Chapter Three

Sephiroth leaned back with an exasperated sigh as he closed the heavy book. "After all of that, I still don't have any better ideas on who could be behind this," he said in annoyance. "No one looks familiar."

"Hmm. I wonder if that means it's someone using a new disguise . . . or if it's a new evil sorcerer I don't even have in my database," Merlin frowned. "Alright, Sephiroth. Do you remember having any strange and negative encounters lately? Even if it seemed minor, it could be vitally important."

"I don't," Sephiroth said. "Most people here are congenial enough to me. They remember how I tried to protect them."

Merlin suspected he still tried, but he would save that topic for later. "What about those who aren't so congenial, though? Surely you've run across some of them."

Sephiroth gave him a dark smirk. "Aside from Cloud, I really haven't in a long time."

"Well, when you do, what do they seem to be angry about?" Merlin asked.

Sephiroth sighed, staring off at the opposite wall. "Some are angry about what happened with Zack and say I should have known better than to keep seeking dark magic," he said. "They're right, of course." If he had only listened to Zack. . . .

"There are some who believe humans shouldn't have wings and that anyone who does must be some sort of demon." Subconsciously he touched the wing that had been pulled on that night. "Or they like the wings too much and want to separate me from them."

Merlin didn't like the sound of that at all. "Have you ever had any trouble with any of them?"

"One of the thugs tonight expressed such an idea. And there was a hunter once." Sephiroth scowled. He hated to talk about this; it was so demeaning. "At first he mistook me for a bird and shot at me. When I came out of the sky and demanded to know what he was doing, he still tried to kill me to take my wings as a trophy."

"Despicable," Merlin said, shaking his head.

"He regretted that," Sephiroth said flatly. He wouldn't mention the rest of the story—that the hunter's arrows had indeed hit him in the sky, and after fighting with the man on the ground he had been too injured to teleport correctly. He had ended up sending himself to King Mickey's castle by accident. That had been . . . awkward and interesting, to say the least.

"I don't doubt it," Merlin said. "And I don't blame you for anything that might have happened during that fight. However, might he have any family or friends who would seek to take revenge on you?"

"I didn't kill him," Sephiroth said. "He could even want revenge himself, for all I'd know. He had one person always with him, a helper or a sidekick or something. He didn't treat the lackey with respect at all, yet the fool stayed with him and even seemed to idolize him."

"Where was this?" Merlin asked.

"It wasn't here," Sephiroth said. "It was in one of the Princesses of Heart's worlds. Belle's, I believe."

"Yes, I thought as much," Merlin mused. "It was Gaston then?"

"That was the name the lackey said," Sephiroth remembered. "You're familiar with him?"

"Oh, he's quite notorious in that world," Merlin said. "And I believe he would be capable of holding a grudge. He might even be obsessed with having your wings. The only problem is, he certainly doesn't have access to high-level dark magic. He would have to be working with someone who does."

Sephiroth grimaced. "Which brings us back to the idea of an evil sorcerer. Is there one in that world?"

"There is a sorcerer who curses people to teach them lessons," Merlin said. "I don't think she would help him. She would be more likely to curse him. He would probably have to go off-world to get anyone to help him."

"And people like that wouldn't be likely to do it for kicks. They'd have to believe there'd be something in it for them." Sephiroth ran a hand over his face. "Unless a sorcerer planned to take my powers, what could I have that they would want to kill me to gain?"

"I can't imagine," Merlin said. "That poison certainly doesn't have any power-stealing properties." He got up. "But at least we have a lead! I will speak with Gaston and see what he has to say."

Sephiroth stood too. "You're going now?"

"There's no time like the present! I don't know that you should come, though, Sephiroth," Merlin added. "If he is mixed up with this, who knows what kind of reception you might get there."

Sephiroth grunted. He didn't appreciate staying behind, but he also didn't care to possibly blunder into something else disastrous after tonight.

"I'll be back in a jiffy," Merlin assured him. And he teleported out.

Sephiroth sighed and sat down again. Well, now what? He supposed he should wait here for now, although he really should talk to Cloud at some point. Or try to; Cloud was not known for being receptive to conversations with him, to say the least.

He looked up when the door opened and Leon looked in. "Where's Merlin?" he asked.

"He went to follow up on a possible lead," Sephiroth said.

"Yeah? What's that?" Leon wondered.

Sephiroth didn't particularly want to elaborate on why this was a lead, so he simply said, "We thought some hunter named Gaston might be involved. He . . . wants my wings."

Leon grimaced at that. "Gaston's pretty bombastic, though. Can't see him being satisfied in stabbing you from the shadows."

"Probably not," Sephiroth said flatly. "But so far, it's all we've come up with."

Leon hesitated, clearly wanting to say something but not sure if he should. Finally he asked, "So what's the deal with you and Cloud anyway? Aerith acts like you're a decent guy, but Cloud acts just the opposite. I know you used to protect us until Zack . . ."

"The situation with Cloud is complicated," Sephiroth swiftly interrupted. "I don't have any answers on why Cloud was able to save my life. It makes absolutely no sense to me whatsoever."

"I don't know if it'll ever make sense to Cloud," Leon remarked. "He used to care about you, though. All of us remember that."

"Yes," Sephiroth mused, "I suppose he did. But he never really knew me. He just idolized the image of me the media put out. When he found out I am not like that image, the caring stopped."

"How did he get that crazy idea about you being his darkness?" Leon wondered.

A dark smirk. "I still have no idea. He just suddenly presented it to me one night at Olympus Coliseum. Of course, I mocked it. Then I thought maybe I could use it to teach him a lesson. I've found that was a mistake." He folded his arms over his open coat. "He took it completely differently than I intended."

Leon shook his head. "Well, Cloud's always had a vivid imagination. Who knows what he cooked up in there about you."

"'Vivid' is a mild word for it," Sephiroth remarked.

Merlin suddenly blinked back into the room, frowning deeply. "Gaston claims he had nothing to do with what happened to you, Sephiroth," he announced. "He says if he were to come after you again, he would make a show of hunting you down like a wild beast. He wouldn't work with a sorcerer and he most certainly wouldn't stab you from the shadows. 'There'd be no fun or sport in that,' he said."

Sephiroth scowled. "Did you believe him?"

"Unfortunately, yes," Merlin sighed. "In any case, he is a most unpleasant person. I'm glad to get away from there."

"And now we're still at square one," Leon commented.

Sephiroth got up from the chair. "I'll keep trying to think of anyone who might be after me," he said. "Right now I'm going to go talk to Cloud."

"Yes, that's a good idea," Merlin encouraged. "The two of you should talk."

Sephiroth nodded and teleported out.

"What do you think of that guy?" Leon asked Merlin. "You seem like you like him."

"I do," Merlin said. "Sephiroth is a strange man, but he has good intentions." He sighed. "I just hope we can figure this mess out before anything else goes wrong."

Leon sighed too. "At least we should have the advantage for now," he said. "They probably think Sephiroth's dead."

"Yes, only if they believe that, we may never find out who they are," Merlin said.

"You mean we might have to announce they failed so they'll try again and maybe slip up," Leon realized.

"Exactly," Merlin said. "I know Sephiroth will agree, but I am worried to put him in such danger. This is not a small matter. For them to so brazenly go after him, they may be a danger to our entire world."

"Yeah." Leon frowned. "Well, we'll solve this. We just got Radiant Garden back. We won't let it go again."

"That's the spirit," Merlin encouraged. "Yes . . . yes, we'll fight with all our might to keep it. And to protect Sephiroth."

"Weird to think of him needing protecting," Leon remarked. "But in this case, he does."

Merlin sighed and nodded. "Let's go speak to the others about this." He headed for the door.

Leon turned to lead him out.

xxxx

Cloud, meanwhile, had grown restless and bored of waiting for Sephiroth to show up and had finally decided to go looking for him back at Merlin's house. But as he walked the darkened streets, someone suddenly spoke to him from the shadows.

"You're a swordsman for hire, aren't you?"

Cloud froze and looked to the voice. All he could see was a dark cloak against the night. The voice was female, but unfamiliar.

"I've been that, yeah," he said guardedly.

"Will you take any job?"

Okay, this was weird. And Cloud wasn't sure he liked it. "I'll listen to any pitch," he said. "Doesn't mean I'll take it."

"You shouldn't have any problem with accepting this task. I want you to kill Sephiroth."

Cloud went absolutely stiff. "You want what?! What did Sephiroth ever do to you?!"

Inwardly his heart and mind were racing. This had to be the person who was after Sephiroth, or someone working for them. How did they already know he was still alive after the poisoning? Apparently they didn't know how he was alive or they wouldn't be approaching Cloud. And what was he to do with such a request? He wanted to turn them down cold, but this might be their best chance of learning something. He might have to pretend to accept. The very thought made him sick after all that had transpired tonight, but they had to get to the bottom of this.

"Nevermind what Sephiroth did," was the cold reply. "I know you and he are mortal enemies and you have come close to ending his life more than once. Finish the job and bring me his heart as proof." A pause. "No . . . that could be too easily faked. Bring his wings as well. There is only one man with three blue wings."

Cloud felt like throwing up. This creep wanted Sephiroth not just dead, but mutilated? "Look, I'm not in the habit of carving up bodies," he said frostily. "Just suppose I did all that. What would I get out of it?"

"Aside from the satisfaction at finally beating your nemesis, you would be . . . most handsomely rewarded. Here is a small sample." A bag was tossed out of the shadows at Cloud's feet. He picked it up and looked inside. It was filled to the brim with gold coins, a tempting prospect for simple mercenaries. But it held no sway with him, especially in this case. "You would receive twenty bags of gold for completing the task."

"And where would I come?" Cloud asked. "Back here?"

"It would need to be somewhere not so out in the open," was the reply. "I will contact you again with further information when I'm sure I can trust you."

"And when will that be?" Cloud retorted.

"Soon." The footsteps swiftly faded into the darkness.

Cloud scowled. After a swift debate with himself, he turned to head back to the girls' house. Just in case he was being watched, it would probably look less suspicious to go back there instead of on to Merlin's as planned.

He barely raised an eyebrow when he got back inside just as Sephiroth was teleporting into the living room. But he shut the door quickly. "You're everywhere tonight," he remarked.

"I always am," Sephiroth said.

"Cloud, what happened?" Tifa asked in concern.

"You look like you saw a ghost!" Aerith added.

"I didn't see one, but someone just hired me to make Sephiroth end up one," Cloud declared. He sank down on the couch and dropped the bag of gold on the coffee table in front of him.

"What?!" Tifa and Aerith exclaimed.

Sephiroth's eyes narrowed. "They already know I survived the poisoning? How could they?"

Cloud shook his head. "I don't know. They didn't say anything about the poisoning and I didn't ask. I thought maybe I could figure out who it was if I acted like I'd do it. I didn't agree, but they're going to contact me again later, 'when they're sure they can trust me.'" He made a face.

"Hmm." Sephiroth studied the scene and went over to the bag, taking out a coin. It was the currency of their world. "So who was this person?"

"They stayed hidden in the shadows," Cloud said in annoyance. "All I know is that it was a woman."

That only further perplexed Sephiroth. "What woman could I have angered enough for all of this?"

"It gets worse." Cloud straightened and looked to him. "She wants me to kill you and then . . . take her your heart and your wings to prove you're dead."

All wings twitched in Sephiroth's irritation. "My wings again? Why does everyone suddenly want them?"

"Who else does?" Cloud frowned.

"One of the ice-wielding thugs commented on them," Sephiroth said. "And there's a hunter from another world who wants them too."

"They are beautiful," Aerith said. "But it would mar their beauty to take them off of you. That's horrific!"

"Do you think this person want to kill him for his wings?" Tifa asked Cloud.

"I don't know," Cloud sighed. "No, wait, I don't think so. The wings were an afterthought, even. She just wanted them because it'd be better proof that it was really him I killed."

Sephiroth looked deep in thought. "Taking the heart as proof of death sounds like the Evil Queen from Snow White's world," he remarked. "But I've never met that woman. She would have no reason to come after me."

"Not to mention, isn't she supposed to be dead?" Cloud grunted.

"She could have survived and left that world for another." Sephiroth sighed, wearily. "If she has a new disguise, I'll admit I could have met her and not known her. She is also certainly familiar with creating poisons just like what I was stabbed with."

"Okay, so we should probably tell Merlin about that," Cloud said.

"I will," Sephiroth said.

Tifa sighed and slumped back. "Well, what do we do now?" she said in dismay. "Should Cloud really play along with this?"

"It's our best chance of learning what's going on," Sephiroth said. "Cloud was logical enough to realize that."

Cloud looked to him. "You'd really trust me to just be playing a part?" he said in surprised doubtfulness.

"You won't kill me, Cloud," Sephiroth said. "And if for some reason you tried that again, I'd stop you."

Cloud frowned, looking back to the bag of gold sitting on the table. ". . . And what if we don't figure out who it is? How would we fake me killing you with her sick conditions?"

Sephiroth sighed. "It would take powerful illusion magic. I could do it. Or . . . you could."

Cloud shook his head. "If I really made that illusion before, I didn't know I was making it. I can't do it consciously."

"And there's also the problem that for this person to be capable of creating that hateful poison, she might be powerful enough to see through the strongest illusions," Sephiroth said. "But it might at least buy us enough time to draw her out in the open and have her arrested. The other problem is, we have such a fledgling law enforcement agency, I doubt anyone in it is prepared for such a prisoner. Merlin might be able to take her on."

Cloud looked to him. "What, you don't think you could?"

Sephiroth sighed. "After tonight? Who knows what else she might be able to throw at me that I would be unable to counter without help. If we could figure out who she is, I could properly prepare myself to face her. Without knowing that, I'd be going in blind and might be foolishly blundering into chaos."

". . . Yeah, I guess that's true," Cloud acknowledged. "And I've got no idea what I need to do out in public so she'll decide she can trust me."

"I suppose we'd have to stage an encounter or two for her benefit," Sephiroth said. "But it would have to look natural and not overdone."

Cloud scowled at that. "I'm not a good actor. After tonight, I . . ." He looked away. "I don't know if I could pull that off."

"Then I'll have to think about what I could do that would look natural and still manage to make you actually lose your temper after tonight," Sephiroth remarked.

Cloud looked to him with a suspicious start. "What do you think you'd do?"

A dark smirk. "I won't be able to tell you, Cloud. Your reaction will have to be genuine for this to have any hope of working."

"I don't like this," Tifa spoke up. "Cloud could get hurt."

"Not if he plays along and doesn't break character, no matter what I might do," Sephiroth said. "If we can convince this woman he's trustworthy, he should be fine. Otherwise, yes, she might decide he's a liability and kill him for knowing too much." He looked to the three of them. "Do you trust me?"

They exchanged looks. Aerith seemed the most sure, and she soon looked back to Sephiroth. "I trust you," she said.

Tifa debated with herself before finally looking back to him with narrowed eyes. "I need to know more before I can trust you," she said. "Why are you doing what you've been doing with Cloud?"

"And what exactly have I been doing?" Sephiroth countered. "If you think back on our encounters, I have mostly been telling him things about himself that he isn't willing to face. When you and I had our skirmish, it was because I didn't want your interference—but not for the reason you thought. I wanted him to discover that he would choose the light because he wanted it, not because someone else wanted it for him."

Cloud nodded. "That's what you told me when you put us in that illusion in the Dark Depths. I still don't know what I think of it, or you. I was ready to talk to you and just listen without blowing up, but then I ran into this woman. If we have to pull off some crazy act to fool her, maybe it's better if we don't talk things out yet. The more confused I am, the more I might lash out at you and make the show look real."

Sephiroth looked impressed. "You're actually thinking things out and being logical," he praised. "Alright then. I'm going back to Merlin's to tell him all of this. And he'll no doubt want to talk to you as well. Will you come with me?"

"Yeah." Cloud got up and went over to him. "You girls stay safe and keep the doors locked."

"We will," Tifa said.

"But that won't help much if someone teleports in," Aerith pointed out.

"Let's hope my enemy can't do that," Sephiroth said as he and Cloud teleported out.