Chapter 16 - Returned to Sender
Summer, 1984
Someone carries him.
Sephiroth feels so weak that his head rocks back and forth as the man runs. The song still warbles in his ears but the sounds of screams and gunshots break into his mind. He's soaked. The warmth of the arms that hold him is strange. Everything inside him is still. It's hard to put thoughts together.
"Stay with me kid."
The face above him is familiar. More people scream. Sephiroth tries to remember but his memory is unmarked. The more he tries to place the strong features and the black hair, the less he knows and the more he is lost. The sword over his shoulder feels familiar. Sephiroth's hand twitches. He's held it. He's sure of that. He doesn't know how but it happened.
"Gast would shit himself," the soldier says and adjusts the body in his arms.
Sephiroth coughs. Nothing hurts. He's limp. The singing in his ears fades, giving him a little more room to think.
They run through a hallway. Other soldiers are around them. Some have guns and others have swords. His head rolls to the side and he doesn't bother to lift it. Everything is happening to him.
"How were you still alive? You should be dead like the rest of them."
Sephiroth doesn't answer. He doesn't know. He doesn't remember.
The hallway moves into a flight of stairs. He doesn't feel safe but he also doesn't care. Gunfire rattles off in the distance. His chest is weak but takes in the air he offers it.
Something bad has happened.
That thought grounds him. It makes him try to move his head back to stare at the man.
"What…" He tries the word but it rips up his throat. The sound is so quiet that the soldier doesn't hear him anyway. He struggles to remember. He knows his name but everything else is gone. It is empty in his mind. Ghostly shapes and fractured images remain. Nothing makes sense.
The stairs end. A garage fills his sight.
"Sephiroth!" The shout causes a ripple of something in him. His head rolls towards the sound.
The soldier stops running. Someone is coming. His feet touch the ground. The man sets him upright and he finds that he can stand. Blood rushes to his head. It makes him spin until someone holds onto his shoulders.
When his sight clears, a woman stands before him. She's still young but her eyes are tired and torn. Her arm is in a sling. Things about her seem familiar. The way that she holds herself. Her hair is braided as always. She's crying. He stares at her, not closing the space between them. Should he know her?
"Please tell me you remember me," she whispers and crouches down, holding his wet hands. "Come on, don't be gone. Don't be gone from me too."
Her eyes search his. She digs into his mind and tries to help him find the piece of memory that would trigger everything. He looks to find it. Everything is all dark. Memories echo faintly back at him in his mind as he queries her hands and softness. She's been in his life before. She knows him. She's gone. She's safe. She's here. She shouldn't be here. Those are the only things that he is sure of. The rest is shattered nonsense.
A word comes back to him.
"…Mariella?"
It's a name.
The tears rush down her face.
It's her name.
Something splits deep in his foundation. He steps forward into her arms. He's crying. He's crying so hard that it might break him in two. He can't stop. Grief pours out of him from someplace he doesn't understand. It keeps coming and coming and he feels like he's throwing it up. The poison stings his throat and face. She swallows him up in her arms. His blood and mako stain her clothes. Her hands stroke over his head, his shoulders, his back.
"It's okay. You're safe now."
And that ends part one!
Quite the ride, wouldn't you say?
Also, hey, look! Sephiroth is still an unreliable narrator! Welcome back Mariella.
Thanks for reading as always. -Quin
Thanks to A for betaing this chapter. You can find their FFVII work on Twitter (AngealLovesYou).