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A/N:
Yay! I would like to thank blackcat686 for beta'ing this chapter for me.
Anywho~Surprises, twist and turns await you my dear readers! Read and review.
And, I must be quick. I have a driving lesson in a few minutes and I'm sneaking in this update beforehand.
Rating (Chapter): T (language and violence)
Word Count: 3,622
Disclaimer: To quote another writer, "These are not my characters, I'm just abusing them."
Not Again!
By Catsitta
(Chapter Beta: blackcat686)
Chapter Four: Meetings with the unexpected
Gathering himself, which took a great deal longer than he would have liked, Sephiroth at last picked up his heavy limbs from the floor and opened the door to the stairwell. Running into the temperamental SOLDIER had been more exhausting than expected, and with the adrenaline rush in his blood reaching a low point, he had very little energy to continue his hasty mission of escape.
But, never one to give up easily, the silver-haired warrior continued his trek, knowing that, at any turn, Valentine could catch him.
The Turk would be pissed.
Oh well. Served him right…right?
Refusing to let guilt tangle him up in its web, Sephiroth shook away distracting thoughts and made sure to be as stealthy as his unenhanced body would allow. Which, was not very, since, at the bottommost stair, he stepped wrong and ended up crumpling to the ground with a crash. Swearing with every word he knew, he regained his balance and did his best to forget that it ever happened.
About five minutes later, he found himself in the train tunnels. It had been a painful endeavor to squeeze through a vent and clamber down a metal ladder, but he had succeeded in the end. Now, all there was left to do was to follow these tunnels elsewhere on the Plate…
BZZZZP! Sephiroth leapt backwards upon hearing the sound, but a flurry of sparks grazed him causing the muscles on the right side of his body to seize up and convulse for a split second. BZZZZP! But one second was a second too many to hesitate, and another blast caught the silver-haired warrior in the chest, stealing his breath away. His world spun and darkness started to creep into his vision. How could he have forgotten about ShinRa's damned security robots? The little pests in the train tunnels were fairly weak compared to the ones used for training in Junon and had never before registered as a threat.
Well, this time they were a problem and he was in no situation to disable them.
BZZZZP!
Sephiroth hit the ground to avoid the laser, ignoring the tremendous pain his body was in.
Wrrrr…The machine was recharging, building up its power to attack again. The silver-haired teen forced himself to his feet and charged the robot, taking advantage of its delay. Lights flickered on the machine, and it began to glow ominously in preparation for an attack. "I refuse to lose to a mere security reject." Sephiroth growled as he brought a booted foot up and kicked the tiny robot across the tunnel.
It soared, made a startled noise, and slammed into the wall…where it remained for all of two seconds before righting itself.
BZZZZP!
The laser hit his hip, causing his left leg to buckle. Kneeling, Sephiroth glared at the offensive robot with as much ice as he could muster. What he would not do for a real weapon right now.
BZZZZP!
His entire body became a twitching, shivering mess. There was nothing he could do. And it felt horrible! Sephiroth, the most powerful man to ever live, had fallen further than he had ever thought possible. A little robot that had once only proven to be a minor annoyance was crippling him now. How was it possible he was so weak?
Sephiroth sucked in a few shallow breaths, desperate to remain conscious.
The machine crawled closer, a whirring noise signifying it's readying an attack. It hovered above him, mockingly, its laser aimed at his face, ready to initiate the final blow.
"Hya!" The machine went flying (again), clattering noisily as it hit the train tracks.
"What…?" Dazed, Sephiroth pushed himself up and glanced to the side. There, standing in an almost flawless fighting stance, was another face from the past he never wanted to see again. Tifa Lockheart. The lovesick puppy that always trailed after Strife when the little hero was out saving the world. Pity such a strong woman had loved such a weak, self-destructive boy.
But this Tifa was not that woman, he reminded himself. Not the same girl who declared her utter hatred of him and swore vengeance against him for killing her father and burning down her home. Who this Tifa was, especially to this version of himself, was a mystery.
"Hey Snowflake! You going to get up and fight, or am I going to have to save your butt?"
Did she just call him Snowflake?
Furious, Sephiroth found the strength to stand up and glare daggers at the teenaged girl. Tifa merely smirked and flipped her long, brunette hair—those sable eyes of hers full of…familiarity. Wait…did she know him?
"Good to know you aren't a total wimp, Snowflake." The girl stated with a laugh before turning her attention onto the matter at hand. "Stupid robots." She bounded towards the machine, and in an impressive display of dexterity, preformed a front flip and landed on top of it, crushing the pesky thing. "Yeah!" She jumped away and danced happily, but too soon.
The security robots were rarely ever alone, they always called for backup.
BZZZZP! BZZZZP! BZZZZP!
"Oh, shit!" Tifa barely managed to avoid the incoming attacks.
Sephiroth, surprised by the turn in events, had been unmoving up until this point. Motivated into action by the new assault, the silver-haired warrior stumbled to the side, before righting himself and launching into the fray. He hurt like hell, but he'd be damned before he let a mere girl rescue HIM from the enemy.
The duffle bag over his shoulder was soon in his right hand—only briefly did he fumble, his casted arm still a wrench thrown the clockwork. Thankful for the strength building exercises he had been doing for the past couple of weeks, Sephiroth turned his bag into a fifteen pound flail. Good thing he had thought ahead and brought along some heavier items (most of which were to sell to obtain a weapon below the Plate). It took more effort than he would have liked to swing, but the results were oh-so-satisfying.
He caught two of the robots in the upswing and sent them sailing. The third turned towards him, preparing to fire, only to find itself being picked up and thrown on the concrete. Tifa was once again wearing a smirk. Strange, from what he could remember when he delved into the little hero's memories, the martial artist was not one for being smug or showy. Where was the calm, focused fighter? Where was the compassionate, broken soul?
'She was a child at one point.'
Shaking his thoughts clear, Sephiroth placed his attention back into the battle. Now was no time to ponder the past.
The three robots were still standing, though the one Tifa smashed almost appeared to be having a seizure of some sort if the way it sparked and twitched was anything to judge by.
Making sure his grip was secure, Sephiroth ran towards the two machines that were steadily crawling closer. BZZZZP! BZZZZP! Avoiding their lasers, if just by a hair, he took another swing, knocking one into the wall and shattering it. The other, he promptly kicked, and it went bouncing feebly over the tracks.
Oddly proud of the fact he had not tripped over his own feet, he turned to see what Tifa was doing, and noticed that the machine was barely moving anymore. With a cry, she smashed her heel down on the robot, silencing it.
Speaking of silence…a long one drew between them.
The girl looked at him with a peculiar glint in her eyes and there was wariness in her stance. Her hands, wrapped in bandages rather than gloves, rested at her hips. She, like Valentine, was a familiar face, yet not. Tifa possessed the same curves, but she had them hidden beneath a loose fitting, 'I 3 Midgar' t-shirt and oversized yoga pants that were long enough to cover her sneakers. Her hair only came to the middle of her back rather than her knees. And instead of declaring how much she hated him with fearful fury in her eyes, she was silent. Curious.
"I thank you for assisting me, miss." Sephiroth was surprised that it was himself who broke the air between them.
Tifa frowned,"Hey, wait! What's wrong with you, Seph?"
"Pardon. Do I know you?"
"Sephiroth Valentine, you had better be joking."
"How do you know my name?" Did everyone?
Now Tifa was angry, she stormed straight up to him and grabbed his cast encased arm, aggravating his new injuries and reminding him of old. Her eyes were drilling into his as she whispered furiously, "Say. You. Are. Joking." He opened his mouth, only to find it full of muck as his once enemy turned ally turned back into an enemy and forced him onto the ground. "I come all the way from Nibelheim to make sure your sorry ass is okay and now you're acting like we've never met!"
This turn of events was pissing Sephiroth off.
"What compelled you to come from that backwater village in order to 'make sure my sorry ass is okay'?" He stood, his whole body thrumming with pain. "And how in Gaia's name did you make it this far without identification? You're on military grounds…" Crack! He paused, eyes widening. "You slapped me."
"Of course I slapped you! I'm your girlfriend, idiot."
Girlfriend? How on the Planet had they even met before!
"Sephiroth…."
"How did you come to Midgar?" He needed more time to figure this situation out.
Tifa pouted, rolling her eyes,"I disguised myself as a boy, stole a trooper uniform, and stowed away on a ship heading for Junon. From there it was only a matter of catching a few rides, finding some new clothes and asking around on how to get above the Plate without papers."
"Honestly?"
The girl smacked him again, hard. "Of course not! I convinced my father to buy tickets so that I could look at potential colleges here in the city. He did not get to be mayor on homeschooling alone and he knows how important education is to being successful. I just did not tell him that I was worried that you were one of the…" Her anger seemed to fade as her words trailed off.
"What?"
"The dead." Tifa shuffled her feet. "Everyone knows about the attack by AVALANCHE, it made world news, Sephiroth. When they began to list the casualties over the radio…"
Sephiroth sighed. "I suffered amnesia after the attack. Names. Places. People. I can recall very little." He lifted his cast. "This is my only remaining physical injury." Then, he gave his apparent girlfriend a quick once over, realized quickly that she might be the one person on this Planet who might actually give him some answers. "Perhaps you could help me remember."
"Isn't your dad helping?" Tifa asked suddenly.
"He has proven…useless in the matter."
"Ah. Not surprised, actually." She smiled, as if the whole fight between them had not occurred. "Anyway, how about we get out of here and find a safer place to talk."
The silver-haired teen remembered why he was suspicious in the first place,"How, again, did you get in these tunnels?"
Tifa arched an eyebrow, "How did YOU get in these tunnels? And why are you here, Mr. Military identification papers."
"Touché."
"By the way, since you seem to have forgotten, my name's Tifa. Tifa Lockheart." And then she began a whole monologue about her childhood, her parents, her interests and her schooling with Zangan in martial arts. Nothing relevant to himself popped up until they reached their exit, which was ironic, since it was a station point where people typically got on the train. It was early, so disappearing into the crowd was easy enough, but the presence of said crowd made it difficult to hear what Tifa was saying.
Once they reached a more open street, he asked how they met.
"Oh, that's easy. Your mother and mine arranged a play date."
"My mother?"
"Yeah. Her name was Lucrecia and she had the most beautiful hair…She was…odd, but nice. Your father was insanely possessive of her though and he never seemed happy about her spending long amounts of time away from home, especially with you. Everyone thought that maybe he was…you know, abusive with the way he acted in public. But your mother always dismissed town gossip and said that he was protective for a reason, that he had stopped a very bad thing from happening and that it had been her foolishness that had gotten her in trouble with a very cruel man. She said he never quite trusted people the same afterwards, and that it took many years before she convinced him to return to Midgar to work."
"What happened to her?"
"What do you mean?"
"My mother, do you know where she is?"
Tifa gave him a strange, confused look. "No. She went to Midgar with you when you joined the military. I assumed that she was living with her husband."
Sephiroth shook his head.
"I'm sorry…"
"There is nothing for you to apologize for…Tell me, do you know why my parents lived in Nibelheim despite my father working for ShinRa in Midgar?"
"He was stationed there…in fact, it was in Nibelhiem where they met. Lucrecia was a scientist and he was her bodyguard, and she was working on some project apparently."
"A project?"
"She never talked about it much. But…now this is just village gossip, a woman named Gale Strife went missing during the time of that 'Project' and was never seen from again. There was some fiasco at the mansion before we were even born…and then, everyone working on the project left, except for your parents. They got married. Bought a house. And a few years later, you were born. The way your mother described it was much more poetic…made it sound like a love story."
"I see…" This was a lot of information to absorb in a short period of time.
He had a girlfriend. He was born in Nibelhiem. His parents were Vincent Valentine and the Lucrecia woman. A woman with the surname 'Strife' went missing around the time his parents met. And if he were to put everything on a timeline, the very one he was familiar with, that would put Strife at twenty-two or so and himself at fourteen…But that somehow did not feel right…
"Tifa…how old am I?"
"You mean your stuffy-ass father did not even tell you your age?"
Sephiroth allowed himself to smirk at that as he shook his head.
"Sixteen. You'll turn seventeen in February."
That meant the timeline was different here…which, given the odd events already to have occurred, was no surprise. After all, Tifa likely was not supposed to be in Midgar right now. The attack by AVALANCHE had never occurred in his previous life. And he, the General, had most certainly never been in a romantic relationship with Genesis.
"Hey, Sephiroth…Isn't that your dad?"
The silver-haired warrior bristled with tension.
There, standing at the end of the alleyway the pair had just entered, was none other than Vincent Valentine and he looked pissed.
"Um…why does he look so mad?"
"I may have snuck out of his apartment, which I had been locked in for over two weeks in order to recover from my injuries."
"Guess you were not supposed to be in the tunnels either…"
"Not in the least."
"Damn…"
"That's one way of putting it."
As they spoke, Valentine drew closer, his stride long and forceful. His eyes seemed to glow in the shadows and there was an almost menacing twist to his expression. Sephiroth found himself taking a step back and Tifa followed his lead, except she appeared to be trying to make herself as small and unnoticeable as possible.
Then, he was there, standing, looming. A tall, threatening pillar of raw lethality.
"Uh…hi Mr. Valentine. Been a while."
Sephiroth wanted to throttle the girl, but she was too useful at the moment to dispense of. So, he settled for shooting her a warning glance before focusing back on the angry Turk before them.
"You dare disobey a direct order, Sephiroth." Valentine growled lowly.
"Indeed I dare."
A hand like a vice closed around Sephiroth's right arm,"Home. Now. We shall talk when we arrive."
"Mr. Valentine…" Tifa began.
"And you," Vincent actually grabbed her arm too, "were trespassing on military grounds."
"How?" And then she seemed to remember he was a Turk. Turks knew everything.
"You will come too."
"Hey! My dad will wonder where I am."
"Then you should have considered that, Miss Lockheart."
"W-what do you mean?" Tifa looked panicked now and was struggling in Valentine's grip. "Lemme go you big bully!"
The gunman said nothing and began to pull the two teenagers behind him, the crowd parting around the trio as they murmured amongst themselves.
000X000
It was unsettling.
That was the only way to describe his current situation.
Sitting on his bed, locked in his room, Sephiroth could only wait. He could hear muffled voices through the walls, the pitches different but the words indecipherable. All he knew was that there were four separate voices, one of which belonged to Tifa and another to Valentine.
'Wait…When did I begin thinking of her as 'Tifa'?'
Then he realized he had been from the start. Only a few other people in his life had he ever thought of in such a…familiar way. Genesis. Angeal. Zack.
Sephiroth bowed his shoulders and tried to shake away irrelevant thoughts. Thinking of Tifa as Tifa rather than Lockheart was not important at this moment in time. What was important was the fact that she was the key to figuring out who the hell he was in this world and right now she was in a room with Turks. Plural. As in, more than one. It was not a comforting prospect.
"WHAT THE FUCK! LET ME GO YOU MOTHER FUCKING BASTARDS!"
The silver-haired warrior sat up straight when he heard Tifa's piercing scream. It was not within his nature to pity anyone, not even this girl, but a fate at the hands of the Turks was not one he wished upon anyone. Well…no one expect maybe Hojo…
Something slammed into his door. Something that sounded suspiciously like a body.
Sephiroth stood up went straight for his door. There were muffled shouts and the sounds of fighting on the other side. Uncertain, he tested the doorknob, which, since it locked from the inside, turned easily enough. Without further hesitation, he swung open the door, knowing that he was disobeying his father's orders to go in and stay in until called for.
What he saw surprised him.
Reno, a crimson-haired loudmouth that irritated Sephiroth on the best of days, lay unconscious on the floor. His every silent partner, a big bald man with obscenely pierced ears, named Rude, was using a materia in an attempt to wake him up. Tseng and Valentine, two of the greatest Turks to ever live, were both sporting a bruise on their faces and were failing to restrain a certain captive of theirs.
It was…amusing.
And likely the effect of a Limit Break.
Tifa, for all her talents, was still inexperienced. Taking on so many opponents likely put her under impossible stress and forced her into a state of mind and body that literally took over until she was too fatigued to continue. And she looked to be at that point of exhaustion.
The martial artist was panting, her fists held up as she stood with her back against a wall. Her hair was an utter wreck, and her oversized clothing was sticking to her sweaty body. A significant tremble rippled through her small body, reminding Sephiroth how slight the girl actually was and how hard she would fight to survive. Tifa would keep kicking until she collapsed.
An admirable trait.
But one that always cost dearly.
"Let her be." Sephiroth said.
"What did I say about leaving your room?"
"It does not matter. As a member of the ShinRa military it is my duty to protect civilians from danger." It was a duty he upheld in his days as General. Even if he had never liked to walk amongst the mortals, he had still protected them and reveled in the feel of their admiration. "You two are threatening not only a civilian, but a child."
Tifa's sable eyes flashed with surprise. Apparently she had never heard him speak with such authority in his voice, nor seen him act as if the situation was his to command. Sephiroth knew that showing weakness or fear before these two men would be dangerous to himself as well as the girl he was making an attempt to protect. So he steeled himself. Made himself an impenetrable wall.
"Leave." Valentine commanded.
"No." Sephiroth replied.
The ruby-eyed Turk turned and with an open palm, backhanded the teen for his insolent response…and the shock in his eyes was reflected by everyone else in the room.
For the first time ever, Vincent Valentine had struck his son.
"I—I…"
Tifa pushed past him, managing to avoid Tseng on her way. And to Sephiroth's surprise, she threw her arms around his neck and began to cry, "I wanna go home, Seph. I want my dad…Don't let them….don't let them…"
Confused, he looked between her and the mystified gunman before him whom stared at his hands as if he could not understand how they could have possibly done what they had just done.
"Why were you fighting, Tifa."
"They…they wanna make me one of them…a Turk."
And for some reason, the world felt as if it had gone still.
A/N: ( Review please! I love comments/suggestions/theories. Idea cookies are my favorite. )