 |
Chapter Five Kit had only gotten a few hours of sleep before she woke the following morning. Her time in the military had conditioned her to be unable to sleep past dawn under nearly any circumstance, and she supposed that it was for the best. Yawning, she got up and began to get dressed, trying to get everything she needed to do completely straight in her head.
Fortunately, it was the first work day of the week, and so her trip to Midgar the day before hadn't caused her to miss any appointments. But in all honesty, she'd have liked to stay home and keep an eye on Gabriel for at least the next day, in case his exhaustion turned into something else. Logically, she knew that was more than likely just a mother's overprotective instinct, especially when she glanced into his room and found him still fast asleep. Gabriel was sixteen, hardly a child. Still, he'd been through so much, and he had been so upset the night before...
Kit was still trying to make up her mind as she headed to the kitchen for a quick bite to eat, but she stopped halfway there, seeing a small piece of paper on the floor by the front door. Kneeling, she picked it up.
BILI, AARON, AND LISA ARE FINE. HOW'S GABE? CALL LATER.
The size and weight of the paper told her who had left the note - she'd had several ridiculous fortunes handed to her on the exact same kind - and the note was still warm from the printing. She opened the door, knowing he couldn't have left it more than a minute ago, and sure enough - there he was, bouncing down the street, and she called after him. "Cait Sith!"
The cat swivelled to look back as the moogle paused. "Ah, good morning! I didn't think it would be a good idea to knock so early, after the late night we had yesterday," he explained as he bounced back toward her. "How's it going?"
"I could probably use a little more sleep, but I'll manage," Kit admitted. "Gabriel seems to be fine, though he's still asleep. It'll take him awhile to get back to normal, I guess, after all that happened this weekend."
"Yeah, I bet," the cat agreed. "Well, like I said in the note, the other kids are just fine too. I spent the night over there with Cloud and Tifa... They had to do some minor surgery to get a few bullets out of Bili, and another out of Lisa's ankle, which is broken, but both of them are awake now and they don't seem to be in too much pain. Aaron was just scratched up a bit, so there's nothing to worry about there unless an infection sets in, and the doctors are keeping a close eye on him to make sure that doesn't happen. Since they were all healed with materia so soon after their injuries, it doesn't look like there'll be any lasting effects - probably not even scars, aside from where the doctors took the bullets out."
"That's a relief," Kit sighed. "Thanks for letting me know, or I'm sure I'd be wondering about it all day at work. It's never a good idea for a counselor to be distracted, you know."
"So you're going in to work today?" Cait asked. "I thought you'd want to stay home with Gabe. I bet yesterday was almost as hard on you as it was on him, right?"
"I'd like to, but I do have... hmm." Kit suddenly thought of a way for her concerns to be put to rest. "Do you have anywhere you have to be today? ...And by 'you', I mean Cait Sith, not Reeve," she added
"Not really," Cait said with a shrug. "Since I didn't think you were up, I was planning on heading back over to the clinic after leaving the note. Not that I'm needed."
"Could you do me a huge favor, then?"
"If it's in my power, why not. Whatcha want?"
"Well... could you stay here today?" she asked. "You wouldn't really need to do anything at all, just be here in case Gabe wakes up. Physically he seems fine, but just in case... plus, you know how sure of himself he's always been. Last night, he woke up for just a little while before we got home, and he seemed really angry - I'm guessing with himself, for letting his friends down. I doubt he'd do anything harmful, but I wouldn't want him to wake up and find himself alone, at any rate."
"So just check in on him now and then, and if he's up make sure he knows he's got a friend," Cait affirmed. "Can do, Kitty."
"Kitty..." Kit rolled her eyes. "Somehow I don't think that name suits me. You're the kitty here, after all."
"Eh, we can both be kitties," Cait grinned.
"You're insane," Kit remarked with a smirk. "And a great guy on top of it. Thanks a bunch, Cait."
With her mind more at ease, Kit headed to her office without too much worry, though as the day went on, she found her thoughts unconsciously drifting back to Gabriel on a regular basis. Reminding herself that everything was under control, she simply pushed her worries aside and tried to concentrate on her clients. Many of them had bigger troubles than a little nagging worry about their children.
Even so, Kit was relieved when the day was through and she could go home. Cait was still in the living room when she arrived, and turned to wave cheerfully at her. "Mission accomplished!"
"I appreciate it, Cait, thanks," she said, smiling. "Did he wake up at all?"
"Well... yeah," Cait replied with a small frown.
The cat suddenly looked a little concerned, and Kit was puzzled. "Something wrong?"
"Nah, probably nothing," he assured her. "But... well, he got up around mid-afternoon, and came out here, still looking a little groggy. When I said hello, he just gave me a dirty look. I shut up then, and he went to the kitchen, got a glass of water, then headed back to his room and slammed the door. Didn't want to talk at all."
"Hmm..." Kit put her chin in her hands thoughtfully. "He probably just didn't appreciate the fact I left him a babysitter. I wouldn't worry about it."
"Yeah, just sort of odd for him," Cait agreed. "But other than his grouchiness, he seemed to be okay. So anyway, if my work here is done, I thought I'd go see what's going on with the others. Sound like a good idea?"
"Yep, sounds fine," Kit nodded. "Thanks again, Cait... take care of yourself."
"No sweat," the cat grinned as the moogle bounced out the door.
With Cait gone, Kit began making dinner; something light was the way to go, she thought, in case Gabriel woke up again. Scrambled eggs and pancakes seemed like a good choice. The smell soon filled the house as she cooked, and she fully expected Gabriel to come out - the boy could smell food a mile away - but by the time she was finished, the door to his room still hadn't opened. Probably still either asleep or just exhausted, she decided, and made up a plate for him anyway.
No reply came from his bedroom when she knocked, and she decided to take a look inside to see if he was still asleep. She found him sitting on his bed, though, fully dressed and staring blankly at the opposite wall. As she entered, he glanced up briefly.
"Good, you're awake," she said with a smile, ignoring the look of annoyance he'd just given her. "I thought you might like something to eat."
She got no response, only sullen silence, but she shrugged it off. "This has taken a lot out of you, I know. So have a little dinner, or breakfast, or whatever you'd consider this to be, if you can. And Gabriel, you know you can talk to me about anything, right? I'll be glad to listen."
"Whatever."
Obviously he wasn't in a talking mood, so she set the plate down on his desk and turned to leave. "If there's anything I can do for you, just let me know."
"You can leave me alone."
Kit was somewhat taken aback, but just sighed and did as he asked. He'd get over it sooner or later. When she woke up the next morning, she found his empty plate by the sink, and that was encouraging.
Still, he remained silent and solitary for the next few days, and she was much more concerned after Cloud stopped by. He'd been hooking Gabriel up with the occasional odd job, when someone needed a little temporary muscle, or guards for the long trip to the port at Junon, and this time he brought news that a pack of Kalm Fangs had been prowling around the chocobo ranch. Choco Billy was looking for a few people to keep an eye out in case they attacked by night, and was willing to pay in either gil or a down payment on a chocobo.
Gabriel and Bili had done things like this before, and even though Bili would need a few days rest yet, Kit thought that the job (and the prospect of his own chocobo) might interest Gabriel enough to snap him out of his bad mood. But when she knocked on his door to tell him that Cloud had a proposition for him, he again told her to go away. Cloud, being near unfazable, told him through the door about the job, and was rewarded only with silence. He just shrugged at Kit's apology. "Someone else will take the job, I'm sure. He probably just needs to take it easy awhile longer. And if he takes after either you or his father, he's not happy about that."
Though Kit agreed that that was a logical explanation for Gabriel's behavior, she became even more worried the next afternoon, when Bili and Lisa stopped by on their way home from the clinic to thank him, and they too were greeted with a chilly silence. Things had gone far enough, she decided; something was definitely wrong, and she was going to find out what was on Gabriel's mind, whether he liked it or not. As a counselor, naturally she was accustomed to delving into the darker emotions, drawing out the secrets they didn't even admit to themselves, but it was different with a person she knew and cared about on such a personal level. With a client, she could remain emotionally detached. With her son? Not a chance.
And so she prepared for the occasion, making his favorite dinner to take in to him, as had become the normal ritual for the past few days. When everything was finished, and she'd filled his plate, she took a deep breath and went to knock on his door. As she'd expected, the response was a muffled "Go away."
"It's time for dinner," she informed him gently. "I'm not going to ask you to come out this time, because I know you won't, but I'd like to bring some in for you. Is that all right?"
There was a pause, then the faint sound of a sigh. "Fine."
At least she'd gotten him to agree to something, she thought with satisfaction as she stepped inside. He was lying on his back on the bed, staring up at the ceiling with a stubborn expression on his face, as if he was refusing to look at her.
He did look up, though, when she sat down beside him instead of leaving as she usually did. "Gabriel, I want to know what's wrong," she told him, ignoring the dirty look he gave her as he sat up. "You're so withdrawn all of a sudden... your friends are worried about you. I'm worried about you."
"Hmph." He leaned forward, hunching his shoulders as if to hide his face. "Why talk to me? Not like you're going to get any pay from this client."
The bitter sarcasm made her frown. "Because I'm your mother? Because I care? What other reason do I need?"
"I don't want to talk to you. Ever."
"Gabe..." She tried to rest a hand on his shoulder, but he shoved it away. "Listen. It's not your fault, what happened in Midgar. Yes, so you got in over your head. It's okay - everyone makes some mistakes at times. No one's perfect, and no one expects you to be anything more than human."
He turned his head slightly to look up at her, a sullen frown on his face, but said nothing. Kit found that slightly promising. "Personally, I'm not even angry with you," she continued. "Though you made a mistake, you did the best you could to correct the situation, and you did a wonderful job. After all, everyone's all right, and it's all thanks to you." She stopped to give him an encouraging smile. "You were always so smart as a child, and this proves you're as quick as ever. I'm glad that you figured out how to use materia-"
"I didn't figure it out, Mother."
The coldness in his voice startled the smile off her face. He sounded... different. "Then what happened?"
"He told me."
Something about the way he spoke made Kit's heart skip a beat. "Who told you?" she asked, trying to keep her voice steady. "Cloud?" That must have been it... but why would Cloud be teaching the children to use materia?
Gabriel's frown deepened from sulky to bitter as he rose, turning away from her. "Not Cloud. Honestly, Mother, did you really think I'd never figure it out?"
"Fi... figure what out?"
"I went into Midgar thinking to see the Shinra building, and the SOLDIER barracks where you lived," he said, staring angrily at the floor. "Who knew what may lie forgotten there? And when I got to the barracks, do you know what I found?"
"No..." She was afraid to ask.
Gabriel turned back to her as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a slightly wrinkled piece of paper. "This," he said coldly, and held it out. She stood to accept it - and caught her breath at the sight.
The picture had faded, but it was that infamous portrait of Sephiroth standing against a backdrop of the city of Midgar, with his long silver hair blowing in the wind, and his long coat billowing. In his left hand, he casually held the sword that was as long as he was tall. Nearly everyone in Shinra's military had idolized Sephiroth, and she'd seen prints of the popular portrait in nearly every room in the barracks, or a drawing based on the photograph. Printed in the corner, in small letters, the caption read "Sephiroth, the legendary SOLDIER."
"Once I found this, it became clear," Gabriel said. "He looks just like me... and with the sword he's holding, it left no doubt in my mind."
"Gabriel," Kit began, but her son didn't let her finish.
"Sephiroth was my father. And you killed him. Why didn't you tell me, Mother?"
"I didn't think you would understand," she said tearfully. "Listen, I'm-"
"I don't believe you," he growled. "I want the truth, Mother. Why did my father die?"
"He had to! He was going to smash the planet and take its power for his own," Kit cried. "Was I supposed to sit by and let him commit genocide?"
"You're covering something up!" Gabriel shouted at her. "You've been hiding it from me all these years - what are you really hiding?"
"I was afraid," Kit wept. "I was afraid this was how you'd react - or worse, that you'd begin to hate yourself. I was only hiding my own fear, trying to protect both of us!"
Gabriel stared down at her as she sank onto his bed. His eyes were hard and glowing green. He'd never looked so much like his father as he did at that moment - he was even dressed similarly, in simple dark grey pants and a black leather jacket and boots.
"One way or another, I will find out the truth," he told her. "I found something else in Midgar, you see." Opening his clenched fist, he produced a crystalline sphere which shimmered in the light, nearly transparent but with a pale bluish, metallic sheen. "When the Lifestream burst up to protect Midgar, and Holy interacted with Meteor - the ultimate protective magic and the ultimate destructive magic - all that energy joined together and produced this materia. You can tell it's special just by looking at it, can't you?" He closed it into his fist again with a flourish. "I call it the Silver Materia."
Kit gaped. "Silver...? What does it do?"
Her son gave her a heartless smile. "When linked with another materia, it makes the effects of the spell permanent."
"How will that tell you anything?"
Gabriel held out his hand towards the open door. "Something else I discovered," he said casually. Reaching over his shoulder, he drew a sword - the Masamune, though it had been in it's place above the fireplace a moment ago. Kit gasped. That was one of Sephiroth's tricks, pulling the Masamune out of nowhere. Gabriel reversed the sword with a simple motion, and held the hilt up before Kit. There were eight slots in it, all holding materia in sets of two which were linked to each other. He shifted it to show her one set in particular, a red summon materia and a blue support materia. Those were the two that Kit had never figured out the purpose of.
"This support materia has a very unique function," Gabriel said. "When the owner of the weapon it's equipped on dies, it draws their essence into the linked materia. This is how summon materia can be purposely made, if you can find this kind of support materia. It's quite rare."
Kit had forgotten how to breathe. "No..." she whispered.
Gabriel nodded slowly, running his fingers over the red materia. "Yes. With this materia, I can summon Sephiroth." As Kit watched, terrified, her son slipped the blue materia out of its slot and replaced it with the silvery orb. "Linked with this, I can bring him back into the world."
"You can't do this!" Kit gasped. "You weren't there - you don't know what he's capable of! You didn't know him!"
"And whose fault is that?" Gabriel asked with a sneer, swinging the Masamune around to point at her. "Yours, and Cloud's. You lied to me, Mother!"
"I asked Cloud not to tell you!" cried Kit. "It's not his fault... and I never lied to you. I just... didn't tell you all the truth."
Gabriel laughed. "As if there's some distinction between being lied to and deliberately being kept ignorant?" His bitter laugh subsided as he lowered the sword. "Never mind that now. Soon I will discover the truth for myself."
Kit looked on in horror as Gabriel rose into the air effortlessly, the Masamune trailing below him. "Don't do this, Gabriel, please!" she pleaded. "What is it you want to know? I'll tell you anything, just please, stop it! I'll tell you anything, give you anything, just stop!"
Gabriel stared down at her with no expression on his face. "I want... to know my father," he said firmly, and shot upward, passing through the ceiling.
With a cry, Kit ran out of the house and searched the dark, overcast sky for a sign of him. Gabriel was nowhere in sight. In despair, she fell to her knees in the street, still staring up into the clouds. Somehow, perhaps through the alien blood they shared, she knew where he was headed - the crater.
She shook her head resolutely. This could not be allowed to happen. If Gabriel was going to try to bring back Sephiroth, she had to go get help. And that meant telling Cloud what happened. And that meant admitting she'd never told Gabriel the truth.
Lights were shining inside Cloud and Tifa's house when she arrived, and the sounds of laughter and conversation drifted out of the open windows. The street was otherwise silent. Everyone was inside, knowing it was going to start raining any minute.
When she knocked on the door, Tifa answered it. One glimpse of the look on Kit's face, and her eyes widened. "What is it?" she asked, stepping outside and closing the door.
"It's... it's Gabriel," Kit stammered in response. "I think you better get Cloud."
"Is he okay? What's wrong?"
The fear Kit had just barely been keeping in check suddenly burst to the surface. "Just get him," she said in a rush.
Tifa stared, but did as Kit asked. A moment later she came back outside with Cloud. He apparently had thought Tifa was exaggerating about how upset Kit was, because his eyes widened too. "What's this about Gabriel?"
"First," Kit began, "I want to tell you, I'm so sorry! You were right, I should have told him, and I didn't, it's all my fault..."
Cloud caught on immediately. "You mean... you didn't tell him yet? After almost seventeen years?" he began angrily.
"It doesn't matter," Tifa said quickly, taking his arm. "Tell us what's happened."
Kit shakily recounted her confrontation with Gabriel. By the time she was done, Tifa looked as if she might faint. Cloud, on the other hand, was a picture of cool confidence, unless you looked into his eyes. In them, Kit saw a look she hadn't seen in him since that battle in the crater - murderous anger.
"Don't be angry at him," she pleaded. "It's like you said, if I had told him earlier, we could have avoided all this, but it's my fault, I didn't take your advice-"
"It doesn't matter whose fault it is," Cloud said in a dangerously low voice. "Tifa, you stay with the kids. I'm calling Cid, and we're going to the crater."
"You can't do that!" Tifa protested. "Not without any materia, at least. You've got to get it from Yuffie first."
"Oh, yeah." Cloud frowned. "I hadn't thought of that."
"Not to mention," Tifa continued, "I stayed behind when you went to Midgar. I'm sick of you always leaving me with the kids and saying it's too dangerous. I came in handy seventeen years ago, didn't I? Well, I think I could be of some use again, if Sephiroth really does return."
"Whoa, what's that?" a voice behind them exclaimed. It was Cait Sith, holding tight to the moogle, which hopped from foot to foot nervously. "I couldn't have just heard what I thought I heard, right?"
Cloud gave a quick explanation of the situation, as Kit was shaking too much to speak. "Hoo boy!" Cait said when Cloud had finished. "You're sure not leaving me behind. Even if it had nothing to do with Sephiroth, Gabriel's my friend, no matter what."
The thought of what might be happening to her son suddenly hit Kit, and it crumbled all her remaining defenses. Her knees gave out and she fell to the ground, sobbing uncontrollably. "This can't be happening!" she whimpered.
Tifa knelt down by her and gave her a quick hug. "You've got to be strong," she told her. "Your son needs you, we'll be with you. Right now we have to call Cid, and then we can go."
"You're not going, Tifa," Cloud insisted.
Tifa frowned. "Don't you dare try and tell me I'm not, Cloud Strife!" she said, standing and jabbing a finger into her husband's chest. "Anyway, call Cid, tell him to go see Yuffie first since he's so close to Wutai anyway. And tell him to make sure she understands how serious this is, that we need that materia."
"I hadn't thought of that either," Cloud muttered.
"See, that's why you need me to go!" said Tifa, exasperated. "To think of all the things you hadn't thought about. Now call Cid, and I'll get our equipment together, and if you still want to argue with me, we'll do it while he's on his way, we can't afford to lose any time."
"I know," Cloud sighed. "Well then..." He turned to follow Tifa inside, then stopped to kneel down by Kit, giving her a quick squeeze. "It'll be okay," he said, but the look in his eyes said he wasn't at all sure.
The door closed behind him, and Kit was left shivering and crying on the ground. There was a rumble of thunder, and a light rain began to fall. It was all that was needed to make Kit's misery complete. At the moment she most needed her friends by her side, they had gone. There was a good reason, of course, and she couldn't expect them to waste any time comforting her, but that knowledge didn't make her feel any less alone.
Actually, she wasn't alone, exactly. Cait Sith was still there, peering down at her from his perch on the stoic moogle. "This is a great joke, isn't it?" she sniffled to him. "All I want is to lie down in someone's arms and cry until all the tears are gone... but no one's here. They have to go get ready to help clean up my mistake..." She tried to laugh, for his benefit, but it came out sounding hysterical.
Cait grimaced as a large raindrop pelted him on the nose. "It'll be just fine," he said, obviously trying hard to sound optimistic. "Your friends are still here, things will work out, I promise." The cat waved a tiny finger at her as the moogle jumped back and forth. "And I know - I'm a fortunetelling machine, remember?"
Cait's antics didn't cheer her up in the least, and she covered her face with her hands. "Thanks, Cait, but that's not what I need right now," she sobbed.
Though she had her eyes squeezed shut, she sensed the bulk of the moogle bouncing closer, and pausing next to her. After a moment, she heard Cait sigh, and then the moogle bounced away down the street. She knew it was ridiculous to feel bad about it, but she did. Now she was completely alone in the cold rain, and still crying uncontrollably.
She sat there for a few minutes in the shadow of Cloud and Tifa's house, trying and failing to find the strength to rise. It was all happening over again - the thought rang in her head until she could think of nothing else. Her lover had been torn away by the pull of his dark heritage, and she'd had a hard enough time living with that knowledge...
Her sobs started anew. Would she have to endure it with her son as well?
Through a haze of despair and guilt that clouded her mind, she faintly heard the sound of footsteps running towards her. She didn't bother to look up - probably it was some unfortunate soul who'd been caught out in the storm - until the footsteps skidded to a halt on the wet paving stones beside her. Someone's arms slid around her, still warm though the shirt was already soaked through, and held her close, sitting there on the wet ground with her.
She looked up then, and saw a familiar face, despite the changes wrought by time. He'd aged well since the last time she'd really gotten a good look at him - still slender, he'd let his hair grow a little longer, but his goatee was still neatly trimmed. Both were beginning to be touched with gray, and there were fine lines at the corners of the dark eyes. "Reeve..." she murmured.
He patted her on the shoulder and squeezed her tighter, shielding her from the rain even though she was already more thoroughly drenched than he was. "In the flesh, for a change," he said, smiling down at her gently. "It'll be fine, really, I know it will."
She clung to him gratefully, and let herself cry.
To Chapter Five. To the intro. That means it's mine, not yours! |
 |
 |
 |