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Chapter Nineteen Kit felt her heart skip a beat at Cloud's words. She wasn't sure if it was in fear... or joy. Sephiroth was here. Just inside the mansion she stood in front of. To see him again... touch him again... the thought almost made her blush. Quickly she composed her face, and pressed her hands together so that Cloud and Tifa wouldn't see how they trembled.
Tifa wasn't about to notice. "He's here?" she gasped. "What... what should we do? Should we get the others?"
"No," Cloud said firmly, his hand on the hilt of his sword. "This is going to be between me and him. You two stay out here."
As he started towards the door, Tifa rushed around him and planted herself in his path. "There is absolutely no way you're going after him alone," she told him. "You think you're the only one who has a score to settle with him? He killed Papa!"
"I know I'm not, but let's face it, Tifa - I..." Cloud stopped abruptly. "He's dangerous," he continued after a moment. "I've been trained in SOLDIER, like he has. I know him better."
Kit studied the uncertain look on his face with amusement. That hadn't been what he was going to say.
"And you think I'm just some amateur?" Tifa exclaimed. "Hey - I studied with Zangan, remember? And not only that, I..." She stopped abruptly too, biting her lip. "He said I was one of his best students."
Kit put a lot of effort into not smiling. It was obvious that both of them had almost slipped and said the exact same thing - I don't want you to get hurt - I love you. How could it be so obvious to her, a relative stranger, when neither of them recognized it and they'd been friends since childhood?
"Tifa..." Cloud growled in frustration, but didn't seem to know where to go with it.
Kit decided to help them along. "While the two of you bicker like a married couple, there's someone inside the mansion who might be more willing to argue," she said. "And before you even try it, Cloud, I'm going too."
Cloud stared at her. "Why should you?"
"Why shouldn't I?" Actually, there were more reasons than she could imagine why she shouldn't. Seeing him again would be such a relief, she might slip and say something to give herself away. Or... what if her being there threw him off guard? And there were the concerns she had over his mental state... but that was why she had to go. She had to know if he was all right.
Cloud threw up his hands in disgust. "Fine. Come on," he said as he stalked off into the mansion.
The interior was gloomy and run-down, lit only by the bleak sunlight that managed to fight its way through the dingy windows. There was no furniture at all in the large hall inside the door, giving it that barren feeling that all vacant houses seemed to assume, as if it was waiting for completion.
Cloud held his sword ready as he started towards the nearest doorway. "Keep your eyes open," he cautioned Tifa and Kit. "Remember what happened on the boat from Junon? He could be literally anywhere."
Kit kept watch to his left side as they crept through the room. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary - except for that strange, eager feeling that ran through the whole town - but it was something to do. Sephiroth could keep his cool if she surprised him, she was sure of that. But if he surprised her, she wasn't so sure what she might do.
She heard the clanking of heavy chains a split second before the monster fell into their midst.
"What the--" Cloud pushed Tifa to the ground, out of the path of the swinging blade the monster was riding upon. No, not riding upon, Kit realized - though the upper torso appeared to be human, the lower half was the blade. The creature laughed giddily as he gripped the chain tightly and threw all his weight to one side, swinging towards them. Cloud stepped in front of Tifa, taking the blow that had been aimed straight at her. As soon as it had swung back away from them, Kit opened fire.
The three of them made short work of the monster and it fell, leaving only the chain still swinging in front of them. "What was that all about?" Cloud pondered. "More of Sephiroth's madness? Can he make monsters now?"
"I doubt it. Hojo was conducting some experiments here, remember?" Kit suggested. "Making monsters does seem to be a hobby of his..." She shivered as she looked over the body of the living weapon they'd just killed. Was he made like she had been?
Cloud suddenly took off towards a corner of the room, and Tifa ran after him. "What is it?" she asked.
"Does it strike you as strange that this place is completely empty except for this envelope lying on the floor?" Cloud said as Kit joined them. "I'll bet it's something about Hojo."
He tore open the envelope, and unfolded the paper inside. Kit and Tifa peered at it from either side as he read out loud. "I must get rid of all who stand in the way of my research. Even that one from the Turks. I scientifically altered him and put him to sleep in the basement. If you want to find him, then search the area. But..." Cloud's eyes narrowed as he read the next part. "This is merely a game I thought of. It is not necessary to participate if you don't want to." Cloud started to crumple the paper. "A game. Wonderful."
"No, wait," Kit told him, taking the paper from his hand before he completely ruined it. "It sounds like someone's life might be at stake. And..." Looking over it again, she was sure she was right. "This is Hojo's handwriting." She didn't know how she knew, but she did. It would be like him to destroy someone's life and call it a game.
"It doesn't matter now," Cloud insisted. "Sephiroth's in here somewhere. We don't have time to search the whole mansion-"
"Then there's a good thing there's another letter," Tifa pointed out, holding up a smaller piece of paper that Cloud had dropped as he opened the envelope. "Move the dial on the safe carefully, but quickly," she read. "You have twenty seconds, you can't go past the numbers when turning, and then it goes on to list hints for the four numbers in the combination. Well..." she frowned at the paper. "Three of them, at least."
Cloud scratched his head, thinking. "I suppose the safe is that safe on the second floor, I remember it from when I was here five years ago, but... we don't have time for this."
Exactly, Kit thought. The perfect diversion. Maybe they wouldn't have to confront Sephiroth at all, if they did this first. And besides... she couldn't allow what had happened to her and Sephiroth to happen to anyone else. Hojo had to be stopped. "Sure we do," she said confidently. "Are you really willing to let another person's life be ripped apart by Hojo, just because you don't think you have the time?"
Tifa nodded. "She's got a point, Cloud. And after all this time we've been looking for Sephiroth, don't you think maybe he's allowed us to find him now? Maybe he's waiting for us..."
"Maybe he's laid a trap for us, and this is it," Cloud retorted. "Maybe he and Hojo are in this together..." He trailed off, thinking. "No, he hates Hojo. I guess you two are right, we shouldn't just let this go, but still..."
Kit had been basically ignoring him, and reading the clues on Tifa's paper. "The first clue says 'the lid of the box with the most oxygen'. What do you suppose that means?"
"Well..." Cloud thought about it for a moment. "Plants give off oxygen," he said finally, reluctantly. "There's a greenhouse room on the second floor... or there was."
"I'll go check it out then," Kit said. "You two figure out what the other clues mean, and we'll meet back here."
"Watch out for monsters," Cloud called after her as she ran up the stairs. She smirked to herself as she glanced down the hallway to her left. How many monsters could Hojo have running around in here, she thought to herself as she headed for the well-lit room at the end of the hallway.
Almost instantly, something hit her from behind. As she ducked, a funny-looking shape floated past her. Kit shot the thing down, noticing as she did so that it sort of resembled a grinning pumpkin. Hojo was one sick individual. She'd have to keep her eyes open from here on out.
The round room at the end of the hallway was full of lush plant life, a striking contrast to the musty, disused feeling of the rest of the house. And sure enough, there was a box sitting in the middle of the room. Kit took the lid off and examined it. "Right 36," she read out loud. "Got it." Glancing back into the box, she noticed it held a large gun. "Well... Barret should be happy," she muttered to herself as she took it and left.
She met Tifa coming up the stairs just as she reached the top. "I was right," Tifa said with a smile. "The second clue was behind the piano. The third clue was up here somewhere, Cloud was going to check that one."
"Found it." Cloud's voice said from the hallway opposite the one Kit had just come from. "But the letter said there are four hints," he pointed out as he joined them at the top of the stairs. "Unless we know what the fourth number is, this is all useless."
Tifa grinned. "It's right 97," she informed him, holding the piece of paper up to the light. "It was written right here on the paper with invisible ink, see?"
Cloud examined the paper and nodded. "What would I do without you, Tifa?" he muttered. Tifa turned away quickly, but Kit could see her blushing. "So let's find out what's in the safe," he continued, heading off the same direction Kit had just come from.
It took a couple tries for Cloud to spin the lock fast enough, but finally his success was confirmed by a loud click. A small red sphere of Summon materia bounced out onto the floor as the door swung open. Cloud bent to pick it up, and Tifa gasped. "Cloud, look out!"
Cloud dived out of the way as a huge shape sprang from inside the safe, making straight for the spot where he'd been standing. He and Kit both drew their weapons, and Tifa started her attack on the misshapen creature right away. "What is this thing?" Tifa shouted as the monster swung an arm at her.
Kit was a little calmer about the whole ordeal - she could stand back a little ways and fire at it. "It's probably just something else Hojo's sick mind came up with," she replied. It might have been human once, but now, I don't know what it is." The ground erupted under her feet, burying her knee-deep in rubble as the monster cast a spell.
"It's dead, that's what it is," Cloud growled, slashing away at one of the flailing arms.
The monster howled in rage as they beat it back, slowly but surely, and when it finally fell, the body turned to dust. Nothing was left to show it had existed, except for the blood on Cloud's sword, which even now he was wiping away with a cloth produced from a pack at his waist.
The gesture reminded Kit uncannily of Sephiroth. Now that she thought about it, Cloud reminded her a lot of Sephiroth, in his fighting technique and his habits. Of course, as a boy he'd idolized the man, she reminded herself. It meant nothing. They'd even been trained in the same program, so of course there were similarities on their techniques.
"Do you really think that was human once?" Tifa asked Kit, helping her free herself from the rubble as Cloud bent to pick up the Summon materia and something else within the safe.
"I... couldn't say." Kit hadn't meant to say that part. She couldn't help projecting herself onto Hojo's experiments, feeling sympathy for them. But for a small accident, she might have become a grotesque monster, or at the very least, she might have lost her mind and been cut down by the Masamune five years ago. She turned away from Tifa to address Cloud. "What else was in the safe?"
"Just this key," Cloud said, holding it up. The key looked ancient and battered. "I bet I know what it goes to," he added, pocketing it. "The letter said someone was put to sleep in the basement. Let's go."
Cloud led the way through the large house, pausing only when they reached a secret door that Cloud opened for them. Inside, a spiral stairway wound around a deep chamber, and at the foot of the stairs was a roughly carved cavern. A light shone at the far end, and Kit shifted nervously as Cloud paused and drew his sword. "He's down there," Cloud said coldly. "I suspected as much..."
Cloud had guessed right. Kit could sense his presence at the end of that corridor, waiting for them to arrive. But why now? Cloud and the others had been chasing him for over a week, and so far Sephiroth had allowed them only a brief glimpse of him, on the boat. That had only been days ago, she realized suddenly, but it felt like a lifetime. Everything had changed since then... everything except her mission. She couldn't fail him. But she knew the members of AVALANCHE personally now, and as much as she hated to admit it, they weren't the selfish, violent terrorists she'd expected.
She had to stall for time to think. "What about the key?" she asked Cloud. "Where does it go?"
He looked at her as if she'd gone crazy. "Are you kidding?" he exclaimed. "Sephiroth is at the other end of this cavern, waiting for us!"
"And also, someone down here is probably trapped and in need of our help," she argued. "If Sephiroth is waiting for us, he'll wait a little longer, don't you think?" How had he known that, anyway?
"Maybe if we help this mystery person, they can help us out some," Tifa pointed out, unknowingly helping Kit's cause. "It can't hurt to have someone else on our side."
"We don't know that this person's even still alive," Cloud growled. "That safe hadn't been opened in a decade, probably. But fine, fine. Have it your way. The door's over here..."
The cavern opened up into a larger roughly carved area, and a door was set into the wall to one side of the corridor. It was to this door that Cloud went. He tried it, but it wouldn't budge. "This door was locked last time I was here, and it's locked now. So..." He tried the key from the safe, and they heard a loud click as the door unlocked. "Yeah, I thought so," he said as he opened the door. As Kit entered after him, she realized that what she'd thought was a pile of twigs and large stones by the door were actually bones and skulls. Human skulls.
The smell of decay was strong inside the small, dark room, and Kit covered her mouth and nose just out of reflex as she waited for her eyes to adjust. When they did, they gave her a shocking sight - several open coffins lay among more scattered bones and skulls. Some looked like they might have been monsters, but most looked human. "So this is what Hojo does with his experiments if they fail," she muttered, disgusted. "I swear, he's got something coming to him." Tifa looked at her curiously, but said nothing.
Cloud was examining a coffin in the center of the room, the only one that still had a lid on. He started to push the lid off, but then he jumped back as a low, quietly ominous voice came from inside.
"...To wake me from the nightmare..."
The lid suddenly flew off by itself, as if it had been hit by a great force from inside, and landed next to the coffin.
Cloud drew his sword, and Kit her pistol. Tifa had already assumed a battle stance, and the three of them stood waiting for the attack of whatever creature was inside. To their surprise, no attack came. "Who is it?" the same voice asked wearily. After a moment, a man sat up slowly, shaking his head as if to clear it. He looked them over briefly, then sighed. "...Never seen you before. You must leave."
He was dressed very oddly, in all red and black clothing, and his hair was long and wild. Kit supposed she shouldn't have been surprised - the note had said Hojo had put him to sleep. It was odd, though... this strange, somber fellow had been a Turk? The ones Kit had known were all so easygoing.
Cloud shrugged. "You were having a nightmare."
"How bad was your dream?" Tifa asked from just behind him.
"Hmmph." The man almost sounded amused. "A nightmare..? My long sleep has given me time to atone."
"What are you saying?" Cloud asked, obviously confused by the whole situation.
"I have nothing to say to strangers," the man told him, but there was no anger in his voice - only weariness. "Get out. This mansion is the beginning of your nightmare."
Cloud sighed, hanging his head. "You can say that again," he muttered.
The man regarded him with a slightly interested stare. "Hmm? What do you know?"
"Like you said," Cloud began, hesitant, "this mansion is the beginning of a nightmare." He stopped and shook his head sadly. "No, it's not a dream, it's for real. Sephiroth has lost his mind. He found the secrets hidden in this mansion-"
"Sephiroth!?" the man asked suddenly.
He and Cloud stared at each other for a moment. "You know Sephiroth?" they asked each other simultaneously.
Kit was less astonished by the fact that the man seemed to know Sephiroth, than she was by the fact that when this man spoke his name, he didn't sound fearful or awed as nearly everyone else did. In fact, there was something in his voice that suggested sympathy. Something that Kit thought only she must feel towards her lover, of all the people on the planet.
In a flash of crimson and black, the man leapt gracefully from the coffin, landing on its edge with precision as his red cape flared out behind him. "You start first," he told Cloud.
Cloud appeared a little unnerved by the strange man, but his uneasiness gave way to anger as he told the story of what had happened to Nibelheim. It was strange, though - he never mentioned the other SOLDIER that had been with them, Zack. "After he ripped away the Jenova mechanism, I challenged him, to fight to the death... but I don't know what happened after that," he admitted. "I don't remember how it ended, but... that's how it was," he finished bitterly.
The strange man seemed lost in thought. "So Sephiroth knows he was created," he mused. "Five years ago? And about the Jenova Project?" He stopped to ponder this. "...He was missing. But he just recently reappeared... He has taken many lives, and is seeking the Promised Land."
Cloud nodded. "Now it's your turn," he told the man.
The man raised his dark eyes to consider each of them in turn, and Kit held her breath. Obviously, he knew something that very few people would know, or he wouldn't have reacted the way he did.
Finally the man spoke. "Sorry... I cannot speak," he muttered. Kit let out the breath she'd been holding in an angry huff.
"Hmm... I'm disappointed," Tifa commented.
"Hearing your stories has added upon me yet another sin," the man said, leaping down into his coffin again. "More nightmares shall come to me now, more than I previously had."
"But... that's not fair!" Kit exclaimed as the man sat down in the coffin, obviously expecting them to leave.
He regarded her with his dark eyes before lying down once more. "Life is seldom fair," he told her. "Now... please leave." As soon as he'd finished speaking, the lid of the coffin somehow replaced itself over the top of him. How did he do that, Kit wondered. He had to be the one in the letter... Hojo had done something to him.
"He can't do that!" Cloud exploded. "After I told him our whole story, and he just..." He angrily approached the coffin again, and as before, the lid flew off before he could touch it.
"You're still here," said the man, and this time his weary voice was touched with irritation.
Cloud nodded. "Who are you? At least tell us your name," he demanded.
"I was with... the Shinra Manufacturing Department in Administrative Research," the man said reluctantly. "Otherwise known as... the Turks." He shifted a little, brushing a wayward lock of hair away from his eyes, and Kit realized with horror that in place of one of his hands was a metallic claw. Hojo's handiwork, naturally. "Vincent," the man introduced himself.
"The Turks?" Cloud repeated, incredulous.
"Formerly of the Turks," Vincent corrected him bitterly. "I have no affiliation with Shinra now. ...And you?" he added softly. Kit would have bet the man hadn't had a chance to speak with anyone in years, he sounded so shy.
Cloud sarcastically gave the man a Shinra salute. "Cloud, formerly of SOLDIER."
Suddenly a spark of interest ignited in Vincent's eyes. "You were also with Shinra...? Then do you know Lucrecia?" Kit frowned. She knew that name... from somewhere.
Obviously Cloud didn't, though. "Who?" he asked.
Vincent looked disappointed. "Lucrecia," he repeated. Cloud shook his head. "The woman who gave birth to Sephiroth," Vincent continued. Kit nearly jumped out of her skin. Sephiroth's mother...? Wherever she'd heard that name before, that wasn't where she'd heard it.
"Gave birth...?" Cloud asked, apparently just as puzzled. "Wasn't Jenova Sephiroth's mother?"
"That isn't completely wrong," Vincent informed him, "but just a theory. He was born from a beautiful lady. That lady was Lucrecia. She was an assistant to Professor Gast of the Jenova Project." The man lowered his eyes regretfully. "Beautiful... Lucrecia," he murmured, so softly Kit could barely hear him.
"A human experiment?" Cloud asked.
Vincent nodded vaguely. "There was no way to cancel the experiment. I couldn't stop her. That was my sin. I let the one I loved, the one I respected most, face the worst." He spoke as if his heart were broken. Kit suspected it was. He spoke of Lucrecia as if she'd been a lover, certainly, and a chilling thought hit her. If Lucrecia was Vincent's lover, perhaps wife... he could be Sephiroth's father!
"So the punishment was sleep?" Tifa spoke up from behind Cloud. "That's... weird."
Sighing, Vincent lay back down and the lid of the coffin once more replaced itself. Cloud stared at it. "That was it?" he said to nobody in particular.
"What were you expecting?" Kit asked him.
Tifa nodded. "We know more now than we did before. Sephiroth had a human mother."
"What difference does it make?" Cloud asked. "He's inhuman, no matter who his parents are. Come on, we've wasted enough time here."
He stalked angrily out of the small chamber, and down the corridor towards another door, where a light still glowed. Sephiroth was still there, and Kit could feel him coming closer with each step she took.
The room they entered was lined with bookshelves that went all the way to the high ceiling, though many of the books were piled on the floor, rather than on the shelves. The light they'd been seeing wasn't coming from the lamp overhead - that was dark. Instead, a light was glowing from down a hallway. The three of them cautiously approached the hallway, and as soon as they got close enough to see who stood at the other end, Tifa gasped. Kit, however, had known exactly who she would see. Cloud made a motion for Kit and Tifa to stand back.
Kit clasped her hands together in excitement at the sight of him, and hoped that Tifa would take the gesture as a nervous one. Not that she wasn't nervous as well as excited, but the sight of him filled her with joy. You are a part of me now, he'd said, and being so close now, after what seemed like an eternity apart... it made her feel more complete.
Cloud took a few steps down the hallway towards the man who stood at the opposite end, gazing up at the ceiling as if Cloud were beneath his dignity to notice. "Sephiroth!" he called.
Slowly, Sephiroth lowered his head to look at him. "Being here brings back memories," he commented, smiling that strange, secretive smile that Kit knew so well. "Are you going to participate in the Reunion?" he asked Cloud.
"I don't even know what a Reunion is!" Cloud replied angrily, moving to a defensive stance.
"Jenova will be at the Reunion," Sephiroth told him calmly. "Jenova will join the Reunion, becoming a calamity from the skies." Kit wondered what he was talking about. Calamity from the skies... He really was mad, she thought. But all the same, she didn't care. Her own words echoed in her ears - It's the man I love.
"Jenova, a calamity from the skies?" Cloud repeated. "You mean Jenova wasn't an Ancient?"
The smirk slipped from Sephiroth's face as he shook his head. "...I see," he said coldly. "I don't think you have the right to participate. I will go north past Mt. Nibel. If you wish to find out..." A hint of the earlier smile reappeared. "Then follow."
Sephiroth still had made no offensive move, and Cloud relaxed his posture, thinking. "Reunion? Calamity from the skies...?" he pondered out loud, staring down at the books on the floor.
Tifa had been watching Sephiroth closely the entire time, hatred in her usually friendly eyes, and she gasped as he drew something from inside his coat and hurled it at Cloud, who was caught off guard. It hit him in the chest with a loud thump, and he nearly doubled over. She started to run to him, heedless of Sephiroth as he rose into the air and flew past them, out of the library.
"Cloud!" Tifa cried as she reached his side and knelt beside him.
Cloud touched his chest gingerly and shook off her concerned questions. "I'm fine, he just caught me off guard is all."
Kit went over to examine the object Sephiroth had thrown at him. A green sphere of materia, and it was still warm from his hands... She didn't know whether to laugh or cry. She'd finally seen him again, but she hadn't had a chance to say a single word to him. When Cloud asked her what it was that she held, she handed the materia over reluctantly, and followed him and Tifa out of the library, feeling numb. When would she see him again?
Halfway back to the spiral staircase leading out of the basement, a soft voice behind them startled her out of her melancholy thoughts. "Wait!" They turned to see Vincent there behind them, holding out a hand. The claw, Kit realized.
"If I go with you, will I meet Hojo?" he asked, staring down at the claw-hand bitterly before looking back at them. He knew what had been done to him, Kit thought.
Cloud shrugged. "Dunno. But we're after him and Sephiroth. So, I guess sooner or later..."
Vincent turned away sharply, lowering the arm with the claw. "Lucrecia..." he muttered brokenly. After a moment's thought, he turned back with a sigh. "All right. I've decided to go with you."
"What? You're coming with us?" Tifa exclaimed. Kit glanced at her quickly, and realized the girl was a little nervous. A strange man with a claw, who slept in a coffin, travelling with them... the idea probably didn't seem all that appealing to Tifa.
"Being a former Turk, I may be of help to you," Vincent said.
Cloud nodded. "All right, then," he said coolly. It sounded like he still was a bit annoyed with the man's earlier reticence. "We're going north, through the mountains. After Sephiroth. He's talking about some kind of Reunion," he explained as they ran up the spiral staircase and out of the mansion. Vincent nodded casually, as if it made no real difference to him. "Kit, why don't you go back and tell the others what's happened, while Tifa and Vincent and I get a head start?" Cloud suggested.
Kit bristled at the idea. "Why me?" If she wanted anyone to get a headstart towards finding Sephiroth, it was herself.
"Vincent doesn't know them, and Tifa... you were the best guide in Nibelheim," Cloud said, smiling a little at her. Tifa smiled back proudly. "If anyone can get us through the mountains quickly, it's Tifa," Cloud told Kit. "We'll leave a trail for the rest of you to follow, and meet you on the other side."
Kit threw up her hands in frustration. "Fine. We'll see you then."
Running back to the town gates where she could see the others waiting, Kit thought over what Sephiroth had said. Cloud seemed to think it meant Jenova wasn't an Ancient. So then, Sephiroth wouldn't be an Ancient either, especially if he was born from a human woman. So then, the only Ancient left alive was...
"Kit! How did it go? Where are Cloud and Tifa? Are they all right?" a concerned voice called as she exited town through the gates.
Kit looked at Aeris and considered the implications of what Sephiroth had said. "They're just fine," she managed to say, despite the feeling of dread that choked her.
To Chapter Nineteen. To the intro. That means it's mine, not yours! |
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