The Truth beyond the Veil Chapter 2: Shattered Bitterness and Acrimony, a final fantasy vii fanfic

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The Truth beyond the Veil

Chapter 2 – Shattered Bitterness and Acrimony

"An illusion of the world is created by others. But the one to blame is yourself because you accept that illusion as your reality."

Sephiroth opened his eyes again, facing the monochromatic color of the laboratory's ceiling. This time he hadn't let his mind wander in the vast corners of the Lifestream. Keeping his thoughts and musings reunited, he controlled his own mind from slipping to a silent world where darkness was under his fingers and light shone above his head. However, the choice of controlling his impulses ended in being overwhelmed by the enormous panic and nervousness that room always brought him. As he looked around, raising his neck from the steel table, a sparkle of hope formed in his mind. Maybe the room had lost its evilness. However, as he searched his surroundings, he was able to denote with a bit of disappointment that the laboratory looked exactly as it ever looked.

Shadows were projected on the room's walls, creating phantasmagoric illusions of another living beings. Many computers 'beeped' as his images on the monitors were revolved in various angles, transferring video files from one to other. He silently waited as Hojo turned to him, a smile dandling his lips.

"General Sephiroth, I have your blood tests results. I will now read them to you: Balanced amount of sugar and cholesterol, checked. Number of thrombocytes, erythrocytes and leukocytes is stable. Hormones are good too…Hmm, yes, yes, everything's fine. Tumor markers read negative, too. Now, about your mako energy balance…"

The general almost rolled his eyes in disgust of the anticipation the scientist was trying to mark on him. He fixed him right in the eyes, the jades revolving with pure anger and a slight feeling of the agony that had been torturing him since he found out the auto-immune disease. At least this time he wasn't tied up to the table like the session before, so he was more able to control his rising anger about the situation.

"Well, it says that your mako cells are decreasing, as we predicted, Sephiroth. As you can wait, I have talked to the Shin-Ra's Science Department about your strange situation and many researches about the subject are being conducted by the most capable men on the business. Naturally, I am conducting my own study on the subject, although I prefer to do it alone in my laboratory. Yes, Sephiroth, your disease is most curious, yes it is."

Sephiroth collected his thoughts before addressing him.

"You can research all you want since it doesn't interfere in my job. If it does interfere in any way, and if I have to constantly do blood tests I must refuse that help."

Hojo smirked. "You don't have to worry about blood exams. There are many ways to copy your blood into equivalent samples and pass them to other scientists. But I needed too many time to provide more details on the subject so I am going to close the chit-chat here."

Sephiroth frowned as he got up, tugging out the wires attached to his body. A couple of monitors got off, presenting black images on the screen with consecutive 'beeps', trying to re-catch the connection with the human body. He stood high before the much skinner and smaller scientist. Hojo didn't even blink as the general's figure projected an enormous shadow behind his own figure. Sephiroth's lip twisted. The question had been in his tongue for too long, and for too long he had been avoiding spitting it out. Just the thought of letting that reality escape his fields of thought was unimaginable.

"I am going to die, aren't I?"

Hojo perched his glasses on the tip of his nose. "That's an answer I cannot provide you with, Sephiroth. As I was saying, many researches about your disease are being conducted. Until we've reached a conclusion it's impossible to-"

"Have I a chance of 30%? 20%? 1%?"

Hojo shook his head. "You have 15% of chances to live without the mako cells in your body. Since you were born your body has been fed with too much mako energy. You physiological needs, as well as your abilities and reasoning have always been influenced by the great percentage of that energy. Without the mako, we're unable to determine how your organism will react to the lack of it."

Sephiroth wrinkled his brow and glanced at Hojo. His lips parted but no sound came. After a moment he stopped of trying to react to the sentence and simply left the room, leaving the ghost of his steps on the way.

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Sephiroth wasn't counting the time. Since he arrived to the place, his didn't let his body move, regulating his breathing. If the flower girl spotted him, his daily routine would crash in a single fraction o time.

When he exited the laboratory the first thing he did was leaving the Shin-Ra's headquarters and go to the poor part of Midgar – the slums. Hiding himself in the shadows provoked by the trash that had fell from the plate, he irrationally drew his way to the Sector 6, being attracted by the specific darkness that surrounded that area. Since he found out his body was battling the mako energy, the urge to watch people live in poverty and sorrow was almost a need for him.

He was also interested in the slums because of his last encounter. The flower girl, the last ancient, as she called herself, had brought great interest for Sephiroth. He had found her usual escape to the poor world she lived on: the church. This building was large, and bright, although it was covered with a thick layer of dust and dirt. A sacred aura circled it, sending away any ghost that might enter the holy place. He watched the young woman silently. The flower girl left her house near the market every morning with a bag of gardening tools and a paper bag with her lunch. She walked to the church, taking the longest route, which made her encounter with various persons she seemed to know. Then she would stop at her church, making way to her flowers. She treated them with infinite care, danced and sang in the pavement of the church as if she saw it like a ballroom. Sephiroth always watched her from the doorframe, hidden in the darkness that it provided him, hiding his silhouette from the girl's inquisitive eyes. Just the vision of peace the girl brought to the world sent waves of energy, crashing all the way through his skull. The casual sight of the was remarkably comforting, bringing back some peace to his already tormented heart.

In the middle of the church was a gap in the ground. The planks of wood that covered it were destroyed, revealing a colorful blanket of white and yellow flowers that surely conveyed some color to his habitual grey-scaled panorama. The first time Sephiroth saw the miracle of the flowers, his mouth opened up in surprise. He didn't left the doorframe, he never did. He was always able to watch the girl for continuous time, caring about her flowers, singing to them a light melody that she believed that helped the flowers to resist to the inhospitable weather. Well, maybe the song really works, he thought amusedly, she must know. After all, these are the only living flowers I have ever seen in Midgar.

He knew the girl was powerful. He sensed it, within every vibration of her body, as if it was part of his own. He sensed naivety, but power. An indescribable amount of power, a disproportionate level of energy that threatened to crush the young girl's body. He often wondered if the girl faced that power as a curse or as a blessing. Being that alone in the world, no living being to comprehend her thoughts and musings, no human to sense her feelings or her perception of reality.

Sephiroth closed his eyes and made his mind left his physical body. He then slowly extended a finger of his mind to hers. He could feel the thick barrier that protected her thoughts. Maybe some wall she had been building throughout the years against Shin-Ra's mental and physical exploration. The finger touched the barrier, almost ironically greeting through another plane of existence. The reception wasn't warm as he predicted from the sweet young woman. It was almost violent, knocking down his own defenses.

The general felt the taste of a headache. A slight smile tugged at the corner of his lips. After all, the girl was not so innocent. She was prepared to defend her mind even if her physical body was abused.

Who are you?, the woman's voice asked, hesitantly reaching to him.

I am one who was blinded by an illusion. Nor a friend nor an enemy: just another shadow in this plane that encloses both of us.

…I know who you are. You are the sick man. The one that was dying.

Sephiroth smiled to the statement. He offered the hand of his mind to The flower girl. The girl, however, refused it in sublime subtlety.

Why are you reaching me from the Lifestream? If you aren't dead, why don't you act with your physical being? She asked quietly.

Because I feel safer here. And I know you feel too. Because in this plane, in this world, humans aren't blinded by illusion or lies. It's possible for them to make their own choices and act on their own, obeying to no one.

Despite everything, Sephiroth was being truly sincere. That was the true reason why he so often visited the Lifestream. It was a place where Shin-Ra dropped the mastery on him, a place where his soul was free to wander between realms of questions and answers, between universal truth and particular lies. Such a place was miraculous to someone who had been a puppet his entire life for a man with such power as the president. Even if famous and entitled of hero, Sephiroth was a mere tool in the plans of wealthy men who could not possess his strength or agility.

The young woman touched him slightly with her mind.

An illusion of the world is created by others. But the one to blame is yourself because you accept that illusion as your reality.

As a burden carried throughout the ages, an illusion gives much hope to those who cannot rely on something physical. It is indeed an escape to those who carry future and past on their hands.

The young woman backed away softly. She broke contact completely and knocked him off. Reality hit Sephiroth between the eyes as he returned to his body and fell backwards, losing balance.

The girl turned to him, leaving her flowers in their bed of colors.

"I cannot bear your power" she said, frowning "Who are you? Why are you here? Why have you been following me all this time, watching me from the door?"

So she noticed, he thought.

"You are the last Cetra. You bear the wisdom and power that I have been looking for all these years. With a death sentence on my shoulders, I am seeking, at once, for liberation. You have a power that equals mine in magnitude, although yours is much more subtle than mine. I found you interesting, amusing. I wanted to understand you, to feel what you feel, because you are indeed a curious person."

The flower girl hesitated at the statement. Her resolve was much clearer than the detailed explanation Sephiroth provided her. "Have you been stalking me?"

He almost smiled at her questioning look. "No I haven't. I have been watching you. Because you're interesting." Sephiroth saw the girl swallow nervously. She was indeed fascinating, an attractive living being he was eager to meet. As if he saw some hope in that verdict they Hojo set upon him. The girl's eyes brought him so much hope, so much amazing grace and mesmerizing charm. It was a mystery, the reasons that brought him to her. Maybe it was a calling; probably the Goddess brought him to her to enforce him with a final lesson, somewhere kept within the young woman's experienced heart.

Her features softened beneath his sharp look.

"What do you see in me? The escape to your death?"

Sephiroth smiled and shook his head. He entered more deeply into the church, receiving the sun rays that erupted from a couple of cracks in the stone ceiling. "Maybe it's not an escape, but a comprehension of what I am now. I have been walking twenty five years on this cursed land and I don't find a reason for my behavior. I have been a puppet for others wealthier than me and with that justification of my existence I have been living. Now that the countdown began I want to make sure I will go to the Lifestream with my heart in peace."

The young girl clenched her fists on her lap. Her eyes fell suddenly to the floor.

"Many of us die without knowing the true purpose for living. World has always been like that. The Planet told me so."

She is as wise as I thought she was. The Planet speaks to her, and she listens, as the Cetra were portrayed.

"Mum died without ever finding her true love." The girl informed, a tear gracing her eye. "She has been looking for her husband since he got out of war, and even when they reported his death she was unable to believe it."

"Disease took your mother from you. So the disease is taking me from the world. And I cannot bear to perish without knowing some things."

The flower girl's eyes darkened sharply. Her hair fell to her face, obscuring her hardened features. "But how can you look for light if you heart is surrounded by the purest of darkness'?"

Sephiroth frowned, wrinkling his brow. When he looked at the girl's face again, the shine was brought back to her skin. He wandered vaguely, what form of existence took the shape of her body and robbed her words. If having such power meant she had to be manipulated, why then, to have such power? Was it worth it?

But he could not complete his thoughts as someone appeared on the door. The man advanced to both Sephiroth and girl, his hand grabbing a gun knotted to his belt.

"Tseng" Sephiroth denoted surprised, as the man appeared under the sunlight.

"Sephiroth, sir. Aerith." Tseng greeted, looking barely at the flower girl, which slowly backed in the direction of her flowers.

Sephiroth bit his tongue sharply to avoid any insult from escaping his throat. The young girl would now run away from him, knowing who he was.

He ignored the look of shock written on her expression as the fellow Turk announced his identity. She backed from both and Sephiroth sensed her mind shutting tightly to any advance that they might cause on her. Sadly, the general could not comprehend if that isolation was due to the Turk or to himself, who now could represent a major source of danger. After all, his reputation he built had this goal: for everyone to respect and fear him. He never had been so regretful about his military work as he was now.

"Let's go to the laboratories Aerith. Hojo wants to make some tests with you." Tseng said with monotone voice. "Hurry up, it won't take too long. I am sure you are already used to your monthly cells and blood exams."

"I won't go this time." Aerith said, backing away and gripping her hands, digging her nails on the palms. "I am tired of it. I won't go. That place scares me. I won't go."

Tseng sighed. "But you are a Cetra, Aerith. Since you are 10 years old I have been looking for you and telling you to go make your exams. If you refuse now, a lot of consecutive work will be destroyed and the circle will begin all over again. If you attend to your sessions as you are told the conclusions will appear much more faster and you will be rid of the Science Department."

"I won't be rid of the Science Department if they find out that I am an ancient."

The Turk cocked an eyebrow "…are you?"

The girl looked down. "No. I am not."

"Then, if you are, please come with me to the Shin-Ra's headquarters. Your treatment will end very soon that way."

"I don't want to go! That place is scary! I hate it!"

Sephiroth was being put in an awkward situation. Working all his life with Shin-Ra, he was now opposing the very source of his education and work. The girl was probably just sixteen or seventeen. If the exams were concluded, what kind of treatment would Hojo expose her too? Being obvious that the girl held the power of ancients, what would he do? Keep her in a capsule to preserve the body? Bread her with humans or another animal races? Would he explore her until the marrow and absorb every little bit of power her body emanated?

"Come on, Aerith. You aren't a child anymore."

And with that the girl reluctantly stepped forward, a tear running down her cheek. Her tools had been left loosely around the flower bed and the planks of wood that covered the church's floor. She never looked back and her mind shut itself to any touch he might have shared with her. As she left the church along with the Turk, Sephiroth was left alone, standing still and pale next to a stone column, contemplating the sun rays that drew patterns on the floor. Aerith: that was her name. A remarkable name for an earth-lover. Maybe a name of an angel, an angel of salvation and liberation, that kind of living being that would bring final peace to the world.

And Sephiroth could only wait for that moment.

Author's notes: Thank you for reading! Please review and leave a comment! ^0^