phone in the water, so their hike back to the campsite was long and arduous without a map or directions. He was surprised to find however that Naomi Posada had returned with the helicopter and was waiting for him with only one of the two infantrymen.
"He radioed in with a distress call," Naomi informed him, gesturing slightly to the infantryman. "When it was reported that you hadn't been seen nor heard from since this morning, I came. The defectors also tried to attack the camp, but we managed to hold them off."
"Where is your partner?" Sephiroth asked the infantryman.
"T-they got him, sir," he said, lowering his head.
"Good work," Sephiroth acknowledged, and Naomi returned it with a small smile and a nod.
Ment and Myrna had made it out safely enough, and in the time that Sephiroth and Dahlia were gone, they had organized the cleanup of most of the team's equipment and belongings. Before long the researchers were well on their way back to Cosmo Canyon with a fairly large Shin-Ra military escort for protection. Sephiroth was silent on the helicopter during its flight back to Midgar, even with Dahlia on board. Fortunately she had been tired enough to fall asleep, so he was spared the difficulties she usually brought with her presence. For that he was grateful, as he needed to concentrate on the next immediate dire concern.
It was time for him to choose the SOLDIER he would send to Banora.