Chapter TwentySix


"Hey, wow.... is that it up there? Urk-"
"Yeah, I guess so... Well, it couldn't be anything else, could it? It'll only be another ten minutes or so, so hang in there, Yuffie."
"It's so... pretty."
"What the #$&%? Yeah - pretty #@^$ messed up!"
Kit ignored the excited outbursts coming from the front of the Tiny Bronco, and continued to stare listlessly into the dark water and the sunset behind them. The little plane was unable to navigate the deeper waters that surrounded the village Cid had spoken of, so all she could do was go with AVALANCHE to the Temple of the Ancients after all.
At least they were almost there at last - the trip had not been a pleasant one. Once they were on their way, Cloud had related the story she'd told to those who had missed it. Since then, the others had been looking at her strangely. She couldn't say they were hostile, but the way they glanced at her certainly spoke of anxiety.
Well, not all of them, she had to admit. Vincent was as aloof as ever, and Aeris was as friendly, if more subdued. Cait Sith, seemingly forgetting that she knew he was a Shinra spy, approached her from time to time and tried to make her laugh. Not that he had any success - between the tense mood on board the Tiny Bronco and her occasional bouts of illness, she wasn't about to laugh even if she hadn't known his true nature.
And so every day, she'd been moving further towards the back of the plane, until she finally found herself on the very tail, where no one would approach her. That was fine - she wanted the time alone. Too bad though, that those voices whispering in the back of her skull wouldn't go away. They faded in and out, rarely intelligible, but always present. She wondered if Sephiroth heard them... She had to find him. She had to.
You love him? the voices asked.
"You can't be real," Kit mumbled, putting a hand to her head as her vision blurred. "Why wouldn't I have heard you before? It's only since he told me," she told herself with as much firmness as she could muster. "He told me, and I went and started imagining things. Imagining myself going mad."
What was the difference between going mad, and just imagining that you were going mad? Hopeless, the voices cackled as a severe wave of dizziness crashed down on her. She could feel herself losing her precarious balance on the plane's tail, but she didn't care anymore whether she fell into the sea or not. The voices were right...
Just as everything was going dark, two hands grabbed her from behind and steadied her. She shook her head, trying to clear it, and turned to see with surprise that the hand on her left shoulder was actually a metal claw.
"Vincent. Thanks," she said, trying to smile at him. "I'm okay now."
"I wonder how many times I heard Lucrecia say the same thing," he replied, not loosening his grip one bit. "The first time, I believed her. And I had to dive to catch her before she hit the floor. After that, I knew better." His expression remained the same as always, stern and solemn, but something in his voice hinted at mild amusement.
Kit started to ask him what he was talking about, but before she could say anything, a ringing in her ears made her head spin. Half a minute later, when she could see straight again, she found that he was guiding her back towards the body of the plane, where it was less dangerous. Everyone else seemed too busy looking ahead to the Temple of the Ancients to notice the two of them. "Okay, you're right," she admitted as Vincent lowered her gently to sit in the center of the plane, away from the edges. "This happened to Lucrecia too? Why?"
"I never had a clue until now," he said as he sat down next to her, his eyes getting a faraway look to them. Kit could almost see his thoughts travelling back in time. "When she told me of her pregnancy, I was stunned. She'd wanted a child for so long... and I hated her husband." He smiled faintly. "I suppose that I would have left the two of them alone if I had not. But it didn't matter to me that it was his child, as long as it made her happy... But it didn't. It made her miserable."
Vincent sighed, staring blankly at the horizon. "So soon afterwards, she became ill, just like you did. I knew something was going on, beyond regular morning sickness, but she insisted nothing was wrong. I could tell by the look in her eyes that she was lying. You learn to tell these things..."
His voice trailed off sadly. Ordinarily, Kit would have left him alone, but she was beginning to get a sinking feeling in her stomach. "What was it?" she asked nervously.
Vincent hesitated before answering. "Finally she admitted that she'd agreed to let her husband try something experimental to help her conceive, and when I pressured her to tell me more, she lost her temper. She ran off to him, and I followed. We argued, he and I, as she stood there watching the two of us... he told me it was under control, and I couldn't possibly understand. They were both scientists, and I was merely.. muscle. Just a Turk.
"I already had a good idea what had gone on," he added quickly. "I knew what they'd been doing in Nibelheim; I was there when Gast began the Jenova Project, as her bodyguard. A fine job I did," he said with a bitter laugh. "What could a bodyguard do when the danger came from inside her own body? I should have stopped him, before he had a chance to inject her with Jenova's cells, but... I was never sure where to draw the line, between professional concern for her safety, and the feelings I had for her, personally. So I did nothing. I watched as the Project made her sicker and sicker... as she spoke to the voices she heard, though she thought I didn't know... until finally...."
The hand on Kit's right arm suddenly squeezed it tighter, almost convulsively. "The day Sephiroth was born," he muttered darkly. "I was not allowed to be at her side. I could hear her screams from the waiting room, and I did nothing. When he walked out with the child, I could hear her pleas... but he didn't turn around even for an instant. And I did nothing. As soon as he'd gone... there was an outcry among the medical staff, and everyone rushed into the room... Her screams grew louder, and then, suddenly... they fell silent." Vincent's dark eyes narrowed angrily, and he turned his face away. "I did nothing."
Kit had been listening with growing empathy, completely caught off guard by Vincent's sudden willingness to speak of such painful events when he'd barely said a word to anyone for the entire time he'd been with them. "That doesn't make it your fault," she told him gently, still wondering why he'd told her the story. "No one can predict the future, it's not as if you knew-" She choked in mid-sentence, as she abruptly realized why he had told her.
Her head spun again, and her stomach heaved, but this time it wasn't the illness that plagued her - just simple terror. He looked back at her, his usual stern face displaying something like sympathy. "No, no one can predict the future," he agreed quietly. "But I thought you should know what may lie ahead for you. A Jenova birth was not easy 30 years ago, and it appears it will never be."
Kit stared at him in shock, unable to speak a word. During her time in SOLDIER, she'd faced what looked like certain death, but she'd always been able to keep her fear at bay with the knowledge that she was SOLDIER First Class, and her training had been all about staying alive. She was an elite among elites, and her skill would keep her alive, as long as she concentrated on what she'd learned. But just as Vincent had said, what about when the danger was inside your own body?
Vincent continued to meet her gaze for only an instant longer. "I sincerely hope it is different for you," he said finally as he stood. The others were beginning to rush around, preparing for the Tiny Bronco's landing. "I'm sorry." With that, he went to help Cloud and Barret pull the plane up onto the beach, and Kit was left alone with her terror.
To Chapter TwentySeven.
To the intro.
© 1998, 1999 by Andrea Hartmann.
That means it's mine, not yours!