Optical Decay

The trip to Nibelheim by truck from Coast del Sol took most of the day; Sephiroth would have considered it one of his more tedious journeys if they hadn't been attacked by a dragon less than an hour before they arrived at their destination. Fighting it had been exhilarating and the highlight of his week so far.

Once they arrived in the tiny village Cloud quietly suggested he oversee the troopers unloading the truck and order dinner while the blond got more details about the mission from the Turk who had just walked out of the inn to greet them. Sephiroth acquiesced –his presence would ensure the sleepy infantrymen moved with all due speed– and hovered menacingly while bags and cases were removed from the back of the truck. Once the vehicle was empty Sephiroth followed the troopers into the building and ordered enough food for ten people: as SOLDIERs, Cloud and Sephiroth ate as much as three and four normal people respectively. After informing the owner that he wanted seven peoples' worth of food delivered upstairs by the troopers and ensuring said troopers knew they had been volunteered, Sephiroth departed upstairs to settle into the large private room the Turk had commandeered for him and Cloud to share. As he ascended the staircase he glanced out of the window and noticed that a local girl in a ridiculously skimpy outfit was hanging off his student's arm; it seemed Cloud had been recognised.


"Who was your admirer, Cloud?" Sephiroth asked once the blond had let himself into their room and propped his sword against the wall behind the table.

"Tifa Lockhart; she's the mayor's daughter," Cloud told him, "and I have a feeling her mother may have been the offspring of one of the mistresses Vi mentioned her father having. Or possibly the result of a fling with one of his numerous lab assistants."

"Oh?" Sephiroth hadn't been aware of the possibility of there being any more relatives he hadn't been told about.

"She's got the Valentine eyes and hair," the blond explained, "plus some of the attitude lurking under the spoiled village princess veneer. You know; that stubborn, I-will-outlast-my-enemies determination."

The Silver General had never heard it described quite like that, though it explained nicely why all his various relatives were as unruly as black chocobos. "Did you know her?" he asked.

Cloud made a face. "It's a small town; I knew who she was and quite a bit about her but we were never friends. I'm the only person in several generations to have actually left Nibelheim and succeeded in making a name for myself, so I expect by tomorrow morning everyone will know I've come back –if they don't already– and will show up so they can gawk and gossip." He paused. "Tell you what, after we get back from the reactor I'll take you to visit my mother. The gossips won't follow us there."

"Whyever not?" it seemed counter-intuitive that those interested in learning about Cloud would not visit his family in an attempt to gain more accurate information.

"My mother," Cloud enunciated a little bitterly, "is not considered respectable. I wish she would agree to move out of this Hel-blessed back-of-beyond, but she won't despite being able to afford to now." The blond shook his head. "Wish she'd at least tell me why."

Sephiroth suspected it had something to do with his student's uncanny resemblance to both Lazard and the President; he'd never actually seen Vice-president Rufus Shinra in person but the pictures revealed a similarly startling likeness. Though, for a most genuinely disconcerting experience one had to picture the ShinRa heir side-by-side with Genesis. If those two ever met it was entirely possible the Planet would implode. He considered voicing his suspicions but at that moment the door opened to reveal the infantrymen with the food, so instead both General and student focused on replenishing their reserves in preparation of the following morning's excursion.


In the morning Cloud roused the troopers bright and early, handing out ration bars so they could leave promptly instead of having to wait for the innkeeper to serve breakfast. Sephiroth strode out of the inn with time to spare and headed for the pre-arranged rendezvous with their guide –Miss Lockhart the possible Valentine half-cousin– but on arriving in the square he found Cloud staring dazedly at a large building out on the edge of the village.

"Cloud?"

"Seph?" his student said, softly enough that only SOLDIER ears could catch his blatant and unprofessional familiarity, "do you see that massive building?"

"Yes." What was Cloud's point?

"That is the ShinRa mansion. You were born there." Sephiroth instantly picked up everything Cloud wasn't saying about the place and made a vaguely encouraging sound in his throat. His student continued, a frown creasing his brow:

"It burnt down a week before Vi and I left back when I was eleven. I mean, completely burnt down, as in nothing left but drifting ash and holes in the ground." Which made the building's presence highly suspect, Sephiroth deduced. He also wondered how large a part his mother had played in destroying the place.

"It even has the same windows," Cloud muttered a little wildly. "I feel like I'm going mad!"

Sephiroth was about to try and reassure his young friend in some way when Tifa Lockhart dashed up, dressed once more in the ludicrous cowgirl outfit. "Hi Cloud!" she said brightly.

"Teef, didn't the mansion burn down right before I left?" Cloud asked a little desperately.

She smiled at him, eyes bright with hero-worship. "Oh, ShinRa came and rebuilt it two years ago!" she exclaimed chirpily. "It looks exactly the same, doesn't it?"

"Creepy" Cloud muttered, too softly for unenhanced ears to hear. "That explains it, thanks," he replied more normally. "Now we're all here and ready-" he glanced over at the infantrymen, who smartened up sharply "-we can leave."

Tifa Lockhart bit her lip; Sephiroth judged it to be a calculated gesture, considering how she widened her eyes pleadingly at his student.

"Can we have a photo first?" she blurted out. "I mean, you're in SOLDIER now so you might never come back and, well…"

Cloud glanced over at Sephiroth, who silently indicated he had no real objections so long as it didn't take too long.

"Very well then, Miss Lockhart," Cloud told her with a hint of mock-sternness, "but it mustn't take very long. We do have a mission to complete after all."

The girl beamed, abruptly revealing a disturbing likeness to Sephiroth's mother as her red eyes shone.


Sephiroth let his student deal with most of the monsters they ran into on the trek up Mount Nibel to the reactor; he was developing a headache. It had started in the village as a faint prickling at the top of his spine but by the time they were standing in front of the elderly building the General could feel pulsing spasms shooting up from his lumbar region to nest in his temples. It hadn't yet reached the blinding intensity of a fully fledged SOLDIER migraine, the kind which took days to clear up, but it was definitely heading that way.

Recognising he really wasn't at his best today, Sephiroth let Cloud order the infantrymen to guard the front door and keep an eye on Miss Lockhart then followed his student into the building.

As reported, there were a large number of Mako tanks within the Mako reactor. However they were not the scientific specimen pods that had disappeared from Modeoheim, but the purification tanks that were part and parcel of how every reactor on the Planet functioned. Or in this case, failed to function. After Sephiroth had killed off the mutated dragon that had been nesting in the pipe room he stood guard while Cloud shut off the flow from the leak and poked around trying to find the problem. Half-a-dozen kyuvilduns and two twin-brains later Cloud finally spoke up:

"Well, the good news is that the only broken bit is the filter connecting the purification tanks to the main chamber, which has blocked up," the blond said quietly, "but the bad news is that the damage was at least semi-deliberate: the tanks are all occupied."

Sephiroth's headache jumped up several notches from mild inconvenience to blindingly incapacitating, sending black spots swirling across his vision. He staggered, sheathing Masamune and raising his hands to hover over his temples.

"Seph?" The whisper was gentle as small, calloused hands slipped under his coat to rub his shoulders and neck. Sephiroth concentrated on breathing deeply and evenly as his student applied pressure to the tightly knotted muscles holding up his head, almost moaning in relief when the pain finally faded to a dull, diffuse throbbing.

"Thank-you Cloud," he murmured.

""You really need to take better care of yourself, Seph," his student scolded him sotto voce. "Why didn't you tell me you had a migraine this morning? You could have spent the day in bed and headed it off before it got this bad."

"I didn't think it would get this severe so quickly," Sephiroth said, but it sounded feeble even to him. "I wanted to get the mission over with. Besides, I can function through the pain if I have to."

"Well as your student and second-in-command I'd much rather you didn't have to; if you'd told me this morning I could have dragged Kirian along instead. We'd have managed," Cloud grumbled. "You are not perfect Seph and nobody who matters expects you to even attempt to be, no matter what you think." The blond sighed. "Never mind; help me empty the tanks so we can clear out the poor victims and get the purification scheme back online."

Sephiroth dipped his chin carefully in agreement and the two of them set about the grisly business of releasing and mercy-killing the heavily mutated makonoids. They had almost finished when Cloud spun around, cocking his head on one side.

"Some monsters have just ambushed the grunts out front," the blond said shortly as he swiftly turned back to the Mako tank he was working on, opening it and decapitating its occupant in two smooth movements.

"Go. I'll finish up in here and join you," Sephiroth told him. Cloud nodded and ran. The General levered open the last two pods, dealt with their contents then closed both them and the one Cloud had left open before re-opening the input valve. Another stabbing pain behind his right eye threatened to drive him into unconsciousness, but he breathed through it and tottered carefully out of the pipe room towards the sounds of Cloud killing things.


So, there is no dramatic confrontation with Genesis in the reactor this time, but things nonetheless start going wrong. Namely, Sephiroth developing a killer tension headache. I swear, those things are EVIL!