FORTY-ONE

The first thing I noticed about the mansion was the quiet. It didn't look much different than I remembered, although I thought there were more dust and cobwebs than before. A heavy stillness lay in the air, and I shivered at the dark memories being here brought back. Just ahead of us along the right side of the house past the foyer, the wooden staircase wound its way up to the second floor. I started to lead the girls toward it, but then Jessie suddenly took my arm.

"Cloud, wait," she whispered. "Let's look around first."

I blinked. "Why? If Sephiroth's here, he'll be in the basement just as he was last time. I doubt there's anything else to see here."

Tifa shook her head. "No, Jessie's right. Who knows what surprises he might've left for us? We should check the rest of the house first, just to be sure. Then we'll go down to the basement."

"Securing the perimeter," I nodded. "Alright, makes sense."

We started with one of the small sitting rooms on either side of the front hall. The one on the right didn't have anything of interest, but we found an old desk in the lefthand room that looked promising. And so far, no monsters. But I wasn't entirely sure it would stay that way. Light from a nearby window filtered in from outside but didn't go very far in the gloom that hung sullenly about the mansion.

"Look here!" Aerith exclaimed, taking a small sheet of paper from one of the desk drawers. "It's a note of some kind."

She was right. The note wasn't long but left us with more questions than answers. Jessie and Tifa crowded in close to see it as I looked over it, and the style of the carefully-written script seemed vaguely familiar, as if I'd seen it before somewhere else. I felt a brief twinge of pain in my head as I tried to remember, then shook it off and concentrated on the note, reading the words and numbers carefully again.

I must remove any who would interfere with my research, including that meddlesome Turk. I'm quite proud of how I altered him—he is now quite a unique specimen, especially after what Lucrecia did. Her attempt to save him merely added to the perfection of my design.

But he was too dangerous to leave unattended, so I locked him away in the basement, forever trapped in impotent fury. Lucrecia will probably never forgive me, but it doesn't matter. She has served her purpose in the experiment, and the child is growing as expected. He will be strong, more than anyone else. My crowning achievement.

I suppose I should write down the combination to the safe upstairs in case I feel like tormenting that foolish Turk again. He is entertaining, I'll give him that. It's almost like a game, seeing how far I can push him. But I digress. There is much yet for me to do, and the president wants results. Fool. Science cannot be rushed. But I suppose I should finish this up. Let's see now, the combination for the safe is…right 36, left 10, right 59, right 97. The key to open that Turk's cell is inside.

"Someone's locked up down there?" Jessie breathed.

"Seems that way," I replied.

Tifa shivered. "Who would've done that?"

"From the writing, it sounds like Hojo," Aerith grimaced. "I'd know his style anywhere. And this is just the sort of thing he'd do. But what I wanna know is, what did he do to this guy?"

I was curious, too. "Let's ask him."

"You think he's still alive?" Jessie wondered.

"Could be," I replied. "The note looks pretty old, probably from the days when Shinra was still here, but we should at least look for him. He might help us, and whatever Hojo did to him may have kept him from aging too much. Any enemy of that bastard's our ally."

She nodded. "Right."

"Yeah," Aerith agreed. "And besides, nobody deserves to be locked up in such a horrible place. Let's go help him."

Knowing where to go next, I led the girls further into the mansion. But as we walked quietly into the large foyer, we suddenly heard a loud scraping sound, like metal on metal, as one of the strangest things we'd ever seen swept toward us in a rush. From the waist up, it looked more or less like a man, but instead of legs and feet, it had a huge curved axe blade about fifteen feet long and two feet high. The monster hung from a long, thick iron chain suspended from the ceiling and swung through the air like some freakish, deadly pendulum.

Jessie whipped out her blaze talons. "What the hell is that!?"

"Trouble," I answered, swords in hand.

While Aerith stayed back to support us with her magic, Jessie, Tifa, and I rushed in close and pounded on the creature. It came at us again and again, its huge blade swishing past uncomfortably close each time. At one point, I had to grab Jessie by the arm and quickly yank her aside to keep her from being sliced in two just as the thing dove right for her in a mad rush, and I felt the breeze as it passed.

"You okay?" I asked Jessie.

She nodded. "Yeah. That was too close. Now let's finish this horror show freak. I like my head right where it is."

I smirked as I readied my weapons. "So do I."

We rushed in together, talons and swords slashing and slicing into the monster as we struck at it from opposite sides while Tifa hit it from the front with a flurry of punches and kicks and Aerith shocked it with a blast of lightning magic. When the monster lost its grip on the chain, we pressed the attack and didn't let up until it finally lay still. Once the dust had settled, the mansion was eerily quiet.

Keeping my weapons drawn, I slowly led the girls upstairs, and the sound of the steps creaking under us was strangely loud in the stillness. The long hall on the second floor went off in two directions, with three tall, curving stained glass windows dominating the back wall behind it. Although I knew the bedroom with the secret passage leading down to the basement was somewhere off to the right, we had to find the key to that guy's prison first so we could free him.

"Alright, that safe's up here somewhere," I said. "So let's split up and look for it. We'll meet back here in ten minutes."

Jessie glanced at Aerith, then me. "I'm with you, Cloud."

I nodded, seeing her uneasiness about being alone with Aerith but knowing this wasn't the time or place to ask her about it. "Okay. Aerith, Tifa, be careful. We don't know what else—"

Just then, four of the strangest creatures I'd ever seen floated down from the ceiling above us. They looked like strange, twisted pumpkins with ribbons around their stems and a wide white collar hanging from their base. Their bloated faces leered at us as they dove in, two of them spewing thick clouds of noxious pink vapor.

Jessie and I coughed a bit but managed to shake it off and keep our heads clear, but Tifa just staggered around blankly, knocked into a daze by the sudden attack and swinging her fists mindlessly through the air. Aerith was unaffected, though, thanks to the ring Barret had given her for her birthday. She quickly used some Esuna magic from her cleanse materia to bring Tifa back to her senses, then dispersed the vapor with one of her healing winds while Jessie and I hit those freakish pumpkin monsters with a few strong spells of our own.

The combination of Jessie's fire and my ice together with Tifa's fists was enough to overpower the creatures before they could attack again. When the battle was over, we stood there for a moment in the upstairs hall catching our breath, although we all kept a close eye on the gloom and shadows that were everywhere in this place.

"Whew!" Aerith spun her staff. "Nasty things, huh?"

Jessie lowered her weapons but kept them lit for now. "Yeah. Good thing you were on the case, Aerith. Cloud and I might've gone nuts too if we hadn't gotten a lucky break back there."

"I'm gonna call them dorky faces," she giggled. "They're so weird… this place is even stranger than I thought."

"Tell me about it," Tifa agreed.

I frowned. "This place was empty last time I was here. I'm guessing Hojo came back later after the incident and left some of his specimens here to guard the mansion and kill any intruders."

"Makes sense," Jessie nodded. "Might be more around."

"Stay alert, everyone," Tifa added.

While she and Aerith headed off to the right, Jessie and I went left, making our way to the end of the hall and three doors. The one ahead of us opened into a small, round room with wide windows and a lot of potted plants on shelves but nothing else of interest. To the left was the large bedroom I'd slept in years ago, the blankets old but still in decent shape. Paintings hung on the walls, and a pair of windows to our right looked out over the overgrown yard outside.

"Cloud!" Jessie hissed as she readied her weapons.

I hefted my swords. "I see them."

Laying on each of the two twin beds was long, oval mirror outlined with a thick, distorted wooden frame. I hadn't really given them much thought at first, but now they rose up and hovered in the air in front of us. Hojo definitely had an imagination, twisted as it was. From each of the mirrors hung a small, round gold pendulum on a thick chain, and I found their swaying almost hypnotic as I watched it.

Jessie called forth her materia's magic. "I hear it's bad luck to break a mirror, but I guess we don't have much choice."

With that, she cast her spell and launched a blast of enchanted fire at the closest mirror, but the magical energy simply bounced off it and flew right back at her in less than a second. Jessie's eyes went wide, and she let out a startled shriek as she was hit by her own spell. Fire blasted her in the chest and hurled her into the wall. The impact knocked one of the paintings loose, and it fell to the floor along with her as both her weapons dropped from her singed fingers.

I rushed over to her. "Jessie!"

"Shit!" she groaned. "Didn't see that one coming…"

"Are you alright?" I asked.

Jessie winced but nodded as she picked up her blaze talons. "Yeah, just got a little cooked. Help me up, Cloud."

I did, then we turned to see the mirrors still hovering nearby, both of them facing us. They moved in closer, and I was just readying myself to slash at the one in front of me when I noticed the reflection inside it and froze. It wasn't me. And when I heard Jessie to my right gasping in shock, I knew what she was seeing wasn't her, either.

What I saw was someone wearing an outfit a lot like mine and with Buster on his back. He had bright, glowing mako blue eyes same as me, but his hair was long, black, and spiky, and he was taller as well. I felt as if I almost knew him, but before I could wonder any more about it, my head seemed to explode with pain. I clutched it in both hands and was dimly aware of Jessie screaming next to me.

What was she seeing? I managed to pull myself away from the dark vision in front of me and looked over at her mirror. But it was only her in its reflection, shaking her head in denial as she backed away. Maybe only she could see whatever private hell was really there. As for me, the pain had subsided a bit when I looked away, but when I looked back at my mirror, it intensified again, like screws drilling into my skull. Then the guy in the mirror's reflection spoke to me. His voice was as familiar as the rest of him but oddly cold. It didn't feel right.

"Don't you even know who you are?" he sneered.

I winced in pain as my head throbbed. "You're not real, you're just an illusion! Now get the hell away from me!"

He shook his head. "And we used to be so close…"

"Enough!" I yelled.

Not bothering to pick up my swords from where I'd dropped them, I slammed my fist into the middle of strange mirror and the reflection of what wasn't me. The glass shattered with a bang, and my next punch snapped the frame apart. At the same time, Jessie hacked at her mirror, her blaze talons cutting it to pieces as she growled in fury and denial. A moment later, it was over. The pain in my head faded and disappeared, and I felt like myself again. Jessie just stood there, though, her weapons slipping from her fingers to clatter onto the floor.

"Jessie?" I asked. "You okay?"

She didn't answer. Instead, she rushed into my arms with a pained cry, clinging tightly to me and laying her head on my shoulder. I hadn't held her in weeks, almost a month, not since leaving Costa del Sol, and it wasn't until that moment that I realized how much I'd missed it. But I was also worried. Jessie was trembling uncontrollably. I hadn't seen her like this in a long time. It reminded me of how scared and broken she'd been in Fort Condor after waking up from that terrible nightmare she'd had. Something to do with Aerith, I was sure.

"What did you see?" I asked gently.

Jessie shook her head. "No, I… I don't wanna talk about it, Cloud. I can't. Not now. Just hold me for a minute, okay?"

I tenderly stroked her cheek. "Sure. I'm here, Jessie."

So I held Jessie close as we stood together in the quiet and stillness of that haunted house. Tough as she always was, whatever she'd seen in that mirror had really shaken her, so I comforted her as best I could. It took a few minutes, but soon Jessie finally began to relax. Although she stayed in my arms for a while, I didn't really mind.

"Cloud, talk to me," she said. "Take my mind off what I just saw. It doesn't matter what you say. Just help me forget."

I nodded. "Okay. Let's see… oh, I know. Remember that dream we shared together back in Midgar? I always wanted to tell you, seeing you there in that moment really made me happy."

She smiled. "Really? Thanks, Cloud. I felt the same way, especially since I didn't know if I'd ever wake up. But being with you, even a little, gave me a boost and helped me to hold on."

"That's what Aerith was hoping for," I replied. "Me too."

"I thought she had something to do with it," Jessie smirked. "Guess I'll have to thank her. Been wanting to, but things have just been hectic for so long that I've never gotten around to it."

I flashed her a faint little grin. "I know the feeling."

"Cloud… we've never talked much about our dream," she went on. "We shared something very special. I know this isn't really the place to do it, but let's spend some time together later and reflect on it, okay? I'd also like to tell you what I saw when I was… near the end, if you know what I mean. Something wonderful happened…"

"Definitely," I agreed. "I wanna know everything, Jessie."

She hugged me and sighed contentedly. "Then you will. Looks like we'll have plenty to talk about on our date."

I slid my fingers through her hair. "As long as there's pizza."

"Deal!" Jessie laughed. "It's been a while, huh?"

"Too long," I replied.

Just then, Aerith and Tifa rushed in, both of them clearly worried, but they relaxed when they saw we were alright. Aerith sighed in relief. "Are you two okay? We heard screaming…"

"Um, that was me," Jessie admitted. "But I'm fine."

"What happened?" Tifa asked.

I pointed at the wreckage of the mirrors. "Those things."

"They… they were alive," Jessie shivered. "And the reflection I saw, it was me, but at the same time, it wasn't…"

"What do you mean, Jessie?" Tifa wondered.

Jessie shook her head. "No, it's too much, Tifa. I can't… I can't talk about it. All I'll say is that it scared me to death."

"Okay," Tifa nodded. "Take your time. We're here for you."

"Thanks," Jessie said.

Aerith gently took her shoulder. "You're not alone, Jessie."

"Not when I've got you," she smiled gratefully, laying her hand over Aerith's. Then she looked over at me, her expression serious again. "By the way, I know you saw something too, Cloud. Even as frightened as I was, I noticed how you smashed that mirror with your bare hands. But you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."

"I did," I replied, thinking of that dark-haired guy, how familiar he was, and just how wrong his attitude had felt, as if it wasn't like how he really was at all. "And you're right, I'm not up to saying anything about it right now. It was strange, Jessie. And a lot to take in. But maybe, once I've had a chance to sort it all out, I'll tell you."

She hugged me again. "I'll listen whenever you wanna talk."

I didn't doubt it for a second. "Thanks."

"So, any luck finding the safe?" Tifa asked us.

"Not yet," I told her. "But there's still one room here that we haven't checked yet. How about you? Anything?"

Aerith sighed. "Nope. Just some weird monsters."

"More mirrors?" Jessie shuddered.

"No, these were like giant scales, the kind you put weights on," Tifa explained. "They were a little tricky to fight, but we managed. Also got another enemy skill from them, too. Slams your target into the ground hard. I don't know what to call it, though…"

Aerith snapped her finger. "Got it! Heavyweight!"

"Perfect!" Tifa agreed.

I nodded. "Sounds good. Now let's go check out that last room. It's right across the hall, so it won't take long. Then we'll head to basement whether the safe's in there or not. Ready, ladies?"

Jessie picked up her weapons. "Always."

As soon as I led her and the others into the other room, I saw what we were looking for. Right in front of us, across from the door and next to a bookcase, stood a tall iron safe sealed with a combination lock. As we approached it, Aerith took out the note we'd found and read me the numbers and directions one by one. Less than a minute later, there was a soft click, and I slowly pulled the safe open.

Inside were stacks and stacks of folders and papers, probably notes about Hojo's research here. Amidst all the documents, Tifa pulled out a thick book about magic, astronomy, and planetology, opened it up, and looked curiously through it for a moment.

"Anything?" Jessie wondered.

"I'm not really sure," Tifa shrugged, closing the book. "It's all about stars and planets and such. Lots of terminology I don't understand. But Red might. He grew up learning about all that."

Aerith nodded. "Let's save it for him."

"Oh, look!" Jessie exclaimed. She grabbed a glowing red orb from a shelf built into the inside wall of the safe. "Summon materia! Hojo's not gonna be needing this little beauty anymore."

"Good catch, Jessie!" Tifa agreed.

Aerith grinned. "Yeah! So who's inside?"

Jessie gazed intently at the orb. "Hmm, let's see… Odin. Big strong guy with a big sword. Kinda like someone else I know."

"Sounds familiar," I quipped.

She winked at me and smirked. "But he's not as hot as you."

I folded my arms in front of me. "I know."

"Ha! Playing it cool, are we?" Jessie laughed as she put the materia into her belt pouch. "I love it when you do that!"

Although her voice and gestures were cheerful enough, I knew just how shaken she still was by what had happened with the mirrors in the other room. Jessie was slipping into her familiar flirty role, playing the part to help her stay calm and keep from being overwhelmed by fear. I understood and played along to help her do that, and I didn't have any doubt that Aerith and Tifa had noticed as well.

"There's the key," I said, picking it up off the same shelf the materia had been on. "Time to check out the basement."

"And then let's get the hell outta here," Jessie added.

Tifa nodded. "Oh, I'm all for that."

I led her, Jessie, and Aerith back out into the upstairs hall and past the main stairs to the other side of the house. The secret door was right where I remembered, in the corner of that old bedroom, and the stone wall slid open to reveal old wooden steps descending in a circle toward a dim underground passage far below us. We hurried down the steps as quickly and as carefully as we could. I went first, Jessie and Aerith next, and Tifa followed behind us watching our backs.

It was damp and dark in the tunnel with those iron chains hanging from the ceiling here and there, and Aerith shrieked in surprise when a swarm of large black bats suddenly flew past us. Once they were gone, she composed herself with a small, sheepish grin, and we went on. The locked, thick wooden door stood near the end of the tunnel on our left and slowly swung open with a groaning creak after I'd inserted the key we'd found and pushed. Then I quietly led the girls inside. But what we saw wasn't anything like what we'd expected.

"Coffins?" Aerith shivered.

"This house keeps getting weirder and weirder…" Tifa murmured. "No wonder nobody ever went inside it before."

I had to agree. "Looks like the rumors might've been true."

"What rumors?" Jessie wondered.

"Back when Cloud and I were kids, we used to hear lots of strange stories about this place," Tifa explained. "Some really spooky stuff, too. Weird experiments, monsters, that sort of thing."

Jessie shuddered. "I believe it…"

"Doesn't look like anyone's here, though," I said.

Five large coffins sat closed on the stone floor, but that was all. The room was otherwise empty, and I couldn't help wondering if Hojo had been lying in that note of his. Or maybe he'd just locked that other guy up somewhere else in the house and we'd missed it. Either way, it didn't look like we could do anything else in here.

"Figures Hojo would get off on leading us around like that," Aerith grimaced. "Making us think someone was in trouble down here so we'd all go rushing through this terrible place to—"

"Look!" Tifa pointed.

Just then, the lid on the coffin in the middle of the room slid aside, pushed by a hand in a black leather gauntlet. Then the man it belonged to slowly sat up, and as I looked at him, I began to understand why he'd been locked away in here, even if I didn't agree with it. The guy looked as strange and dangerous as everything else in this twisted house as he gazed at us with his piercing, reddish-brown eyes.

Lean, grim, and tall, with pale skin, long, black hair, and a wide red headband, the man wore a thick crimson cape with ragged edges and a high collar over his black leather outfit. He also had tough gauntlets on both hands, but the left one was fitted with a polished bronze claw that stretched all the way up to his elbow. The talons were long, curved, and very sharp, and his tough knee-high leather boots were reinforced with pointed bronze toe spikes over the top and front.

"Whoa…" Jessie breathed.

"It's time…" the man murmured, his voice soft and resonant, every word carefully measured. "What was will be again."

My widened. "You were expecting us?"

He nodded. "Yes. And no. I don't recognize you, and yet I do. This moment… it's happened before, and will again. I've seen it many times in my dreams. Along with other things…"

"You'll get nightmares in a place like this," Tifa shuddered.

"Too many," the man agreed as he stood up. "I have yet to atone for my failure, although my long rest has given me time. The memories of it haunt me still. As this house no doubt has you."

Jessie shivered. "Tell me about it…"

"You're here to find him, aren't you?" the man said.

"Sephiroth," I confirmed. "He's here."

The man stepped nimbly out of the coffin. "He is, and yet he is not. What lurks in the darkness is the calamity in his form, guided by him. At least, for now. But that may change…"

"What do you mean?" Jessie wondered. "And how do you know all this, anyway? Weren't you just sleeping in there?"

He glanced at her. "Fair questions. Let's just say that I'm not exactly what you'd call normal… or entirely human. At least, not anymore. But I can help you. Jenova has a will of her own, one that may run counter to his when she no longer has any need of him. My… unusual… nature allows me to sense certain things others may miss."

Aerith looked curiously at him. "Unusual nature?"

"You'll see," the man replied.

I didn't doubt that. "What's your name?"

"Vincent," he answered. "Vincent Valentine. Formerly of the Turks. I no longer have any allegiance to Shinra."

"Cloud Strife, ex-SOLDIER First Class," I introduced myself. Then I motioned to the others. "Jessie Rasberry, former actress and our tech expert. Tifa Lockhart, martial artist and a hell of a good cook. And this is Aerith Gainsborough, one of the Ancients."

"But not the last," Vincent surmised.

"How did you…?" she blinked.

He shrugged. "His words didn't indicate you were one of a kind. So that must mean there is at least one other."

"You know of them?" I asked.

"A little," Vincent replied. "They were all but gone even in my time, thirty years ago now. When I was… changed."

Tifa gazed curiously at him. "That's why you don't look much older than us. Like you haven't aged a day since then. It's because of whatever was done to you in this terrible place, isn't it?"

"Yes," he said. Then he looked at Jessie. "You're new."

She nodded. "I guess you could say that. This journey we're all on, I was never able to be a part of it until now. It's a little complicated, but we can get you up to speed later once we're outta here."

"As you wish," he agreed. After gazing intently at her for a moment, he turned to me. "You said you were once with Shinra. Then might you know of Lucrecia? I doubt you'd have met her, but…"

"Who?" I wondered.

"The woman who gave birth to Sephiroth," Vincent answered.

Tifa gasped. "What? But isn't Jenova his mother?"

"In a sense," Vincent explained. "But not entirely. Lucrecia was the one who carried him inside her and bore him as part of an experiment. She also worked on the Jenova Project with Professor Gast until he left. As a Turk, I was her bodyguard. I… cared for her."

"A human experiment?" Jessie shivered.

I thought of what Sephiroth had told me here five years ago. "Yeah. Sephiroth said he'd been created to have the power of the Ancients. But he must've been born as a human. From Lucrecia."

Vincent went on. "Correct. I tried to dissuade her, but she wouldn't listen. And the experiment couldn't be stopped. I was unable to protect her when things went wrong, and she suffered."

"What happened?" Tifa wondered.

"There were… complications," he replied. "Unforeseen side effects caused from the presence of the Jenova cells in her body. She had been injected with them so they would then be passed to her baby. That was Sephiroth. He was the experiment, not her."

Tifa's eyes widened. "So does that mean you're…?"

"No," Vincent shook his head. "I'm not his father. I don't know who is, although I have certain suspicions. In any case, I've languished here for long enough. Do you intend to confront Hojo?"

I nodded. "Sooner or later. He's got a lot to answer for."

Vincent pulled a triple-barreled shotgun from the holster strapped to his right thigh and spun it easily. "More than you know. And I mean to explain it to him. As a former Turk, my skills are at your disposal. If you'll have me, that is. What's it to be, Cloud?"

"Welcome aboard," I answered.

"Glad to have you on the team, Vincent!" Aerith grinned. Then she looked at us and laughed. "Hey, I just remembered! We all talked about this place back at my house in Midgar. I just knew we'd find something interesting in here! Looks like we were right."

Jessie chuckled. "Yeah. I'd actually forgotten about that."

Tifa smiled. "It's good to meet you, Vincent."

He nodded slightly in acknowledgment but said nothing, and with a sweep of his crimson cape, went with us out of the room and into the main tunnel. The lab was just a short way ahead of us, and as we made our way cautiously toward it, I felt more and more uneasy and couldn't help wondering what we might find waiting in there.