LEFT BEHIND
Guilt June 18 – Medical center – Room 2
Lore was very aware of his broken arm and he knew it was bad by the metal pins that held it in place. They had used cure on him a couple of times and gave him some potions, but they seemed hesitate to remove the pins. The bone needed to set properly, one of the men that was treated him had mumbled.
He deserved the pain for his betrayal of his sister anyway. It was not a hard decision for him to stop his sister from going through with those horrible thoughts. But it was still hard being called a traitor by his sister.
He knew that she was in just as much pain, but for different reasons, but he wasn't going to let her go through with ending the pain in her way. It wasn't right. There were other ways to stop the pain that they were all were having.
He swallowed as he looked at the end of the bed where Tseng stood and was staring at him with his intense eyes. Tseng's stares always unnerved him.
"She didn't need to do this to get our assistance with Errow." Tseng said simply.
"She wouldn't listen," he whispered. "She… she kind of lost it when the doctors couldn't tell her anything about Errow's condition. He no longer show signs of geo-stigma, but he is still deteriorating – degrading - like he has it."
Tseng nodded his head. "Did she have the geo-stigma, as well?"
Lore nodded. "I think that is what started her to go insane." He sighed as he accidentally moved his broken arm. Damn. She did a number on it. Despite how the potions worked, it was going to be sore for awhile. "Both of them were so affected by the geo-stigma. They both just about died from it before it was washed away, but the taint really didn't finish leaving them I think."
"Why would you say that?" Tseng said in his cool voice. He shivered a bit at his tone. Can't he show a bit of emotion? He hadn't changed since he saw him 9 years ago.
Lore nodded. "It only took a month after that when Errow's pains started to happen. We took him to doctors and with each time a doctor said that there was nothing wrong with him that they could find; she would get a little more desperate."
"She did not need to use one of my men as blackmail material. We would have assisted," Tseng said his chin lifting slightly and there was a slight snarl on his lip. Slight.
Lore shook his head. "We had a run in with Hojo when Errow was four." Lore turned his head to the side. He couldn't look at Tseng any longer. His eyes were much too intense for him to stand any longer. "Her trust of ShinRa, was broken when she heard of the first death of Sephiroth and shattered to oblivion of Hojo trying to take Errow, saying that he would have 'a perfect specimen to replace his failed experiment'."
Tseng gave a sigh. "I see."
Did he really understand? He decided to change the subject. "I couldn't stop her from hurting him," Lore whispered. "She… she was so ruthless." He was ashamed of how his sister
"Reno will be the one to decide if you will be forgiven," Tseng said. Lore looked up at him sharply. "Rest, for now. You will be questioned later."
"Is… Is Errow okay?" Lore asked as Tseng turned to leave the room. "He is innocent in all this. He should not be punished for what we have done. He was never told who his father is."
"The doctors are looking at him." Tseng said, nodded to a Turk that was his guard and left the room.
Lore didn't feel too comforted by Tseng's last comment.
MEMORY
June 18 – Medical Center – Hallway
Cloud wasn't leaving until he got an explanation! He wanted to know how many clones of Sephiroth were out there. He didn't want to worry about seeing that face in every corner he turns.
Even if it looked like a boy, it looked so much like Sephiroth. He wanted to forget that. He wanted to not remember all those times. He wanted it to be a memory that he could push back in his head and be done with it. All that crap was bubbling to the surface again, because of that boy and his damn silver hair and those green eyes! Dealing with those remnants had been enough.
But that boy! Had to be a clone! Right? But she had called him her son. He tried to remember back when he was a cadet. It was hard to think back to those times but he still had some of his memories and they were coming back now that he was not trying to suppress that time in his life. That time got mixed up with a lot of Zack's memories and he couldn't tell which were his own. He did remember the rumours that Sephiroth would take advantage of his fan girls but he had never heard anyone ~ anyone ~ ever claiming that they had a love child of Sephiroth. He shuttered at that thought. Of course, the woman that was claiming this was as crazy as Sephiroth had become.
His head hurt.
What the hell was going on!
He didn't want to think about this! When did he have time to have relations? The woman was defiantly crazy, but she obviously wasn't always that way. The boy was about 8 or 9 years old from the looks of him. That was even before he was a cadet, when he had tried to be a SOLDIER! He pinched his nose and shook his head.
He really had wished that he had just brushed off the Turks and made the delivery. Rode Fenir over top of the fancy car and made the delievery. Sometimes it would be nice, if you didn't know something. Hell, it was not like they needed him there after all. It looked like a war amongst themselves that took care of all that problem.
He didn't need to see the kid.
He didn't want to be reminded about Sephiroth.
~I will never be a memory~
Damn it. He didn't want to think about all that! The thought of those words made him want to jump out of his skin!
Tseng walked towards him down the hall. He felt on edge and reached up to touch the sword that he wore slung over his shoulder. It was comforting to know that it was there.
Now he couldn't leave without answers.
TREATMENT
June 18 – Medical Center – Room 3
He was well aware that everyone was uncomfortable looking at him. Everyone was tense around him and he knew it was because they must have known his father. He heard the voices whispering around him and as a new doctor would enter, the gasp that would ensue.
Who was his father that made people so scared of him?
Of course, no one would directly say it. He knew the name began with S, because of the few slips he had heard in his life. But mom was always careful in not telling him who his father was.
"You need to worry about that. You are Errow and you are my son. That is all that really matters." He hated when she said that. Everyone else had a dad and they were important, why was his dad not? He doubted that from the reaction he was getting here. He was pretty sure his mom was lying about that. He was pretty sure that his father had been an important man and that he looked like him.
He really hated how everyone kept that from him. He didn't understand why it had to be such a secret and why his mom was freaking out like she was. Errow didn't like how she was hurting that poor man. Reno. The guy didn't deserve her wraith but Lore had promised him that he would make it okay.
He wondered if this was his uncle's idea of making this right.
He was wide-awake as the doctors talked around him like he wasn't there. It was almost as if they were afraid to talk to him.
They were afraid to even touch him!
He wished he knew why? Was everyone afraid of his father or something? He was pretty sure of that. The reaction of that blond guy with eyes that glowed like his mothers told him that.
~Can't he stay dead!~
Those words rang in his ears. He knew his father was dead, but what did that mean when that blond guy said that?
An older woman came up to him with a warm smile and not a fake warm smile, an actual warm smile. "Now then, Errow, we are going to draw some blood now," she said. Her voice soft and gently. She wasn't as course as the others in the room who were just ignoring him or sneaking glances at him in a scared way.
He held out his arm. He knew the routine.
"Can you describe the pain?" she asked.
He sighed. He had told this story a million times to what seemed like a million doctors. "It feels like my back is trying to fold into my chest," he said. "When my stomach hurts, it feels like someone is trying to claw out my guts."
She blinked as she looked at him and stopped tapping his arm, looking for a vein. "Hmmm," she said. "Can I check out your back?"
He just leaned forward and she ran her hands over his back. He shuttered. He hated people touching him. He hated it. He had been to many doctors in his life time for him to like being poked and prodded by them. She was gently as she grazed his shoulder blades, where it always ached and where he always flinched when they were touched.
"Thank you, Errow. Now, let's back to that blood." She said and went back to sticking a sharp needle into a vein.
"When did you start having these pains?"
"A year ago. After I got over the geo-stigma." He said.
She made a little noise and switched vials out.
"You let me know when you are having those pains again," she said. "Ask for Lisa."
He nodded.
He had been though all this before, just to be told that he was going to die, in a polite and politically correct manner, but the look on his mothers face always told him the truth.
He had been sick most of his life and this was the thing that was going to finally finish him off. Lore may have stopped mom from ending it early, but he knew that he was still going to die. That blond guy wouldn't have to worry about him being alive for much longer.
To Be Continued…
Next Chapter… Forced Care & Conference & More to it
