AN: Hey everyone! Wow, it's been a while I know and I'm sorry for that. The last couple months have been crazy. I moved half way across the country and started university, so there has been a lot of changes i have been getting used to. Now I am ready to get back into the groove! Please please remember to review, if only to just let me know that some of you are still around and I'm not writing to empty space. So here it is... enjoy!
The Highwind had was still in the air when Cloud jumped, landing silently amongst the white trees. He straightened from his crouched position. Cloud whirled around, his blade directed at the figure leaning against one of trees a couple of feet away.
"Vincent, what are you doing here? Have you seen Rain?" asked Cloud, lowering his weapon.
Vincent stepped forward to stand beside Cloud, and then continued past him, "Rain is not here. I have come to collect Yuffie."
Cloud's eyes narrowed in confusion, but a loud off key voice drew his attention in the direction where the top of the conch shell shaped building could just be seen through the trees.
Yuffie sat at the very top of the ancient building, legs dangling over the edge. She was singing loudly while juggling three orbs of materia. "Yuffie?" Cloud called confusedly.
Yuffie looked down and her grin widened, she started waving recklessly, "Hi, guys! Look what I found!"
Unfortunately her frantic waving caused a break in her rhythm and the materia fell.
"Oh, no!" The ninja shrieked and leaped forward, apparently unconcerned she was sitting on the edge of a building. With a shriek the girl tumbled through the air.
In a swirl of red, Vincent leapt from the ground catching the young girl in midair. Cloud caught the three materia orbs with a casual flick on his wrist, rolling them around his palm before abruptly clenching them.
Cloud took a step forward, "Yuffie, where is Rain?"
Yuffie, who had been gazing dreamily up at Vincent, suddenly snapped out of her trance.
Then her eyes abruptly widened and a hand went to her mouth in horror, "Rain!" Yuffie could only shake her head, gasping, "S..she came for me. Oh, Minerva Cloud, I gave her away, and then... and then..."
Yuffie broke off, but surprisingly it was Vincent that finished.
"Rain got Yuffie out by using the Sender Summon. Rain did not make it out."
Cloud was utterly still. "What do you mean she didn't make it out?" whispered Cloud hoarsely.
"She was shot during while Yuffie escaped," Vincent answered.
"Shot?" Cloud repeated softly, "How do you know this?"
"I saw the security footage at the Shinra base. She was shot through the chest, they gave her immediate medical aid but nothing beyond that was shown on the record." Vincent watched Cloud carefully as he spoke. Thankfully Cloud seemed too distracted to notice Vincent was not telling the whole story, mainly who they were. Cloud was already frantic, no need to make it worse by mentioning Sephiroth's involvement.
"Then she is still alive!" Yuffie interrupted, "Rain is too stubborn to die so easily. She said so herself."
A low buzz vibrated in Cloud's pocket and he absently took out his phone and flipped it open and listened as a stream of profanity poured from the earpiece. Cloud let it continue for another few seconds before cutting it off, "Cid don't bother turning off the engine we're heading back to Wutia. We'll be on board in a moment."
Yuffie slid out of Vincent's arms and crept to Cloud's side, laying a hand on his arm.
"Cloud," Yuffie whispered, "Rain, before...um, before I escaped, she told me to give this to you."
Cloud hesitated then took the ring that Yuffie held out to him. It was the one he had given Rain on her thirteenth birthday, six years ago. He starred at it puzzled and looked at Yuffie expectantly who shook her head confused, "I got the feeling you would know what it meant."
Cloud peered at it a moment then closed his fist around it and started walking again.
Rain opened her eyes and groaned. She was back in her cell after passing out again. Something that was happening more and more often as the dosages of mako were becoming higher and more frequent.
Creatures in lab coats, calling themselves human, carried out experiments on their subjects. Rain scoffed; in reality those scientists were far more like monsters than anything created in the lab. This was similar to Cloud's memory of his time in a Shinra lab. The experiments were still brutal, but it wasn't as simple as just surviving like Cloud had. Cloud had been only a cadet. He had no secrets or understanding of his eventual purpose. Rain did not have that luxury. Rain had secrets and Hojo knew it. Ever since she uttered the name Omega, Hojo knew something was there.
Rain blinked, replaying that exchange. Did she do the right thing? How would this change the path of future events? Had she accelerated the events that would lead to Vincent's confrontation with Hojo in Deepground?
Rain did not regret what she had done to save Zack. Never! She did wish there had been a different way of doing it. But it was too late for that. Right now she just needed to concentrate on enduring another day, enduring the next hour and prepare herself for the inevitable next experiment.
The experiments lately had become increasingly odd and terrifying. Hojo had seemed entirely too pleased about the results of the last experiment. The look on his face had scared her. The latest set of experiments suggested he knew something.
A couple minutes later the door opened and Hojo scuttled in along with a couple of guards. Hojo never approached her without them unless she was securely strapped to a table.
"I see you are awake." Hojo looked down at her approvingly through his glasses, "We can start the next round of experiments."
Hojo was not deterred by Rain's lack of response, in fact he seemed excited it showed in the way he moved his hands as he talked. "We could avoid a large portion of this unpleasantness if only you would cooperate a little."
Rain glared, but did not say anything. She hadn't spoken since Zack had escaped. He was long gone by now. She needed to think of herself now, would need to stay strong until she too found a way out. She was not going to die in a place like this! Not after everything she had gone through, she was too close to finishing it to let everything be taken away my some made deranged scientist. Looking at the device in the guard's hands it seemed Hojo was going to do his best at trying to break her.
Hojo motioned the guard forward, "I see you still have quite a bit of fight left in you. Let's take advantage of that, shall we."
Angeal reached out to steady Zack as he came to an abrupt halt. Angeal watched closely as Zack's forehead scrunched up in confusion, just like it used to in simulations when Zack could not figure out how to proceed. Hojo really must have hit him with something hard for it to still be having an effect in Zack's body.
"What is it Zack?"
Zack turned to face him, "This is it."
"What is?" Sephiroth took a step closer.
Zack looked around,"This is the last place I saw Rain. She was on the other side of that door."
Sephiroth drew Masamune; before either Angeal or Zack could react the wall was sliced cleanly through.
Sephiroth paused, "Where now?"
Zack stopped, and Angeal noticed his drooping shoulders, "I don't know. It could be anywhere from here, down any of these halls."
Sephiroth did not say anything. Angeal had never seen him like this. Sephiroth's silence wasn't anything new, but there was something else going on with him. He seemed nervous. No, that wasn't accurate. He seemed... volatile and Angeal worried that the slightest thing could set him off.
"We split up." The command was issued softly, but Angeal understood the finality behind the order.
Before waiting for a reply, Sephiroth strode off at a brisk pace down the hall to the right. Zack seemed about to protest when Angeal stopped him.
"Let him go Zack. We will cover more ground this way. He will find us if anything happens."
Zack froze for a moment unsure and Angeal knew he too must have sensed Sephiroth's odd behaviour but he sighed and nodded, "Or we will find him."
"True, Sephiroth is not the most subtle fighter. We'll just follow the trail of collapsed buildings and dead bodies." Angeal muttered under his breath.
With a slight smile, Zack followed Angeal. Every one of Zack's senses was on high alert. Whether it was because of the high level of mako in his blood or his anxiousness to find Rain he wasn't sure. Sephiroth's behaviour also bothered him.
"Do you have any idea where she's being held, Zack?"
Zack snapped back to attention and shook his head, taking a moment to form his thoughts into words. Strange, he had never ever needed to concentrate so hard to do that.
"I was only transferred from the labs to the holding cell once, and I was, sort of not completely all there. I don't remember anything that could lead us there."
Angeal slowed but wisely choose to keep quiet, which Zack was thankfully for. He knew Angeal would eventually confront him on what all that had happened, but not until they were safely out of Deepground.
As they wandered down hall after hall Zack noticed they had not run into a single individual and wondered if Sephiroth was having better luck. Then again, if he did they would probably know. Every alarm would have gone off by now, Zack doubted Sephiroth was in the mood for a stealthy entry.
Footsteps ahead caused Zack and Angeal to step back in a dark room. A small group of lab technicians passed down the hall, bent over clipboards and portable monitors.
Angeal gripped Zack arm and motioned with his eyes toward the retreating figures. Zack shrugged his shoulders causally and nodded. Why not? They were not getting anywhere wandering the halls on their own and these lab coats might just lead them somewhere useful. And if not they could at least convince them to help.
They kept their distance as they silently followed as the lab techs navigated their way through the maze of halls. It was only when techs stopped at a locked door and typed a password into the keypad that Zack and Angeal ventured closer.
Before the door clicked shut behind them, Angeal's hand slid between stopping the lock from reactivating. He waved for Zack to follow. A set of steep stairs climbed up not even ten feet past the door and they could hear the lab coats footsteps above them. They took the stairs two at a time. The stairs were long and there were about five flights of them; the footsteps above them had long since stopped by the time they reached the top.
Two scientists were talking near the stairway when they reached the top, one updating the other.
"Subject's vitals are all stable, injuries and lacerations of the subject's lower back and arm seem to be taking longer than usual to heal but are healing never the less. It's as the professor suspected, the higher the level of mako in the target the more the subject seems to be able to sense its location even without any sensory functions. In the last couple of minutes we have also noticed changes in subject's skin. We have notified the professor and he is on his way."
Angeal was just about to motion to Zack to move forward and intercept when he felt Zack dart past him. Grabbing the two startled technicians by the throats he didn't even give them time to speak before slamming the two heads together. The men crumpled like limp dolls at Zack's feet.
Angeal sprung to Zack's side intent on calming him. He had never seen that look in Zack's eyes before, pure fury bent on blood. It was a look he had seen before in men in situations where their fury was the only thing keeping them alive in the midst of total chaos. Such an expression seemed wrong on his pup's face. It made him almost unrecognizable. Angeal did not have to worry long however, Zack was already rooted to the spot staring out in front of him. Angeal grabbed Zack's shoulder, his other hand tightening on his blade when he saw what Zack was looking at.
The room was an observation room, a lot like what they had in simulation rooms to watch the progress of SOLDIERS. The far end of the room was a floor to ceiling window overlooking an enormous arena several floors below.
In the area were monsters! Angeal counted six of them, none of which he recognized. This probably meant they had been created down in Deepground somewhere.
The monsters were not what had captured Zack's focus. It was the little figure hardly more than a child that all the monsters were targeting. The person was weaponless except for a long jagged piece of metal that was being wielded like a sword. Primitive to say the least, but in the figure's hands it was probably just as deadly as a sword in the hands of a trained man.
It was only when the kid seemed to sense a long reptilian like monster trying to sneak up from behind and turned. That Angeal caught the blond haired spike that worked itself loose and was standing straight up on the back of the kid's head that Angeal recognized who that little person was.
Rain!
Three monsters already lay dead around the Rain, but putting her to fight against six monsters was not what was fuelling Angeal's growing anger, he had seen that before. That had been Sephiroth growing up. It was one more final act of cruelty that made him pull the buster sword from his back.
A wide band wrapped around the kid's eyes and ears, effectively blocking any sound. The contraption fitting against the nose and mouth, Angeal could only assume filtered out any smell while allowing the subject to still breathe.
Angeal took all this in mere seconds. They were pitting a blind SOLDIER against mako-enhanced monsters just to see how long she would last. It was sickening!
Three scientists suddenly stepped through the doorway. One stepped forward angrily, "What are you doing? You are not allowed to be in here?"
He was immediately silenced by Zack's fist and Angeal quickly took care of another man who he could see reaching for what he guessed was a silent alarm. He then grabbed another who tried to make a break for it and slammed him down on a control console.
Stop this now." Angeal's voice was quiet, but left no room for argument.
The tech sneered, oblivious to the obvious danger he was in. "You think you can just barge your way in here and demand such a thing? You have no authority."
"Wrong answer!" Angeal slams his fist across the man's jaw, crushing it.
"Forget this Angeal, we don't have time!" Zack spoke from behind him.
Angeal just glimpsed Zack lunge toward the glass paneling, and shouted a warning, but it was too late. Zack slammed hard into the glass with his shoulder, but the glass held without even cracking, throwing Zack to the floor.
Angeal sighed, "You really need to look before you leap pup. The glass is obviously meant to withstand any attack from below."
One of the remaining lab techs cowering in the corner rose slowly. "It...it can't be st...stopped. It only ends wh…when either the subject dies or takes out the remaining targets," he offered hesitantly.
A howl from down below drew their attention back to the arena. A reptilian monster howled as Rain impaled it through the abdomen. The creature raised its claw and struck Rain across the head sending her flying back halfway across the arena onto her back.
Rain struggled to her feet, but Angeal could already see it was too late. The other monsters had taken advantage of the momentary weakness to strike.
A large explosion of rocks on the far side of the arena caused a shock wave through the floor. All the monsters in the arena paused for a moment as a large piece of debris struck the creature nearest Rain in the head.
Angeal signed in relief. Zack climbed to his feet, grinning broadly, "What took you so long?"
Rain felt the shudder through the steel in her hands and a wet stream of what she assumed was blood. Even that small sensation unnerved her. The fact that she could not see, hear, or even smell had caused the few sensations still available to her to become incredibly sensitive. Another sense had also developed in the darkness and was the only thing keeping her alive.
Rain had first noticed it when Hojo had put the helmet contraption on her for the first time. Rain became aware of presences in the darkness. Not shapes but like a flicker of light that glowed green against the black backdrop. Some lights were barely visible hardly brighter than the darkness, others were stronger, brighter.
Correlating her actions around these flickers of green candle light, Rain soon found it gave her at least an outline of where the creatures in the room were located. For as soon a she attacked one of the monsters in the room with her, one of the lights would disappear.
Rain soon realized her connection with the planet was allowing her to detect any mako traces that approached her. The stronger the mako traces the brighter the flame. That along with reflexes developed through countless hours of training done in the dark Wutia forests had enabled her until now to stay ahead of the creatures.
So when she felt the piece of metal in her hands sink into flesh and saw the green light before her vanished. Rain was aware of another light hurling toward her. Before she could react it hit her in the head.
Rain was aware of three things all at once. First, the sense of flying through the air. Second, there was something new in her world of darkness; an incredibly bright star of mako light seemed to be exploding around her. Lastly, which was surprising considering the order it which it appeared, was pain. A pain that that increased when she landed hard, rolling her body into a tight ball to lessen the impact. Rain sensed the smaller mako shapes closing in fast. There was no way she could recover in time.
The ground suddenly trembled and the mako shapes abruptly turned away from her. What was going on? Another mako presence filled her awareness. While the others had been only a faint glow in the dark, this one shone like a spotlight in her mind. One by one Rain felt the faint glows in her mind vanished until there was just that one presence felt and it was coming towards her!
All of the panic, all the fear of the darkness Rain had been suppressing day after day suddenly rose to the surface. Whatever Hojo was sending in now was unlike any of the mako presences she had felt before. This was something that she knew she had no hope of defeating. It was all over, and that certainty terrified her. So when something suddenly gripped her arm from behind, she swung with all her strength, jerking her body back. When her fist connected only with air, she ran. She didn't care where as long as it got her away from that bright light. A grip on her arm pulled her back. She struck out again this time combining an attack with her leg with her fist, but both attacks were blocked when something wrapped itself around her pinning her arm and legs.
She flailed desperately with her free arm and contorted her body, trying to free herself from her attackers' grip, but the creature simply pushed her forward. Rain gasped for breath and realized her voice was hoarse. She had been screaming the entire time.
Sephiroth moved his head to the left as Rain's fist shot by his ear. He was not surprised by the attack. He had assessed the situation in an instant when he had broken the wall. It was a scene all too familiar to him!
Sephiroth quickly dispatched every creature in the room until only Rain was left in the corner. Forcing the itch in his sword hand to calm down, he sheathed Masamune and approached. He had expected the violent reaction when he reached her, but the blood like scream of terror that emitted from her throat, so high it almost didn't even seem human, sent a shiver down his spine. Even the mako in blood seemed to quiver.
Despite the inhuman sound, Sephiroth pulled her to him when she tried to pull away. His hand reached to remove the restraints on her head, but the sudden violet assault Rain threw at him forced him to avoid the attacks. He managed to keep a hold of her as she continued to scream and hit him.
Seeing no other alternative, Sephiroth pulled her close to him and wrapped his arms around her, trapping her in his grip. Sephiroth was the strongest man in the military, yet this tiny woman almost slipped from his grasp. Sephiroth hooked her leg and brought her to the ground, using his weight to keep her pinned. A fighter of Rain's level should know to keep her head forward on impact, but either she was so terrible she didn't notice she was falling, or the devise on her head unbalanced her. Either way the back of her head hit with a crack.
The brief pain on impact seemed to cause her to still for a moment and the screams finally stopped.
In this brief moment of silence, Sephiroth risked releasing one hand to try and release the apparatus around her head. He tugged at it sharply a couple of times, and then saw the lock system located on either side of the jaw. He traced his fingers over it briefly. He could easily break it but he wasn't sure he could do it without harming the girl.
"Sephiroth wait," A familiar voice spoke over the speakers.
"Angeal," Sephiroth growled, moved his hand back to get a better grip on Rain who had resumed struggling, "Get down here now!"
"Zack is on his way, he's bringing the key to release her, just hold on to her until then."
Sephiroth let out an exacerbated sigh.
Without knowing why, Sephiroth leaned forward and rested his forehead against a small patch of bare skin visible on her forehead. He immediately felt like he had just dived a pool of water and surfaced into an endless expanse. The fog that hang in the air was laced with green mako.
This place was familiar, he had been here before when he called Rain into his office and invaded her mind. He was back, entangled with Rain through the high levels of mako that coursed through their bodies. This was Rain's mind. Sephiroth looked around and saw a small girl was huddled down hugging her knees. It was obvious she was crying.
Sephiroth approached slowly, not wanting to scare her, but in reality he had no idea how to deal with children.
He stopped in front of her. She stopped crying but did not look up. After a long moment he spoke, "Why were you crying?"
The girl did not look up, her voice was muffled in her knees, but Sephiroth heard it all the same.
"I'm scared."
Sephiroth's brow furrowed, "What are you afraid of?"
She still did not look up but again she spoke, "I can still see them, they're all dying."
"Who?" His voice came out sharper then he intended but the girl didn't even flinch. "Who is dying?" Sephiroth pressed harder, now kneeling down before her.
The girl now raised her head slowly, her voice now clear and calm as she stared into his face, "Everyone."
Sephiroth pulled back. The face was young, but it was recognizable as Rain!
The child Rain looked at him, but he got the sense she wasn't really seeing him, "Everyone will die."
Sephiroth stared, something was wrong, different.
His words came out slow and detached, "Rain, do you know who I am?"
The girl blinked and then responded in a tone similar to Sephiroth's, "You are the General of Shinra, and you were once the Hero of the Wutia wars. The one winged angel who had fallen. You are... the returning nightmare."
Her eyes widened in fear and she ducked her head into her arms again.
Sephiroth felt a chill run through him at the terms this child was using to describe him. Fallen angel? Returning nightmare? They didn't even make sense, hero of the Wutia wars? But the one thing that really disturbed Sephiroth was all through Rain's descriptions of him, not once had she used his name.
Sephiroth clenched his fist. This was not the Rain he knew, this was just a... He paused as it made sense, this was merely a shadow of her, a representation that knew about him, but did not really know him.
Reaching out Sephiroth cupped the girl's face in his hand forcing her to look at him. He didn't even recognize his own voice. It flowed from his throat softer then it had ever been in his life. "Where are you, Rain? This child is not you, Rain! Where are you hiding?"
The girl's eyes widened, "No! You'll hurt her!"
Sephiroth shook his head slowly, "No, I have no wish to hurt her. I am trying to help her."
"You're lying!" The girl now shouted, "No one ever finds their way in here, except to hurt us. You brought her! She always comes here, always fights us."
Sephiroth felt that chill in her words. It couldn't be!
"Who comes here?" Sephiroth practically hissed.
Unfazed by Sephiroth's tone, the girl didn't hesitate in answering, "The Calamity! She is always here, always waiting."
This wasn't possible! Could he have contaminated Rain when he first entered her mind under Jenova's influence? The familiar whisper in his head was now suddenly getting louder.
Gritting his teeth against the voice, he grasped the child by both arms lifting her off her feet as he rose to his full height and violently he shook her. "Rain enough! I know you can hear me. Come back!"
Time started moving very quickly, the child grew until her feet reached the ground, and the Rain he knew was standing before him. She stared at him, than whispered one word, "Sephiroth?"
That word shattered the void and brought both of them crashing back to reality.
Sephiroth was still lying on top of Rain. Rain was grasping the material of his leather coat from where her arms were pinned to her sides and was gasping his name over and over again in a chocked voice.
"Sephiroth? Sephiroth!"
Sephiroth released her hand. She immediately brought it up to the back of his head. He felt an odd sensation as she lightly ran her hand through his hair. Her whole body suddenly relaxed beneath him.
"It is you." Her voice was now collected and calm. She was back.
The hand then moved from his head to grasp the helmet on her head, but Sephiroth grasped the wrist tightly in his, stopping her.
"Get it off... please." Her voice broke slightly at the end.
A concealed door at one of the arena opened and Zack came running through with a strange looking device in his hand followed by Angeal. Sephiroth had never been so glad to see both of them as he was in that moment.
Sephiroth sat up as Zack approached. Zack knelt down by Rain's head, turning it so the lock was facing up towards him.
Rain gasped at the feel of another set of hands and started to squirm, twisting her head away. Angeal started forward to help, but Zack had immediately stopped what he was doing and spoke gently, ruffling the top of the blond spikes. Rain immediately stilled. Within seconds Zack had the device slipped into the lock. There was a small hiss then click and locks released.
Rain's eyes were wide and her face red where the helmet had been touching her skin. She looked at her rescuers for a moment like she didn't really quite believe they were actually there. She brought her hands to her face and rubbed it vigorously.
"Am I allowed to get up or am I to be arrested," Rain asked hoarsely.
Sephiroth did not move for a long moment. It intrigued him that someone could go from a high level of terror, then to relief at being rescued, to wariness of the very people who saved her. He realized that from Rain's point of view, SOLDIER custody might not be any safer. It was just exchanging one captor for another.
"Would we really come back all this way if we were going to arrest you?" Zack's voice was sounded hurt although it was clear from his face that he didn't take it personally.
Rain let her gaze drift from Sephiroth to Zack and her expression softened. "I know you wouldn't Zack, but why would they?" She gestured to Sephiroth and Angeal.
"You should already know the answer to that, SOLDIER," answered Sephiroth, surprising both Rain and Zack.
Rain turned back to Sephiroth and the softening of her face made uncomfortable emotions stir within in him again. The same feelings that had made him leave Zack and Angeal to search for Rain on his own and stirred that unquenchable rage and need for blood within him.
He actually jumped when Rain suddenly put her hand on his arm. Her face was now thoughtful.
"SOLDIER," she repeated softly, as if piecing together what that word meant. In their eyes she was first and foremost SOLDIER, whatever else came second.
Then for the first time a small smile crossed her face and the hand on his arm tightened, "Thank-you, Sir."
Sephiroth could only nod blankly. Standing quickly he reached out a hand to help her up. Rain wrapped her arm around her abdomen, wincing slightly as she slowly got to her feet on her own.
Sephiroth's eyes narrowed as he took in her physical injuries. Her clothes were torn and bloody from cuts and lacerations across her back and arms, but what he really noticed was her skin. It had a faint white sparkle of light to it, like what had happened when she called that summon, but it was slowly being replaced by a green glow that seemed to throb beneath her skin. Mako! The veins in her arms clearly showed the green substance pulsing within.
Sephiroth looked away, his vision clouding with red. His sword hand twitched as he again felt that desire for blood. He needed to get control of himself.
Suddenly his gazelocked on a familiar figure looking down at them from the observation room high above them. With a roar a silver wing erupted from Sephiroth's back. Masamune was in his hand and then soaring through the air. The reinforced glass shielding the figure within did not stand a chance against the sword being hurled at it and shattered into a million pieces. The blade impacted the stunned figure driving him back across the room embedding itself into the wall above the control console.
Hojo stared down at his chest in shock as his white lab coat became stained with red. How could this be happening? His hand fell limply on the console below him and his fingers started moving. He could not die! He just needed a few seconds.
The blade was abruptly ripped from him causing him to cry out. Hojo fell onto the console and felt a burning pain pierce through him again. When he looked up at the glowing eyes narrowed into slits staring down at him. White hair and feathers filled the air around the terrifying figure that could only be described as death incarnate. This being of raw uncontrollable power that he had created; his legacy.
As if knowing his thoughts Sephiroth bent forward and hissed, "I was never yours!" and twisted the blade.
A fresh infusion of pain and Hojo's vision grew dark.
Rain had started after Sephiroth as soon as he had taken off, but stumbled. Strong arms wrapped around her waist and she was suddenly in the air. Angeal yelled back at Zack to follow as he flew them up and swung her through the shattered window.
Sephiroth stood breathing hard before the bloody corpse of Hojo, Masamune still embedded through his chest.
Rain stared at the scene before her, torn between satisfaction at seeing the professor sprawled dead over the console, and disturbed by the image of the blood soaked Sephiroth standing over Hojo. It wasn't the killing that had her disturbed, but that Sephiroth had looked eerily similar to when he had attacked Cloud in the reactor at Nibelheim a lifetime ago.
Stepping up behind him she laid both hands on his sword arm.
"Stop, please stop." The plea came out no louder than a whisper. She half excepted to be tossed across the room. After a brief pause the arm moved and Rain dropped her hands when she saw Sephiroth pull his blade out of the body and began to wipe it clean.
"Thank you for this," she whispered to Sephiroth for the second time, "But I'm alright now."
A low whistle behind them made Rain turn. Zack who had climbed in through the window now stood observing with a satisfied expression "Couldn't have dealt with the freak better myself. It's about time Seph."
An alarm suddenly sounded from somewhere far away and Angeal spoke, "We need to get going."
Sephiroth turned to go and Rain felt Zack come up beside her and try to pull her away, but Rain resisted. Instead she stepped closer to the dead professor, imprinting the scene on her mind so she could describe it in utmost detail when the time came.
"Sorry Vincent," she muttered, "I know promised I would not kill him myself, but I think if there was anyone who had more reason to kill him then you, it would be your son."
There was a sudden stillness and when Rain turned she saw Angeal and Zack looking at her in surprise. Sephiroth paused, but there was no outward sign he had heard.
As they climbed down the stairs leading from the observation lab, Rain felt something at the corner of her mouth and brought her hand up to her face. When she looked down at it she saw in alarm that it was smeared with blood. A metallic taste was filling her mouth. Fighting down the rising panic she swallowed hard and clenched her hand into a fist.
"Rain, are you alright?" Zack asked concerned, "You don't look so good."
Rain turned and gave a small smile, "I'm fine Zack. I'll be just fine."