The next morning she lay in Sephiroth's arms comfortably. Somehow they had stayed up the whole night and had eventually made it back to his room where as the sun rose outside his window and spilled its glorious light upon the lovers in the bed. Lunara was curled against his side drawing lazy patterns on his hard lean chest as he had an arm around her and was twisting her already messed hair into a tangled disarray. That was the first time she had ever had sex and goddamn, it was amazing. He was perfect in every way. Strong, silent and a complete gentleman, she couldn't have asked for a better first lover.
Sighing happily she rested her head against his chest and kissed his nipple softly, smiling when he let out an amused chuckle. This wasn't love, but she knew for sure that she held a strong attraction to the General and him for her. She also hoped that there would be many more nights like this to come because at this moment she couldn't picture herself lying with any other man.
"Was that to your satisfaction, Ara?" he asked smoothly and brushed the hair out of her eyes as she tilted her head to look at him with a smile.
"Very much so," she replied and saw a similar smile to her own spread on his lips. She shifted to move higher and gave him a soft kiss on his lips to which he readily responded to. "I hope it was to yours," she added after they had parted and he let out another sultry chuckle.
"Indeed it was," he said and they kissed again.
Lunara sighed happily at the memory then sipped at the coffee Tifa had brought all of them. The older woman had insisted that they head in for the night and that she would continue her story in the morning, but both had refused. With a shrug she didn't press the matter and sat with her coffee comfortably.
"After that morning, things started to go pretty well. We'd sneak in little kisses throughout the day and I'd sneak out of my quarters every night of that week into his and we'd spend hours rolling around in the sheets and various other areas of his home," she said and at the uncomfortable looks the other two had she decided to not elaborate with a grin. "Sephiroth went back to the war a little too quickly for my liking." A sad frown came to her lips then. "It was nearing the end of the war when both Zack and Angeal were shipped out. I was almost twenty when I heard the news…"
"Hey, Lunara, have you heard yet?" asked Reno as he approached her desk one day in the morning. She looked up from her screen to the red headed Turk and raised a delicate brow.
"Have I heard what?" she responded.
"Angeal and Genesis have been labeled as MIA," he said and set a folder on her desk that read 'IMPORTANT'. She blinked and stared at the manila folder as if not really seeing it as she felt her heart sink. Two of her best friends were missing; great SOLDIERS like them didn't just go missing. There had to be something more to it than just a disappearance. Picking up the folder she stared at it, not even bothering to open it.
"Lunara?" asked Reno, shaking her out of her thoughts. Her head snapped up to look at the young Turk and she smiled warmly, a smile that was utterly fake.
"Thank you, Reno. I'll get it into Sephiroth's documents right away," she said softly. Believing her fake smile Reno grinned and walked off back to work a few floors below, his untucked shirt and blazer billowing slightly as he did. As soon as the door to the elevator was closed she slowly pried the folder open and read the documents twice before filing them into the computer archives. Basically the documents read that the two first class SOLDIERs went missing a week or two before and that no one had been able to guess where they might be. She hoped to whatever higher power there was that someone would find them unharmed.
"It wasn't long after that that word spread among us that my two dear friends had betrayed Shinra. I didn't know the whole story at the time, but all I knew was that they loved their jobs and that it had to be something terrible for them to go against everything they've ever known. The war was over, my brother was a traitor and my lover was returning to my arms. I didn't know what to feel; happy or sad. When Sephiroth came back he refused to talk about it. Zack was confused about the encounter he had with Genesis in Banora, but when I asked him about it I couldn't get much from him. I could tell that he wasn't too happy about how he got his promotion into first class, but I wouldn't be either if I were in his place."
"Couldn't you have used your status to get it out of him?" asked Tifa.
"I didn't want to pressure him. Genesis and Angeal were his friends too, it would just be too hard on him," Lunara replied with a shrug.
"So, what happened?" Cloud interjected.
"All SOLDIERs from here on out are to be notified that first class SOLDIERs, Angeal and Genesis, are enemies of Shinra and the world. Kill on sight," Lunara mused as she read the E-mail from off her screen. Sighing, she slumped back in her chair and threw her glasses to the table before rubbing her eyes in frustration. Next to her, Sephiroth sat reading the E-mail as well.
"I don't understand," she continued. "What made them do this? I know that Genesis wasn't always happy with what Shinra did, but this is more extreme than the usual rant in the library."
Beside her, her lover shrugged slightly, but made no reply. She watched as his emerald eyes scanned the notification over and over before he turned to her with an almost sad look. Reaching forward she touched his cheek softly. "What's wrong?"
"Zack and I are assigned to track them down and kill them. There will be no negotiating," he said quietly. Lunara closed her eyes, as if to stop tears from forming, but she had never cried before so she wasn't really sure how. She wanted to cry, she wanted each of her tears to say how much she hated this, how much she ached for it, but no tears would be shed.
"This is insanity."
"Later that month, Genesis had created copies of himself to attack Shinra. I helped in defeating them when they broke through our barriers. You have no idea how hard it was to kill countless beings that looked like the person I had known as a friend for five years," Lunara sighed, but continued anyway. "Sephiroth and Zack were sent to track down Dr. Hollander's secret lab. He had sworn revenge on Shinra with Angeal and Genesis and even helped make their copies. I guess they didn't know, but Hollander had actually conducted the same experiments Gast and Hojo had on Sephiroth and myself with Angeal and Genesis, although we didn't know it at the time, otherwise Hollander would be dead. It was then that they confronted each other and in order to protect Hollander in hopes of him returning to normal, Angeal knocked Zack into the slums where he met Aeris. On his way to Modeoheim he met you, Cloud, and I think you can fill in what happened from there on that side."
The blonde nodded. "What happened to Angeal and Genesis?"
Lunara's easy grin was long lost by now and her frown deepened. If they could see her eyes they would have seen the deep sadness in them. "Zack defeated Genesis who soon after jumped into a facility then in Modeoheim he found Angeal mutating and was forced to kill him. In his last breaths he gave his treasured buster sword to Zack, much like he did for you, and asked him to protect his honor."
"And after that?" inquired Tifa.
"Months after we continued to hunt down Hollander who was being protected by Genesis' copies as he was still alive. While you, Zack and Sephiroth were sent to Nibelheim, I was sent with a few other SOLDIERs to Kalm. While at Nibelheim Genesis told Sephiroth of the kinds of things Gast did to us, but he refused to believe it. He defeated him then locked himself in Gast's old study for a week. I don't think I need to explain what happened after that," Lunara said softly.
"What about Genesis?" asked Cloud.
"I suppose you were a little delirious around that time. While you and Zack were running from Shinra Zack killed him in a cavern in Banora, leaving you with Lazard for protection. Shinra attacked you and when he returned to the surface he managed to save you just in time, handing Genesis over to them in the process. When Shinra discovered that you and Zack were near Midgar, they attacked. Zack protected you with his life, Cloud and now here you are."
"I don't understand. What happened to you?"
"When Sephiroth burned Nibelheim the SOLDIERs I was with in Kalm received an order to abduct me. I was taken back to headquarters injured. Of course I had fought them, but three on one wasn't an even fight, especially when they had other infantrymen as help. They knew about the experiments done to me, the bastards, and in order to stop any more of their top SOLDIERs from going insane, they locked me up somewhere in a nameless cave in the middle of nowhere in something similar to a chryogenic tube. I was there for eight years, hardly being able to move. I couldn't speak, I couldn't get help somehow; all I could do was watch and listen to the nothingness around me. I'm surprised I didn't go insane like the others because of it," Lunara explained.
"How did you know of everything that happened if you were in a chryochamber then?" Tifa said in confusion. "You said you couldn't get out or speak."
Lunara paused for a long moment, staring at her sword that still sat on the table. "I said I could still see and hear," she said softly. "On Sephiroth's first return, he found my chamber. He told me everything, but in his insanity, I don't think he believed I was actually alive or even there, only a body being preserved."
She saw light. For the first time in five years she saw light streaming from the wall where the hidden door had been, sending beams of light into her stale cavern. She couldn't see him until he was directly in front of her prison, a mask of sadness and wonder marring his handsome features. He lifted a hand, placing it against the glass as he stared at her.
"Lunara… My precious, Luna… My Ara…" he mumbled to himself, scanning her body still clad in the leather coat and gloves he gave her years ago. "Do you know what they did to you? What they did to us? They killed what should have been our humanity, my dear. We are nothing but monsters to them. When my plans are fulfilled I will take you to the Promised Land with me. I will have you by my side again, I swear it. You and I will complete mother's journey together. You're lifeless eyes will see again and our hearts will become one."
Lunara couldn't know if she was crying with the liquid surrounding her every inch, but she doubted it. She wanted to shout to him as he pressed his lips to her tank in a soft kiss and left her back in the darkness, she wanted to reach out and touch him in the way she used to. But she couldn't move, she couldn't even blink or twitch in any way to let him know that she was alive and there with him, that she heard him.
That she loved him…
"He visited me whenever he could until his final defeat and I was left in darkness without his soothing deep voice once again. It wasn't until recently that I escaped my prison, blind, cold and wet," she finished slowly and lifted her head to look at the other two. They looked sad, as if they had a brief moment of pity for the monster they've fought countless times, but as soon as she saw it they wiped it off only to be replaced by interest.
"So, how did you escape?" asked Cloud.
"To tell you the truth, I don't know. Three silver haired men all similar to Sephiroth found me and shattered my chamber. The only thing I remember before blacking out was one smiling at me and saying: 'it is almost time, my sister'. Time for what, I have no idea. I don't even know who they were. All I know is that they freed me from my prison, I could not see properly and that I had to go to Edge. When I got here I saw your flyer, Cloud." She grinned slightly when the blonde twitched an embarrassed smile. "A delivery boy? Really, Cloud, you have the skills to do so much better."
"There's another thing I don't understand," cut in Tifa after a moment, both ignoring her comment. "How come you're not mad at Shinra and everything they did to you?"
Lunara's head tilted from Cloud to his childhood friend. "I don't believe in holding grudges. Yes, what Shinra did was terrible and I'm not necessarily human. I'm a monster; neither human, Cetra, or alien, but I've come to accept that, the others didn't," she said.
"But doesn't it make you angry?"
"Furious," she agreed calmly. "But I'm not about to destroy the planet to exact revenge on descendents of selfish people. Not all of you are like that. I know that now there are people, like you, who would stand up and fight, and you have."
Tifa looked to Cloud nervously as if scared that what she was about to say next would anger or upset Lunara. "Aren't you mad at us for killing the man you loved though?"
Again, she paused. "Yes, but I know it was necessary. If you hadn't, the world would be destroyed and we don't even know if he would have made it to the Promised Land, if there even is one," she replied.
"Wait," Cloud suddenly spoke up. "You said that you were freed from your chryochamber by men that looked like Sephiroth?"
Lunara nodded grimly. "Yes, three of them. I think they may have plans to bring him back, though I don't know by what means."
Cloud cursed softly under his breath and put his head in his hands as Tifa patted his shoulder in an attempt to comfort him. It had been two years since Sephiroth had last terrorized the planet and they didn't know what else he could possibly do to make it worse. Across the table from the two friends Lunara remained silent, retelling her story had brought on a depressed feeling that filled her soul. If Sephiroth were to come back she didn't know what would happen. Would he somehow convince her to go with his plans? Or would she be forced to kill him? Both were roads she didn't wish to do or even think about, but one way or another, they had a serious problem on their hands.
Finally, she cleared her throat to grab their attention. "Cloud, if Sephiroth does come back, I don't know if I can be included in the fight," she said and Tifa's mouth fell open in shock as Cloud just stared at her.
"What? No, you have to fight with us. You're strong. With both yours and Cloud's strengths combined defeating him will be easy!" she exclaimed.
Lunara shook her head. "It's not that simple, Tifa-"
"The hell it is!" she roared, slamming her fist on the table. The woman across from her never even flinched only leveled her with an emotionless gaze. "You have to help us."
"On the contrary, I don't have to do anything. In fact, you're lucky I told you this much. Half of what I've told you is top secret Shinra material. Besides, by being included in the fight I will only cause more harm than good," Lunara said stonily causing Tifa to pause, but her anger was still flared.
"But-!"
"Tifa," Cloud cut in loudly. His raven haired friend stopped at what she was about to say and looked to the Ex-SOLDIER who stared solemnly at the table. "As much as I'd hate to not have a good fighter in on this, I think she's right. Being there will only cause distraction."
"But, Cloud-"
"Tifa, no," he cut her off again. He lifted his gaze from the table to look into her eyes. "The only thing she would be able to do is watch when it comes to the final battle. We can't afford any advantage Sephiroth may have on us."
Lunara nodded in agreement. "And I don't want to be a liability. I'm an Ex-SOLDIER. I will not be put in a situation where my feelings override my conscience," she said then crossed her arms over her chest while leaning back in her chair. "Trust me, if I were in this fight it would only end in a disaster that you can avoid without me."
Tifa sighed in defeat. "Fine, but I just have one more question," she said slowly.
Lunara nodded for her to continue. "Ask away."
"You said you were in that chryochamber for eight years. You were put in when you were twenty. Realistically that makes you twenty-eight years old, but you don't look a day over twenty-five," she said then blushed slightly at the audacity of her question. Lunara chuckled slightly.
"Chryogenic chambers are tricky things to understand. While inside mine, my aging process was slowed down so I am three years younger than I technically should be," she explained.
"Oh," the other woman mumbled embarrassedly and didn't say anymore.
With a smile Lunara stood and picked up her sword, sheathing it to her back once more. Cloud and Tifa stood as well when she pushed her chair in. "Well, now I guess I'll take my leave," she said quietly.
"You're leaving? But what if we need you here?" Tifa asked hastily.
"If you need me I'll be here. I will check in regularly to get caught up," Lunara responded as she headed to the door. Cloud said nothing as he followed her with Tifa. "I just hope that nothing happens while I'm away. Good luck to you both."
Cloud nodded again as Tifa said goodbye and she opened unlocked and opened the door to step outside. The air was much cooler than inside the bar and she was thankful for her coat to keep her at least a little warm. She heard the lock click behind her once again and looked to the east to see the sun rising over the tall buildings. People all around were getting out of their houses and into their cars for their daily jobs; orphans were coming out of dark allies rubbing the sleep from their eyes. Some of them had bandages; other's none revealing their Geostigma. A frown tugged at her lips at seeing this.
Geostigma was the aftermath of Sephiroth's wrath. The planet was still angry it seemed and those who had been exposed to mako and children were all affected. A disgusting green rash, it looked like, that caused severe pain to the infected. Cloud had it; she could see it during their conversation. He would randomly flinch to hide it and would scratch at the arm being covered by his one sleeve. She wished she could help him, but she had no cure strong enough for something like that.