Where do bad folks go when they die?
They don't go to Heaven where the angles fly
They go to the lake of fire and fry
See 'em again till the Fourth of July.
People cry and people moan
Look for a dry place to call their home.
Try to find some place to rest their bones
While the angles and the devils try to make them their own.
-Meat Puppets, Lake of Fire (notably covered by Nirvana)
"You didn't have to walk me home." Aerith exclaimed, her voice brimming with mischievous cheer that complemented the bright smile on her face.
"I'm not, "Gabriel retorted quickly and matter-of-factly as he walked beside her. "My home just happens to be in the same direction as yours and everyone else for that matter."
"Well." Aerith paused as she thought up another retort, she moved her hands behind her back and gripped her staff. "You don't have to walk beside me. You could've walked faster or slower, but for some reason, you've decided to keep pace with me."
"This is the pace that I want to walk." Gabriel remarked sternly. "It just so happens to match yours."
Aerith giggled and twirled as she walked beside Gabriel, today had been a good day. Fighting monsters made all the worries in the world melt away. She nearly forgot the Turks, the danger they represented and why is she felt concerned enough to seek out Gabriel's assistance.
"People will begin to talk." Aerith smirked and moved in front of him while walking backward so she could continue to tease her friend to his face. "If we keep hanging out like this."
"Let them talk." Gabriel snapped back proudly. "Speaking of, I have…..something…for you."
"Oh, presents?" Aerith's eyes seemed to grow to the size of saucer cups. "I knew our home cooking was spectacular, but this is a first."
"It's not that…. Just… I have something for you, it's in my shack. If you'll accompany me there." Gabriel cursed himself mentally for his misstep. He had planned to propose their date in a more romantic setting, the flower garden Aerith was growing inside the church would have been perfect. However, Aerith had arrived earlier that morning than he had anticipated. In his haste to put on pants before she banged down his door, he had forgotten the tickets. Presenting her with them at his run-down shack would be awkward, but it would do.
For the next few minutes, a serene silence enveloped them. Aerith practically floated beside Gabriel, her footsteps barely making a sound on the path. The delight of a present to end this wonderful day was enough to silence her teasing. Meanwhile, Gabriel's heart hammered inside his chest, the rhythmic thumping echoed in his ears. He knew that in a few minutes, their relationship would change. He would ask her, and she would give him an answer. But for now, it was peaceful, and Gabriel tried to enjoy the present.
The tranquil moment ended as they approached Gabriel's shack. An eerie silence hung in the air as the door stood wide open. Darkness encased the interior of his home, hiding whatever was inside. Gabriel's grip tightened around his sword, his senses on high alert. Aerith mirrored his unease, her muscles tensed as she cautiously followed in his footsteps, her staff held firmly in her grasp.
"I don't believe this." The intruder sneered, his voice dripping with contempt.
Reno emerged from the shadows of the shack, a malevolent sneer accompanying his arrogant swagger. In one hand he held Gabriel's speaker, in the other he held his electric guitar by its wooden neck. He callously tossed the speaker towards it's owner. The brittle device shattered upon hitting the ground, the crash echoed around the scrap heap as wires and broken plastic scattered toward Gabriel's feet.
"I don't know what's worse," Reno spat, his words laced with venom. "That you're living in this shit heap or that you have the gal to start a hobby."
Reno brought Gabriel's light blue guitar up towards his face so he could better examine the instrument that had occupied so much of this man's time.
"General fucking Sephiroth, playing an electric guitar? I must be dead, and this is hell!"
Gabriel was stone cold, his expression unyielding as he prepared to respond to this intruder. He had no idea who this man was or what he was talking about. But Gabriel had been called "General Sephiroth" before, one of the bandits in the attack, that seemed like years ago. Was it possible that Sephiroth was his real name? Was this encounter the consequence of a past he no longer remembered?
Regardless, this violation of his personal space and property would not go unpunished. Gabriel steadied himself, gripped his sword, and prepared to face his past. However, before he could confront the intruder, Aerith swiftly stepped in front of him, her arms spread wide as if to protect him from the wraith of this red-haired man. The bundle of her brown hair with its signature pink ribbon obscured his vision.
"Reno, what is going on?" Aerith asked her voice a desperate plea filled with fear. A wave of concern washed over Gabriel. He had never heard her speak so fearfully; it made him grip his sword tighter. The fury he felt towards this man for frighting Aerith dwarfed his anger for invading his home.
"You stay out of this!" Reno snapped while pointing an accusing finger at her. "You're in enough trouble already."
Gabriel slowly maneuvered past Aerith's trembling arms. His voice remained calm but carried a depth that betrayed his emotions. "What do you want?" He inquired.
"What I want is for you to keep your blood-soaked hands away from her!" Reno spat back, his free hand disappeared into his coat pocket and feverishly searched for something.
"I finally figured out why you're here." Reno's hand emerged, clutching the two paper tickets Gabriel had stashed inside his shack. His voice oscillated between contempt and astonishment as he squeezed the tickets tightly. "You were trying to date her! Of all people you could touch, you had to pick her, and you were going to take her to LOVELESS?"
Gabriel locked his eyes with the intruder, the weight of Reno's accusations bore down on him. He was unable to bring himself to look back at Aerith. He couldn't handle seeing how she would react, would there be rejection in her eyes or pity?
"People like us don't get to do that. We do not get to go on dates." Reno declared; a drop of pain escaped his words. "Fire!" He yelled as he opened his palm, a bright ball of wildfire erupted just above his open hand. The paper tickets vanished within the flames, quickly consumed until a pile of ash fell into Reno's palm. The flames died as quickly as they had appeared, and the ash escaped with the wind.
"What's even more insulting," Reno continued with seething contempt, "is that you'd live here in the slums, playing guitar, as if you could start a new life. Well, it's pathetic and I'm sick of it!"
Reno in one fluid motion held Gabriel's guitar in both hands and brought it over his knee. The wooden instrument snapped cleanly at the base of the neck; a heartbreaking snap filled the air as the wood splintered. Metal strings broke from the violent tension, crying out in dull notes as they died. Gabriel's broke guitar fell to pieces beside Reno's feet.
Silence followed the agonizing death of Gabriel's beloved instrument. Aerith's knuckles were practically in her mouth, her eyes wide with shock and pain. She couldn't fathom Reno's cruelty; she had always believed there was a good young man behind his brutal facade. She wanted to comfort Gabriel; he had loved that instrument. But she lacked the courage, so much had been revealed in these short minutes. She was shocked into stillness.
The rip of tearing fabric broke the tension. Slowly, a single obsidian black-feathered wing emerged from Gabriel's back, forcing itself through his shirt. It extended rapidly, reaching its full span behind his back. Gabriel ignored the metamorphosis that was happening on his back, he showed no sign of pain or discomfort. He just stared angrily at his foe.
Reno smirked cruelly as he withdrew his electro-mag baton from his belt. "There's that killer. That's the Sephiroth I know."
"Aerith….go home." Gabriel's voice resonated with a newfound depth, and smoldering with anger.
"G-Gabriel, I... please," Aerith struggled to find the right words. Her eyes were filled with desperation as her heart pounded in terror. She knew what was about to transpire, yet she felt compiled to try and stop it. She willed herself to believe, against all odds, she could defuse the situation. If only she could reason with Reno, and discover why he was acting so erratically, she could prevent them from hurting each other.
"I said, go home." Gabriel's tone grew firmer, his unwavering gaze locked on Reno.
Aerith moved far enough away to give them space to fight, but she didn't run away. She knew that this was all her fault, these men would try to kill each other over her. Because so many years ago she dared to run away and defy Shinra. Because she had dared to step outside her garden, dared to have friends and a life of her own. She had doomed the people she loved to the evil of Shinra and was powerless to save them.
"Now!" Cried a voice from behind Gabriel's shack, a Shinra soldier sprinted from behind it, clutching a large mobile phone.
The roar of rotating blades spinning to life shattered the tension as a massive Shinra gunship ascended from the junkyard heap. Its propeller blades unleashed gusts of wind against the ground, kicking up dust and debris and forcing Aerith to shield her face with her bare arms. Gabriel turned his murderous gaze up at the machine but stood his ground as the chaotic wind enveloped him. The helicopter hovered above the combatants and leveled its gatling gun directly at Gabriel.
The rotating gun spun to life, spewing a torrent of bullets that peppered a line toward Gabriel. He dashed away with lightning speed backward towards the scrap yards, his movements were almost inhuman as he evaded the relentless barrage that followed him.
The gunship chased after the fleeing man, kicking up more debris as it's bow dipped down in pursuit. Just as quickly as it had arrived the gunship sprinted away into the scrap waste, hot on the heels of its target.
The Shinra soldier raced towards Reno, thrusting the mobile phone into his hand. Reno wasted no time and pressed it to his face.
"You staying on him?" Reno asked urgently into the phone.
"For now." Came Rude's barely audible reply over the roar of the attack helicopter "He's retreating into the junkyard."
"That will buy us some time. Just keep the pressure on him. Maybe we will get lucky, and the bastard will run out of the city and we can hit him from orbit."
"No promises" Rude replied stoically.
"I know." Reno almost choked in his reply, knowing this would be the last time he would speak to his friend.
Reno handed the phone back to the soldier, his attention fixed on the chaotic scene that was unfolding in the scrap yard. Explosions could be heard as the gunship unleashed a salvo of missiles. Reno could still make out the shape of Sephiroth dodging and sprinting away from the helicopter's attacks. Two more armed Shinra soldiers arrived and quickly saluted. Reno was about to address their next move when Aerith forced her way to his face.
"Reno! What the fuck is going on!" Aerith screamed, her voice laced with anger and confusion.
Unphased by her outburst, Reno grabbed Aerith's shoulders as the hate in his eyes disappeared into genuine concern.
"What were you thinking? Did he hurt you, did he touch you?" Reno's voice was a mixture of concern for her safety and his anger at Gabriel.
"What? No. He is my friend." Aerith's voice wavered, taken back by Reno's show of concern.
"How can you be friends with that walking death machine!" Reno yelled as he pointed in the direction of the chaotic scene that was unfolding in the junkyard. The sounds of the gun ship's battling gun could still be heard raining destruction down into the waste.
"I don't know what you are talking about!" Aerith yelled exasperatedly; she was still confused as to why Reno treated her friend with such contempt. "He is just my friend; he's never hurt me! I'm telling you the truth!"
Reno could only stare, the consequences of his actions weighed heavily on his shoulders. "It doesn't matter now. You're going to Shinra Headquarters."
Shock and horror flooded Aerith's soft face. "No, you promised! It's not time. You promised me."
Reno couldn't look at her anymore. "After this mess, there's no way the higher-ups are going to let you roam free. I am sorry, it's already been decided. You're going now."
"You said I'd have time to say goodbye." Her voice was sharp but filled with despair.
Reno's gaze turned back to the flower girl. His eyes were filled with regret, an emotion the Turk had never shown her before.
"I can't protect you anymore." He whispered; he knew he would never see her again. Of all the things he wanted to tell her, how he really felt. He could only tell her the simple truth of the situation.
The Shinra soldiers moved forward, each one placing a firm grip on Aerith's shoulders and began to pull her away.
"You promised me Reno! I hate you! I hate you Reno! I HATE YOU!"
Reno turned away as the cursing flower girl was pulled away. His attention shifted to the junkyard of discarded machinery where Rude had chased Sephiroth. Rude's gunship was now on fire, slowly drifting below a hill of scrap metal. A thunderous explosion and black smoke billowed behind the hill. It was a chilling confirmation, Rude had failed and was likely dead. The success of this mission now fell on Reno's shoulders. It was up to him to keep Sephiroth occupied until the entire Sector 5 plate could be dropped down on the silver-haired monster.
"Well….fuck" Reno mumbled, his steps slow and heavy as he began the march toward his seemingly inevitable demise.
He extended his Electro-Mag baton, flicking a switch at its base. An audible click sounded, and with a quick upward flick, a green materia orb popped out. With practiced ease, he caught it mid-air, stashing it inside his pants pocket. In the same fluid motion, he replaced it with another green orb, slotting it into his weapon.
Through the haze of smoke, a silhouette emerged. It was Sephiroth, his shirt long gone, revealing the sculpted musculature chest and that damned black wing arching high over his shoulder.
"Evil death-worshipping bastard." Reno muttered under his breath as pumped himself up for the fight of his life. He was Turk, putting down rouge SOLIDERs was his job, it was what Shinra had made him. He held onto that thought, reinforcing his resolve. After all, it was the Turks who kept the citizens of Midgard awake at night, not some crazed, former general.
"Haste." Reno shouted, the materia embedded in his baton began pulsating with energy. His form seemed to shimmer and flicker, vibrating with enhanced speed as he charged toward the one-winged monster, defying the constraints of normal human speed.
Gabriel sprung forward, his sword raised to block the oncoming assailant, but Reno was in front of him before he could fully react. Reno ducked down and slammed his baton into Gabriel's right knee. A grunt erupted from Gabriel's lips as pain exploded in his leg. Before Gabriel could recover, Reno landed another blow, the baton connecting sharply with his chin. Relying on pure instinct, Gabriel retreated backward from Reno's Electro-Mag's range. The retreat was temporary, he lunged back with a flurry of sword slashes in quick succession.
Reno was faster, parrying each strike with his baton. On the fourth slash, he deflected Gabriel's sword, twirling to launch a roundhouse kick toward Gabriel's exposed body. But his kick only connected with air, Gabriel had propelled himself into the sky just in time.
Gabriel gripped the hilt of his sword in both hands and pointed the blade down at Reno. The one-winged man plummeted from the sky at alarming speeds attempting to impale the Turk on his blade. Reno would have been impaled if not for his enhanced speed, rolling away just before the impact.
Regaining his footing, Reno advanced with his baton held high, hoping Sephiroth's sword was logged in the ground. It was not and Sephiroth was ready for him. He deflected Reno's attack and swung his sword back aiming to slice through Reno's chest. Reno dodged by a hair's breadth, his enhanced speed saved him again, but only just. He felt his body slowing down, the haste spell was starting to wear off, but Sephiroth showed no signs of slowing down.
The mad general lunged forward, unleashing a flurry of slashes that put Reno on the defense. With Haste wearing off, Reno knew he would need space to cast it again. Without it, he couldn't match Sephiroth's speed, and he would be dead in minutes. He needed to buy more time for the demo teams to drop the plate. In desperation, Reno jabbed his baton forward into Sephiroth's face. By sheer luck, the baton breached Sephiroth's defenses and collided with his left cheek. Activating the baton's electric charge, Reno sent a jolt of electricity searing through the mad general's face.
Sephiroth recoiled with a loud groin, buying Reno the time and space he desperately needed. The Turk rushed backward and began to invoke his Haste spell once more.
"Hast—." He called out, but his words choked in his throat as an unexpected force slammed into his chest. Sephiroth's shoulder had collided with his, the force of his shoulder check launched Reno through the air like a ragdoll.
Reno body slammed into a towering pile of discarded steel. Pain radiated through his body as his breath was knocked from his lungs. He instinctively inhaled and felt fire sear through his lungs.
"Damnit!" He yelled, forcing himself through the agony.
Reno tried to focus. He saw his baton lying beside him. If he couldn't cast Haste soon he was dead. With a pained grimace, he reached down and gripped the baton. He was about to call upon the materia that lay inside his weapon when he heard a whooshing sound, immediately followed by a lightning bolt of pain piercing his left shoulder.
Reno screamed as Sephiroth's sword impaled his shoulder, pinning him against the steel pile. He cried out in agony and defeat, his composure crumbling away. As the initial shock receded, Reno fought to compose his breathing, hoping to dull the throbbing torment in his shoulder so he could assess his dire situation. His arm was immobile, his fingers barely twitching. He looked straight ahead and found Sephiroth's chilling gaze as the silver-haired man stalked towards him.
"Arrogant bastard." Reno muttered to himself. He watched Sephiroth's slow approach, perhaps he could use this to his advantage.
"Come on, end it!" Reno bellowed defiantly; his tongue would be his last resistance. If he could get the bastard talking, keep him here until the plate dropped... that was all that mattered.
Sephiroth remained silent, his icy stare never wavering as he reached Reno's side but made no move to retrieve his sword from Reno's shoulder. He simply loomed above him, a menacing silhouette in the dim light. Reno noted the clear fury in Sephiroth's eyes, but also a lucidity that he hadn't expected. Reno was expecting stark raving madness and cruelty. But what was staring down at him was an angry yet sane man, sane as a Shinra SOLIDER could be.
"Why did you come here and attack me?" Sephiroth's voice was a deep rumble, smoldering with suppressed fury.
"Why?" Reno laughed; a harsh sound punctuated by a dribble of blood out of the corner of his mouth. "Should I start by listing all the atrocities you've committed? Or perhaps, I just skip ahead to the fact you are a blight on this world?"
Sephiroth held his gaze steady, any reaction to Reno's words concealed behind a blank facade.
"I have no idea what you are talking about, all I've remembered is living down here in the slums."
"Bullshit" Reno spat out, his surprise at Sephiroth's response swiftly giving way to a deeper scorn. "That doesn't absolve you from what you've done. I'm not a good person, not by any stretch. But you? You fill graveyards. Smashing your face in is the most decent thing I've done in a very long time."
Sephiroth remained silent, his unflinching stare never leaving the wounded Turk.
"You don't get to just disappear, start a new life, and pretend like nothing happened. Not you! You're supposed to be dead and rotting in Hell!"
Reno spat a mouthful of blood onto the dirt by Sephiroth's feet, his mind whirling with confusion and disbelief. He wondered if the monster before him could be telling the truth, that Sephiroth had forgotten his crimes. It made little sense for him to deny his past cruelties here alone with just Reno to hear him.
"Do you really not remember?" Reno asked, his voice gentler. He didn't particularly care about Sephiroth's memory loss, but if it kept him in the kill zone until the plate fell, it would be worth the charade. "Have you forgotten who you were and what you've done?"
Sephiroth shook his head. "All I remember was waking up here a few years ago, nothing else."
"Then I'll fill you in. You're a science experiment—Shinra's finest and most loyal weapon. A killing machine unlike any other. Only, the experiment failed. A few years ago, you snapped on a mission. You burnt down an entire village and killed everyone in it. Your rampage would have continued if some punk hadn't gotten the drop on you and pushed you off a ledge. The top brass declared you dead, but it doesn't surprise me that you're too evil and stubborn to die."
Sephiroth remained silent at these revelations, but his demeanor changed subtly—his brows furrowed, and his eyes betrayed a flicker of...confusion? He walked closer to Reno, leaning in as if to emphasize his next words.
"If what you are saying is true, why has it taken so long for someone like you to come after me? I haven't been hiding. I've been living in the slums for years, and no one recognized me. Why now?"
"Because Shinra couldn't give a shit about what happens down here. They'd have let you rip this place apart if it wasn't for that girl. "
"Aerith?" Sephiroth's eyes widened slightly at the mention of her, his first visible reaction during their conversation.
"Correct, Aerith. She's special, important, and she has no business being around a monster like you. The second they found out you'd laid your bloody hands on her, they sent me."
The concern in Sephiroth's voice grew. "What have you done with her?"
"She's on her way to the Science Department at Shinra Tower. They've been keeping a cell ready for her for years. Honestly, I trust those freaks as much as I trust you. But this...this was inevitable. You just sped the timeline up."
Sephiroth's silence stretched into moments as he stared down at Reno, his eyes intense and questioning. It was as though he was struggling to assemble the jigsaw of reality from the fragments of truth Reno was spitting at him.
"You believe I would harm her." He finally spoke.
"Believe?" Reno scoffed. "No, I don't just 'believe'. I know. Once your past comes rushing back, and you find out who she truly is... You'll gut her just like all the others that dared to cross your path. Death and destruction are your legacy. It's what you were bred for."
Sephiroth didn't reply. He turned his head slightly, as if wrestling with thoughts in his mind, then stepped away from Reno, leaving the Turk impaled and helpless.
"Where the hell are you going?" Reno spat, momentarily overcoming his pain. "Don't you dare walk away. Finish this!"
But Sephiroth offered no reply. Instead, he continued to move away, his back turned in apparent indifference. His black wing shuddered, then began shedding feathers, slowly dissolving into nothingness.
"I can tell you more!" Reno yelled, desperation in his voice. "You had friends, you know! Want to know their names?"
Sephiroth's figure continued to recede, his pace unchanging. The silent refusal was more infuriating to Reno than any retort. He cursed under his breath, turning his gaze upward toward the suspended plate. It wasn't going to fall. The support pillar should've been blown by now. Sephiroth would get away... but thousands would survive, at least for another day.
~~~~~~~~~~~
AN: I'm going to have characters say the names of the spells they cast. I know that's now how they do it in the game, but that's the dramatic way I've chosen. Also, I'm finally done with the amnesia part! You don't know how difficult it was having to call Sephiroth Gabriel these last years. Would have tried something else in hindsight.