Butterfly Effect: Chapter 13
Jun. 3rd, 2006 06:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bard_linnAuthors: Bard Linn and Kiraya
Genre: General/Drama
Pairings: None, at the moment.
Rating (Overall): PG-13
Summary: "It just feels… strange in here. Almost… wrong."
Disclaimer: Final Fantasy VII and all associated characters and symbols are the exclusive property of Square Enix and its associates. We’re just borrowing them for a while.
Chapter 13
“Are you really in a position to be picking on people’s hair?” Zack asked in a whisper as the group moved away from Tifa and began the climb up the stairs to the reactor.
Cloud held his head high. “Hmph, well, I don’t know. Considering you were eavesdropping, I hardly think you have the right to play the morally superior one…” Not that he hadn’t suspected Zack had been listening; with his enhanced hearing it would’ve been almost impossible for him not to do so. Half the time the blond wondered if it wasn’t enhanced hearing at all, but some kind of telepathy, considering how much his SOLDIER friend managed to pick up.
“Well then, we’ll see just how you’ll feel about teasing your mentors behind their backs when we get back to Midgar.”
“Ha! Don’t think I’ve shown you all of my tricks yet. I’ve still got a few things up my…” Cloud’s voice trailed off as they stepped into the abandoned reactor, and he shivered as an abrupt sense of foreboding descended upon him. His companions turned to look at him, questioning.
“I’m fine,” he insisted, flushing slightly. “Really. It just feels… strange in here. Almost… wrong.”
“Reactors usually do, to a certain extent,” his mentor replied, but his tiny frown persisted as he turned to Zack. “Lieutenant?”
The SOLDIER had a distracted expression on his face, and his eyes darted from side to side as if searching for something. At Vincent’s question, he started in surprise. “Huh?”
“Is everything all right, Lieutenant?”
“…Yeah, fine.” He sighed, running a gloved hand through his hair. “I just… I thought I heard something.” His eyes, their usual faint Mako glow violet-tinted and oddly bright, flickered to the side again.
The former Turk looked at him steadily for a long moment, then turned away. “Let us see if we can find it then, shall we?” he asked, gesturing towards a ladder that led deeper into the reactor.
“I hope it ends up being that easy,” Zack muttered under his breath as he fell in step behind Cloud, following the red-cloaked gunman. He had a sneaking suspicion, though, that it wouldn’t. From the moment they had entered this rusting hunk of Mako-stained metal, a strange breathy murmuring had floated just beyond his comprehension against the background of his thoughts, and faint images flickered at the edges of his vision only to disappear when he tried to look at them straight on.
He shook his head, hoping against hope that this wasn’t the beginning of the madness that came hand in hand with Mako fever. Over the years he’d lost too many comrades, seen too many good men robbed of their careers and lives due to the ravages of what some called the true horror of the Wutai front. Thankfully, incidents of Mako fever had decreased dramatically after ShinRa had instituted Mako tolerance testing for SOLDIER cadets in the latter part of the war, and with proper treatment the illness rarely proved fatal anymore. It was still a damn scary thing, though, especially since it struck seemingly at random. Zack had seen it hit people — men who’d been hardworking, perfectly fit SOLDIERs for years — without the slightest bit of warning. A few months ago, a SOLDIER Second Class he’d been friends with since they had met as cadets had snapped quite suddenly while training, very nearly killing his sparring partner and breaking another SOLDIER’s arm in three places before the specialists were able to restrain him, screaming the whole time as if he were back on the front lines in Wutai. And he hadn’t taken well to the treatments at all; less than eighteen hours later he was dead, eyes bloodshot and staring, mouth fixed in a rictus grin, crooked fingers clutching the hospital blankets like gnarled treeroots seeking purchase in the earth.
Zack shuddered at the too-vivid memory.
Gaea, it couldn’t be happening to him. Please. If he lost it here, now, out in the middle of nowhere, with no specialists within a hundred-mile radius, with Sephiroth the only man in the area strong enough to take him down… He narrowed his eyes and shook his head again. No, there is no “if.” I promised Seph it wouldn’t come down to that, and it won’t, not now, not ever. That’s all there is to it.
Oh, how he wished the rest of his mind would let him believe what he was telling himself.
None of them spoke as they proceeded further into the reactor. Usually Zack would attempt to lighten the atmosphere with a little idle chatter on missions like this, even with companions as reticent as these, but his dark thoughts left him in no mood for it.
Vincent held up his hand, and the SOLDIER, still preoccupied, nearly walked right into Cloud as the trooper obediently stopped. The room they had entered was filled with strange pods, but what caught Zack’s attention was the sealed door on the opposite side of the room, and the sign above it.
“Jenova,” he breathed, eyes widening. “What in the world…?”
At the sound of that name, something stirred deep within him, and the unintelligible murmuring the dark-haired man had been hearing this whole time suddenly clicked into clarity. ::…ahhh… strangers…::
No, no voices. I’m not hearing voices, can’t be. Just… just ignore it and it’ll go away. It’s not really there. It’s not, dammit.
“…hardly regulation equipment for a reactor, wouldn’t you agree, Lieutenant?” Vincent was saying, and his stare was even more unnerving than usual.
Deciding he would worry about the voices later, Zack nodded slowly as he looked around. “I’ve never seen pods like this in a reactor before.” He frowned. “They do look somehow familiar, though…”
Vincent had already started up the steel steps. “The two of you should attempt to discern their purpose,” he informed them as he reached the top. “I’d like to examine this door a little more closely.”
Cloud nodded in agreement, turning to the SOLDIER. “So… right or left?”
Still a little surprised by their brisk manner, Zack shrugged. “Left, I guess.”
And then all three of them went silent again, and as Zack dutifully peered into the little viewport of what appeared to be an empty stasis pod full of some Mako-like substance, he found himself wishing that someone would say something, if only to distract him from the things that weren’t there.
::not here oh but I am little boy I am here and you really shouldn’t ignore Me::
His head jerked up in surprise (oh Gaea, why was it actually responding to his thoughts now?), and then there was suddenly something in there with him, a presence faint in the back of his mind (::silly boy I have always been here but you never even bothered to look::), rummaging through his thoughts and memories with the brisk efficiency of a mother mucking out her son’s messy bedroom.
And then Cloud was crying out in horror on the other side of the room, pressed back against the steel railing, his face as white as a sheet as he stared wide-eyed at the pod at the end of his row.
The SOLDIER got there first, and as the blond lifted a trembling hand to point at the glass viewport he swallowed hard and looked inside.
He really wished he hadn’t.
Zack desperately tried to ignore the fact that the… the thing in the pod looked as if it had been human, at least at some point. Now… now it was just a mutated, misshapen, impossible creature that he fervently hoped was as dead as it appeared to be. Oh sweet Shiva, please, please let it be dead. I’ve had enough of the freaky shit today…
::o corrupt and imperfect one:: came the voice as the monster’s eyes snapped open and its mouth moved to match the words in his head, ::what have you done::
Zack swallowed the cry of shock and frustration that welled up in the back of his throat, pressing back against the railing himself as he clutched at his head. “No no no no no, please…” This isn’t happening, it isn’t, it can’t be, I don’t have the fever—
::what have you done why why why have you defiled Him My precious My only::
“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” he yelled, hardly noticing that Cloud had slowly begun backing away from him with wide eyes. I’m not seeing things, I’m not hearing things, I’m just dreaming and soon (oh Gaea please let it be soon) I’ll wake up in my bed—
::yes you do you know you know Him full well better than any other My Son My most perfect most beautiful Son:: it — She, some part of him supplied — hissed at him, accusing and proud at the same time, and Zack’s mind froze as he was bombarded with familiar images of moon-silver hair and cool Mako-green eyes and that impossible inhuman grace.
“…Seph— Sephiroth?” he asked incredulously, straightening slightly, hardly noticing Vincent’s narrow-eyed gaze.
::yes yes My Son My precious My beloved who shall one day return to Me:: and She sighed, and Her voice was terribly eager as it echoed through the vaults of his skull. ::He is near I can feel Him hear Him almost touch Him so close so very very close but where where is He My Son My darling child where where where is He::
“I…” It was hard, hard to think about it with his head aching like that. “He’s…”
The dark one’s voice was hard and cold like the glacier near Icicle Inn, like the crystalline song of distant stars. “Get a hold of yourself, Lieutenant Sinclair. You don’t want personal issues to compromise the mission.”
::where where where is He My Son My Son My dearest where where you know where He is don’t you don’t you why don’t you tell Me tell Me tell Me::
“Ahh—” His throat wasn’t listening and he was choking, choking on it, on the words She wanted to hear, the things he had to (no no no I can’t shrieked some part of him), had to tell Her.
The little one’s voice was low and pleading like those of the Cetra had been in their final moments, begging for mercy, not for themselves but for their children, their siblings, their friends—
::fools all know nothing there is no peace no rest only the fire the pain the fight destruction oh yes We shall create it and then oh to be truly free again oh where is My Son the time draws nigh::
“Zack, please stop it. You’re… you’re scaring me. You’re scaring both of us.”
::o son of Gaea fallen halfling-child half Hers half Mine I can make it better why don’t you take Mother take Me show Me where He is and bring Him here and I shall make it all better just give Him give Him give give give give Him to Me::
“ZACK!”
The SOLDIER started, staring at his companions in confusion. “W-what? I…”
“Is something the matter, Lieutenant?” Vincent inquired coolly, and his ember-like eyes never left the younger man’s.
There was a peculiar look on Zack’s face as he slowly shook his head. “No… no, I…” His voice was strange, not quite his own. “I have to go. I need to find My— find Seph. I have to find Him.” And he turned back to the stairs, heading unsteadily but swiftly towards the reactor’s entrance.
Glancing worriedly at his mentor, Cloud moved to intercept the First Class. “Zack…” he began, grabbing his friend’s arm, “I really don’t think that’s necessary. I mean, the General’s all the way down in the village, which is—”
“The village,” the dark-haired man echoed, nodding, picking up his pace. “Yes, we should be able to get that far…”
Cloud continued to cling stubbornly to his arm, practically being dragged along with him down the steps. “Stop it, Zack, and listen to me! Even if something did happen down there, I’m sure the General could handle—”
“You don’t understand, human child,” the SOLDIER snarled, turning his head to glare at Cloud with eyes that blazed an unnatural violet. “He needs to be with Me, My precious, My beloved one. We must have Our Reunion before He can even begin to realize His true potential, before We can initiate the Crisis. You, brat, are only getting in Our way!”
SOLDIERs were usually very careful about restraining their superhuman strength; they had to be, lest they unnecessarily endanger the mundanes around them. Now, though, Zack seemed not to care; a single good shake of his arm sent Cloud flying several feet back to slam into one of the pods, wheezing as he fought to catch his breath, wincing at the pain that burned in his sides as he inhaled too deeply.
“Here,” came Vincent’s voice, and though it was soft with concern it also held that harsh raw edge to it that made his student shiver, knowing what was to come. Picking up the bracer that had dropped into his lap, running his thumb over the Restore materia in it, Cloud whispered, “Please don’t hurt him.”
As his mentor swept wordlessly away after the escaping SOLDIER, the boy could only pray that he had been heard.
--
CRASH.
“Aeris!”
Some distant part of Aeris heard her mother’s call. It was aware of the dishes she had just dropped, knew they had shattered upon the kitchen floor. It recognized the pain in her legs from multiple cuts caused by her falling to the floor herself, hands clasped over her ears. The rest of her was completely overwhelmed a tidal wave of anger and fear, crashing over her and forcing her to her knees. Her people, her blood family, a chorus of voices over a million strong, were screaming as if it were the end of the Planet. If there were anything resembling coherent speech in their cries, she could not hear it; all she could sense was boundless rage, unreasoning terror, and underneath all that a distinct feeling that something they had done had failed, an unbearable sense of helplessness and despair…
The young woman whimpered in pain as the feelings intensified. She couldn’t take this, couldn’t bear another second—
And then, quite suddenly, it stopped.
“Aeris? Aeris, talk to me. Are you okay?”
“I… I’ll be okay, Mom.” Aeris swallowed hard, still shaken.
Elmyra held her tightly. “Let’s get you cleaned up. Don’t worry about the plates; I’ll get them in a few minutes. I think you should probably lie down for a while…”
Aeris nodded, unwilling to argue with her mother. Still, as she slowly hobbled over to a chair so her mother could clean and bandage her legs, she couldn’t stop thinking about what she had felt. More than that, she was seriously unnerved by the very personal sense of dread falling over her heart. Please, Gaea… save them, whoever they are. Let this come out all right!
--
Keep going, keep going and try to ignore the kicking, screaming soul there in the back (oh how hard the trick is to maintain on one so strong-willed and unwilling, harder even than slipping in unexpected through the narrow cracks in his defenses), and do not tarry, do not stop, hurry hurry hurry and We can make it to Him before—
Zack grunted in surprise as something hit him hard from behind, causing him to stumble forward. His hand immediately went for the buster sword’s grip, only to be smacked away by metallic claws; without missing a beat he turned slightly, driving his elbow back into his opponent’s stomach — no, curse it, he wasn’t there — and then the breath was driven out of him as they slammed into the reactor wall. Gasping a curse, he lashed out with his right fist, only to have it seized and twisted up behind him in a most uncomfortable position as he was shoved harder against the cold steel. A sharp kick to the back of his knee sent stinging pain singing along his nerves, and those claws came up to wrap around his left biceps firmly but carefully… though he didn’t doubt that they would not hesitate to tear into him if he struggled.
“We really don’t appreciate You so callously abusing our little one, pet,” came the voice of the one called Vincent, and yet the dark timbre Zack recognized belonged to one far, far older than the mortal pinning him. With great effort he turned his head the slightest bit to the right, and found himself gazing into eyes like pools of dark fire.
“It’s been a long time, hasn’t it, love?” the red-clad man said almost pleasantly, and that same saucy grin the SOLDIER had long ago grown to loathe revealed gleaming fangs in a face that was far, far too human.
“Not nearly long enough for My liking, impudent one,” Zack spat. “As much as I would love to hear how you, of all beings, came to be trapped in a mortal body, I don’t have time for your stupid antics. Let Me go to My Son, now, or I shall make you truly sorry Our paths have crossed again.”
“Let You go?” the former Turk echoed, and that deep chuckle that could make even the strongest of Gaea’s children hesitate rumbled in his chest. “I hate to break it to You, dearie, but if there’s only one thing we’re all in complete agreement on, it’s that that is quite impossible.”
The SOLDIER snarled wordlessly at that, shifting his weight just the slightest bit as he tried to give himself a little room. The soreness of his leg be damned; if he could just get in one well-aimed kick…
“You want to fight some more, eh?” Vincent asked eagerly, licking his lips. “That’s quite all right by me… if You think You can handle it.”
“Of course I can handle it,” the younger man scoffed. “Not even the Triune Dragon and his Knights stood against Me and survived without Her full power to support them. You dare think one as insignificant as you has a breath of a chance?”
“Ahh,” the other murmured, and his breath was like scorching flame on the side of the lieutenant’s face, those wicked fangs far, far too close for comfort to the quick nervous pulse of life in his neck, “but You were wholly Yourself then, and now we are both bound by these bodies.”
“And Mine is the stronger.”
The gunman tsked at him. “That’s where I start to question Your reason, love. You should know full well that it’s not the strength of the host that counts, but the control one has over him.”
Zack shifted a little more, stopped when he felt the claws on his arm tense in warning. “Your point being?” he asked almost casually… much more casually than he felt.
“My point being that though this body is strong, You are quite new to it,” Vincent said smoothly. “Your control over it is tenuous at best; its native soul is struggling with all his might against You, driven by the love and concern he has for his comrade. Am I not right, Heavens’ Terror?”
The only answer he received was a stony glare as the violet light in those eyes suddenly dimmed, then flared up again.
“Hmm, I suspected as much,” he said, and the SOLDIER was certain by that smirk that the former Turk could taste his apprehension now, thick and bitter on the air. “You never did give mortal souls enough credit.” He shook his head almost pityingly. “And here I would have thought that after all these years You’d realise that even pretending to cooperate with the native soul makes things ever so much easier than simply shoving it aside. I mean, really. I can’t say my host and I are on friendly terms, but we’ve at least reached a sort of understanding… and it makes using his body ever so much easier. To put things in perspective for You, pet—” and the amusement in his voice was at its strongest now “—I have lent barely a quarter of my power to him, and yet we were still able to defeat Your host.”
A snort. “And the fact that you fight dirty has nothing to do with it?”
“But of course it does,” came the almost cheerful reply. “Really, though, I’m terribly disappointed in You for not being prepared for it. One would assume—”
He paused in mid-sentence, a focused look on his face. Taking advantage of the gunman’s distraction, Zack tried pulling a little more away, but those claws reflexively dug into his arm, stinging as they drew blood (oh how I have missed the sweet coppery scent of mortal man), and he froze, muttering a soft curse.
They stayed perfectly still for a long time, silent, straining to listen, and then… from deeper in the reactor, footsteps echoed on the metal floors.
“The human brat is coming,” the SOLDIER observed dispassionately, though he wore a wicked smile. “What will you do now, Lord of Mayhem? Will you slaughter this body before his eyes, robbing him of a precious person and corrupting whatever sort of respect your little one had for—”
—oh no, no no no no no, no way in Alexander’s holy name will I let you do anything to him, just as I’ll never never never let you anywhere near Seph, I won’t let you even touch Cloud, don’t you dare drag him into this when it has absolutely nothing to do with him, just give my body back—
“…let me go… fucking… bitch…”
Vincent smiled a little as the eerie light in the lieutenant’s eyes flickered rapidly. “What will I do, You ask? Hmm, well, from the looks of things, love… doesn’t seem like I’ll have to do much of anything.”
Zack tossed his head. “A single slip, first and last and nothing more.” He snorted derisively. “As if a mere mortal could so easily break—”
His lips moved, but no sound came out. The SOLDIER blinked, then tried again.
“—out of my head! You have no—”
He growled. “Stop that, insolent mortal; stay in your—place is HERE, alone in—”
The lieutenant screamed in frustration.
“D-damn you to the farthest reaches of oblivion! You—told you, you will NEVER have—My SON—!”
The former Turk watched with detached curiosity as the flickering in the other man’s eyes quickened, and he twitched and shivered as the rest of the exchange trailed off into a choked succession of half-words punctuated by muteness. And then, suddenly, the SOLDIER stopped, panting for breath, sweat beaded on his brow.
“…Can’t… quite… no—”
“Having a bit of trouble there, boy?” the red-clad man asked mildly.
“…Too—never!—agh! Close…”
“To Her, you mean? Yes, well, much farther away and we’ll be outside… and while it would almost certainly be very entertaining to watch, I have the distinct feeling a number of people would be most put out with us if we let the girl see you like this.” A sigh. “Such a pity… It’s a wonder you mortals ever have any fun, really.”
“Shut up!”
He laughed heartily. “What, the two of you can agree on something? Imagine that!”
Irritation positively oozed from that oddly split voice. “Just stop help me—!”
“Well, if you insist…”
--
At first Cloud froze when he heard that inhuman shriek echo down the hallway, his eyes wide; then, heart hammering in his chest, he picked up his pace, running as fast as he could towards the source of the sound.
“OW! What in Hades’ flaming cauldron was that for?”
Rounding the corner, the blond skidded to a stop, sending a thankful prayer to whomever was listening. There stood Zack, hand pressed against his neck just above the collar of his uniform, his eyes no longer glowing brilliant violet, his expression a mix of astonishment and indignation; several steps away stood Vincent, and…
If Cloud didn’t know any better, he would’ve sworn his mentor looked almost… embarrassed, of all things.
“I sincerely apologize, Lieutenant,” Vincent said placatingly. “He’s always been quite contrary, and can be rather difficult to—”
“But you— it— he bit me!” The SOLDIER turned to Cloud. “He bit me!” he repeated, looking rather offended and just the smallest bit pitiable.
The sheer relief on the young trooper’s face at the normalcy of his reaction was so overwhelming that Zack had to look away, slightly embarrassed and more than a little guilty.
“It worked, didn’t it?”
“Huh?” They both looked at the former Turk, and the lieutenant was unnerved to see those red eyes starting to glow again.
“My bite distracted Her enough that you were finally able to drive Her out, did it not?”
“Well, yeah, but it also—”
“Then for Gaea’s sake, stop complaining about it.” He held out his hand, stern gaze never leaving the younger man’s face. “Give us back our Restore, boy, so we can patch up our poor little SOLDIER’s scrapes.”
Zack’s tanned cheeks reddened a little at that, but neither he nor Cloud said anything as the blond obediently handed over his mentor’s bracer.
The red glow faded from the gunman’s eyes as he quickly healed the First Class, though the deep puncture wounds on his left arm required a second casting. Frowning disapprovingly at the corresponding streaks of blood on Vincent’s golden claws, Cloud poured a little water from his standard-issue canteen on them (his mentor had long ago told him that whatever curious material the things were actually made of seemed not to rust or corrode) and dutifully began scrubbing with one of the handkerchiefs his mother had made for him, glaring warningly at the former Turk whenever he awkwardly tried to pull his arm away.
They stood like that in uneasy silence for a little while; then, finally, Vincent sighed. “It’s going to take quite some time to quiet him down again,” he murmured, half to himself, then turned his gaze to his protégé. “Are you all right, Cloud?”
Looking up as he finished, the young trooper nodded. “I’ll be fine. I’m just a little sore, and kind of tired.”
“Drawing continually on the power of a materia often leads to mental fatigue,” his teacher reminded him. “It’s nothing a little sleep won’t cure.”
“Hey, Cloud,” Zack interjected, “I have something that’ll help a little, if you’d like…” Reaching into one of the pockets of his uniform pants, he withdrew a small bottle filled with greenish liquid. “Least I can do, after… well.” He coughed, suddenly uncomfortable.
“Thank you,” the blond said softly, not quite looking at him as he took the proffered ether, drinking it down quickly. Before Zack could say anything else, though, Vincent cleared his throat. “We should go now; it wouldn’t do to keep Ms. Lockhart waiting too long.”
“Yeah,” Cloud agreed, his gaze flickering to the SOLDIER for a moment, sliding away when the other man noticed. He fell into step behind his mentor again; sighing deeply, Zack followed.
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Genre: General/Drama
Pairings: None, at the moment.
Rating (Overall): PG-13
Summary: "It just feels… strange in here. Almost… wrong."
Disclaimer: Final Fantasy VII and all associated characters and symbols are the exclusive property of Square Enix and its associates. We’re just borrowing them for a while.
Chapter 13
“Are you really in a position to be picking on people’s hair?” Zack asked in a whisper as the group moved away from Tifa and began the climb up the stairs to the reactor.
Cloud held his head high. “Hmph, well, I don’t know. Considering you were eavesdropping, I hardly think you have the right to play the morally superior one…” Not that he hadn’t suspected Zack had been listening; with his enhanced hearing it would’ve been almost impossible for him not to do so. Half the time the blond wondered if it wasn’t enhanced hearing at all, but some kind of telepathy, considering how much his SOLDIER friend managed to pick up.
“Well then, we’ll see just how you’ll feel about teasing your mentors behind their backs when we get back to Midgar.”
“Ha! Don’t think I’ve shown you all of my tricks yet. I’ve still got a few things up my…” Cloud’s voice trailed off as they stepped into the abandoned reactor, and he shivered as an abrupt sense of foreboding descended upon him. His companions turned to look at him, questioning.
“I’m fine,” he insisted, flushing slightly. “Really. It just feels… strange in here. Almost… wrong.”
“Reactors usually do, to a certain extent,” his mentor replied, but his tiny frown persisted as he turned to Zack. “Lieutenant?”
The SOLDIER had a distracted expression on his face, and his eyes darted from side to side as if searching for something. At Vincent’s question, he started in surprise. “Huh?”
“Is everything all right, Lieutenant?”
“…Yeah, fine.” He sighed, running a gloved hand through his hair. “I just… I thought I heard something.” His eyes, their usual faint Mako glow violet-tinted and oddly bright, flickered to the side again.
The former Turk looked at him steadily for a long moment, then turned away. “Let us see if we can find it then, shall we?” he asked, gesturing towards a ladder that led deeper into the reactor.
“I hope it ends up being that easy,” Zack muttered under his breath as he fell in step behind Cloud, following the red-cloaked gunman. He had a sneaking suspicion, though, that it wouldn’t. From the moment they had entered this rusting hunk of Mako-stained metal, a strange breathy murmuring had floated just beyond his comprehension against the background of his thoughts, and faint images flickered at the edges of his vision only to disappear when he tried to look at them straight on.
He shook his head, hoping against hope that this wasn’t the beginning of the madness that came hand in hand with Mako fever. Over the years he’d lost too many comrades, seen too many good men robbed of their careers and lives due to the ravages of what some called the true horror of the Wutai front. Thankfully, incidents of Mako fever had decreased dramatically after ShinRa had instituted Mako tolerance testing for SOLDIER cadets in the latter part of the war, and with proper treatment the illness rarely proved fatal anymore. It was still a damn scary thing, though, especially since it struck seemingly at random. Zack had seen it hit people — men who’d been hardworking, perfectly fit SOLDIERs for years — without the slightest bit of warning. A few months ago, a SOLDIER Second Class he’d been friends with since they had met as cadets had snapped quite suddenly while training, very nearly killing his sparring partner and breaking another SOLDIER’s arm in three places before the specialists were able to restrain him, screaming the whole time as if he were back on the front lines in Wutai. And he hadn’t taken well to the treatments at all; less than eighteen hours later he was dead, eyes bloodshot and staring, mouth fixed in a rictus grin, crooked fingers clutching the hospital blankets like gnarled treeroots seeking purchase in the earth.
Zack shuddered at the too-vivid memory.
Gaea, it couldn’t be happening to him. Please. If he lost it here, now, out in the middle of nowhere, with no specialists within a hundred-mile radius, with Sephiroth the only man in the area strong enough to take him down… He narrowed his eyes and shook his head again. No, there is no “if.” I promised Seph it wouldn’t come down to that, and it won’t, not now, not ever. That’s all there is to it.
Oh, how he wished the rest of his mind would let him believe what he was telling himself.
None of them spoke as they proceeded further into the reactor. Usually Zack would attempt to lighten the atmosphere with a little idle chatter on missions like this, even with companions as reticent as these, but his dark thoughts left him in no mood for it.
Vincent held up his hand, and the SOLDIER, still preoccupied, nearly walked right into Cloud as the trooper obediently stopped. The room they had entered was filled with strange pods, but what caught Zack’s attention was the sealed door on the opposite side of the room, and the sign above it.
“Jenova,” he breathed, eyes widening. “What in the world…?”
At the sound of that name, something stirred deep within him, and the unintelligible murmuring the dark-haired man had been hearing this whole time suddenly clicked into clarity. ::…ahhh… strangers…::
No, no voices. I’m not hearing voices, can’t be. Just… just ignore it and it’ll go away. It’s not really there. It’s not, dammit.
“…hardly regulation equipment for a reactor, wouldn’t you agree, Lieutenant?” Vincent was saying, and his stare was even more unnerving than usual.
Deciding he would worry about the voices later, Zack nodded slowly as he looked around. “I’ve never seen pods like this in a reactor before.” He frowned. “They do look somehow familiar, though…”
Vincent had already started up the steel steps. “The two of you should attempt to discern their purpose,” he informed them as he reached the top. “I’d like to examine this door a little more closely.”
Cloud nodded in agreement, turning to the SOLDIER. “So… right or left?”
Still a little surprised by their brisk manner, Zack shrugged. “Left, I guess.”
And then all three of them went silent again, and as Zack dutifully peered into the little viewport of what appeared to be an empty stasis pod full of some Mako-like substance, he found himself wishing that someone would say something, if only to distract him from the things that weren’t there.
::not here oh but I am little boy I am here and you really shouldn’t ignore Me::
His head jerked up in surprise (oh Gaea, why was it actually responding to his thoughts now?), and then there was suddenly something in there with him, a presence faint in the back of his mind (::silly boy I have always been here but you never even bothered to look::), rummaging through his thoughts and memories with the brisk efficiency of a mother mucking out her son’s messy bedroom.
And then Cloud was crying out in horror on the other side of the room, pressed back against the steel railing, his face as white as a sheet as he stared wide-eyed at the pod at the end of his row.
The SOLDIER got there first, and as the blond lifted a trembling hand to point at the glass viewport he swallowed hard and looked inside.
He really wished he hadn’t.
Zack desperately tried to ignore the fact that the… the thing in the pod looked as if it had been human, at least at some point. Now… now it was just a mutated, misshapen, impossible creature that he fervently hoped was as dead as it appeared to be. Oh sweet Shiva, please, please let it be dead. I’ve had enough of the freaky shit today…
::o corrupt and imperfect one:: came the voice as the monster’s eyes snapped open and its mouth moved to match the words in his head, ::what have you done::
Zack swallowed the cry of shock and frustration that welled up in the back of his throat, pressing back against the railing himself as he clutched at his head. “No no no no no, please…” This isn’t happening, it isn’t, it can’t be, I don’t have the fever—
::what have you done why why why have you defiled Him My precious My only::
“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” he yelled, hardly noticing that Cloud had slowly begun backing away from him with wide eyes. I’m not seeing things, I’m not hearing things, I’m just dreaming and soon (oh Gaea please let it be soon) I’ll wake up in my bed—
::yes you do you know you know Him full well better than any other My Son My most perfect most beautiful Son:: it — She, some part of him supplied — hissed at him, accusing and proud at the same time, and Zack’s mind froze as he was bombarded with familiar images of moon-silver hair and cool Mako-green eyes and that impossible inhuman grace.
“…Seph— Sephiroth?” he asked incredulously, straightening slightly, hardly noticing Vincent’s narrow-eyed gaze.
::yes yes My Son My precious My beloved who shall one day return to Me:: and She sighed, and Her voice was terribly eager as it echoed through the vaults of his skull. ::He is near I can feel Him hear Him almost touch Him so close so very very close but where where is He My Son My darling child where where where is He::
“I…” It was hard, hard to think about it with his head aching like that. “He’s…”
The dark one’s voice was hard and cold like the glacier near Icicle Inn, like the crystalline song of distant stars. “Get a hold of yourself, Lieutenant Sinclair. You don’t want personal issues to compromise the mission.”
::where where where is He My Son My Son My dearest where where you know where He is don’t you don’t you why don’t you tell Me tell Me tell Me::
“Ahh—” His throat wasn’t listening and he was choking, choking on it, on the words She wanted to hear, the things he had to (no no no I can’t shrieked some part of him), had to tell Her.
The little one’s voice was low and pleading like those of the Cetra had been in their final moments, begging for mercy, not for themselves but for their children, their siblings, their friends—
::fools all know nothing there is no peace no rest only the fire the pain the fight destruction oh yes We shall create it and then oh to be truly free again oh where is My Son the time draws nigh::
“Zack, please stop it. You’re… you’re scaring me. You’re scaring both of us.”
::o son of Gaea fallen halfling-child half Hers half Mine I can make it better why don’t you take Mother take Me show Me where He is and bring Him here and I shall make it all better just give Him give Him give give give give Him to Me::
“ZACK!”
The SOLDIER started, staring at his companions in confusion. “W-what? I…”
“Is something the matter, Lieutenant?” Vincent inquired coolly, and his ember-like eyes never left the younger man’s.
There was a peculiar look on Zack’s face as he slowly shook his head. “No… no, I…” His voice was strange, not quite his own. “I have to go. I need to find My— find Seph. I have to find Him.” And he turned back to the stairs, heading unsteadily but swiftly towards the reactor’s entrance.
Glancing worriedly at his mentor, Cloud moved to intercept the First Class. “Zack…” he began, grabbing his friend’s arm, “I really don’t think that’s necessary. I mean, the General’s all the way down in the village, which is—”
“The village,” the dark-haired man echoed, nodding, picking up his pace. “Yes, we should be able to get that far…”
Cloud continued to cling stubbornly to his arm, practically being dragged along with him down the steps. “Stop it, Zack, and listen to me! Even if something did happen down there, I’m sure the General could handle—”
“You don’t understand, human child,” the SOLDIER snarled, turning his head to glare at Cloud with eyes that blazed an unnatural violet. “He needs to be with Me, My precious, My beloved one. We must have Our Reunion before He can even begin to realize His true potential, before We can initiate the Crisis. You, brat, are only getting in Our way!”
SOLDIERs were usually very careful about restraining their superhuman strength; they had to be, lest they unnecessarily endanger the mundanes around them. Now, though, Zack seemed not to care; a single good shake of his arm sent Cloud flying several feet back to slam into one of the pods, wheezing as he fought to catch his breath, wincing at the pain that burned in his sides as he inhaled too deeply.
“Here,” came Vincent’s voice, and though it was soft with concern it also held that harsh raw edge to it that made his student shiver, knowing what was to come. Picking up the bracer that had dropped into his lap, running his thumb over the Restore materia in it, Cloud whispered, “Please don’t hurt him.”
As his mentor swept wordlessly away after the escaping SOLDIER, the boy could only pray that he had been heard.
--
CRASH.
“Aeris!”
Some distant part of Aeris heard her mother’s call. It was aware of the dishes she had just dropped, knew they had shattered upon the kitchen floor. It recognized the pain in her legs from multiple cuts caused by her falling to the floor herself, hands clasped over her ears. The rest of her was completely overwhelmed a tidal wave of anger and fear, crashing over her and forcing her to her knees. Her people, her blood family, a chorus of voices over a million strong, were screaming as if it were the end of the Planet. If there were anything resembling coherent speech in their cries, she could not hear it; all she could sense was boundless rage, unreasoning terror, and underneath all that a distinct feeling that something they had done had failed, an unbearable sense of helplessness and despair…
The young woman whimpered in pain as the feelings intensified. She couldn’t take this, couldn’t bear another second—
And then, quite suddenly, it stopped.
“Aeris? Aeris, talk to me. Are you okay?”
“I… I’ll be okay, Mom.” Aeris swallowed hard, still shaken.
Elmyra held her tightly. “Let’s get you cleaned up. Don’t worry about the plates; I’ll get them in a few minutes. I think you should probably lie down for a while…”
Aeris nodded, unwilling to argue with her mother. Still, as she slowly hobbled over to a chair so her mother could clean and bandage her legs, she couldn’t stop thinking about what she had felt. More than that, she was seriously unnerved by the very personal sense of dread falling over her heart. Please, Gaea… save them, whoever they are. Let this come out all right!
--
Keep going, keep going and try to ignore the kicking, screaming soul there in the back (oh how hard the trick is to maintain on one so strong-willed and unwilling, harder even than slipping in unexpected through the narrow cracks in his defenses), and do not tarry, do not stop, hurry hurry hurry and We can make it to Him before—
Zack grunted in surprise as something hit him hard from behind, causing him to stumble forward. His hand immediately went for the buster sword’s grip, only to be smacked away by metallic claws; without missing a beat he turned slightly, driving his elbow back into his opponent’s stomach — no, curse it, he wasn’t there — and then the breath was driven out of him as they slammed into the reactor wall. Gasping a curse, he lashed out with his right fist, only to have it seized and twisted up behind him in a most uncomfortable position as he was shoved harder against the cold steel. A sharp kick to the back of his knee sent stinging pain singing along his nerves, and those claws came up to wrap around his left biceps firmly but carefully… though he didn’t doubt that they would not hesitate to tear into him if he struggled.
“We really don’t appreciate You so callously abusing our little one, pet,” came the voice of the one called Vincent, and yet the dark timbre Zack recognized belonged to one far, far older than the mortal pinning him. With great effort he turned his head the slightest bit to the right, and found himself gazing into eyes like pools of dark fire.
“It’s been a long time, hasn’t it, love?” the red-clad man said almost pleasantly, and that same saucy grin the SOLDIER had long ago grown to loathe revealed gleaming fangs in a face that was far, far too human.
“Not nearly long enough for My liking, impudent one,” Zack spat. “As much as I would love to hear how you, of all beings, came to be trapped in a mortal body, I don’t have time for your stupid antics. Let Me go to My Son, now, or I shall make you truly sorry Our paths have crossed again.”
“Let You go?” the former Turk echoed, and that deep chuckle that could make even the strongest of Gaea’s children hesitate rumbled in his chest. “I hate to break it to You, dearie, but if there’s only one thing we’re all in complete agreement on, it’s that that is quite impossible.”
The SOLDIER snarled wordlessly at that, shifting his weight just the slightest bit as he tried to give himself a little room. The soreness of his leg be damned; if he could just get in one well-aimed kick…
“You want to fight some more, eh?” Vincent asked eagerly, licking his lips. “That’s quite all right by me… if You think You can handle it.”
“Of course I can handle it,” the younger man scoffed. “Not even the Triune Dragon and his Knights stood against Me and survived without Her full power to support them. You dare think one as insignificant as you has a breath of a chance?”
“Ahh,” the other murmured, and his breath was like scorching flame on the side of the lieutenant’s face, those wicked fangs far, far too close for comfort to the quick nervous pulse of life in his neck, “but You were wholly Yourself then, and now we are both bound by these bodies.”
“And Mine is the stronger.”
The gunman tsked at him. “That’s where I start to question Your reason, love. You should know full well that it’s not the strength of the host that counts, but the control one has over him.”
Zack shifted a little more, stopped when he felt the claws on his arm tense in warning. “Your point being?” he asked almost casually… much more casually than he felt.
“My point being that though this body is strong, You are quite new to it,” Vincent said smoothly. “Your control over it is tenuous at best; its native soul is struggling with all his might against You, driven by the love and concern he has for his comrade. Am I not right, Heavens’ Terror?”
The only answer he received was a stony glare as the violet light in those eyes suddenly dimmed, then flared up again.
“Hmm, I suspected as much,” he said, and the SOLDIER was certain by that smirk that the former Turk could taste his apprehension now, thick and bitter on the air. “You never did give mortal souls enough credit.” He shook his head almost pityingly. “And here I would have thought that after all these years You’d realise that even pretending to cooperate with the native soul makes things ever so much easier than simply shoving it aside. I mean, really. I can’t say my host and I are on friendly terms, but we’ve at least reached a sort of understanding… and it makes using his body ever so much easier. To put things in perspective for You, pet—” and the amusement in his voice was at its strongest now “—I have lent barely a quarter of my power to him, and yet we were still able to defeat Your host.”
A snort. “And the fact that you fight dirty has nothing to do with it?”
“But of course it does,” came the almost cheerful reply. “Really, though, I’m terribly disappointed in You for not being prepared for it. One would assume—”
He paused in mid-sentence, a focused look on his face. Taking advantage of the gunman’s distraction, Zack tried pulling a little more away, but those claws reflexively dug into his arm, stinging as they drew blood (oh how I have missed the sweet coppery scent of mortal man), and he froze, muttering a soft curse.
They stayed perfectly still for a long time, silent, straining to listen, and then… from deeper in the reactor, footsteps echoed on the metal floors.
“The human brat is coming,” the SOLDIER observed dispassionately, though he wore a wicked smile. “What will you do now, Lord of Mayhem? Will you slaughter this body before his eyes, robbing him of a precious person and corrupting whatever sort of respect your little one had for—”
—oh no, no no no no no, no way in Alexander’s holy name will I let you do anything to him, just as I’ll never never never let you anywhere near Seph, I won’t let you even touch Cloud, don’t you dare drag him into this when it has absolutely nothing to do with him, just give my body back—
“…let me go… fucking… bitch…”
Vincent smiled a little as the eerie light in the lieutenant’s eyes flickered rapidly. “What will I do, You ask? Hmm, well, from the looks of things, love… doesn’t seem like I’ll have to do much of anything.”
Zack tossed his head. “A single slip, first and last and nothing more.” He snorted derisively. “As if a mere mortal could so easily break—”
His lips moved, but no sound came out. The SOLDIER blinked, then tried again.
“—out of my head! You have no—”
He growled. “Stop that, insolent mortal; stay in your—place is HERE, alone in—”
The lieutenant screamed in frustration.
“D-damn you to the farthest reaches of oblivion! You—told you, you will NEVER have—My SON—!”
The former Turk watched with detached curiosity as the flickering in the other man’s eyes quickened, and he twitched and shivered as the rest of the exchange trailed off into a choked succession of half-words punctuated by muteness. And then, suddenly, the SOLDIER stopped, panting for breath, sweat beaded on his brow.
“…Can’t… quite… no—”
“Having a bit of trouble there, boy?” the red-clad man asked mildly.
“…Too—never!—agh! Close…”
“To Her, you mean? Yes, well, much farther away and we’ll be outside… and while it would almost certainly be very entertaining to watch, I have the distinct feeling a number of people would be most put out with us if we let the girl see you like this.” A sigh. “Such a pity… It’s a wonder you mortals ever have any fun, really.”
“Shut up!”
He laughed heartily. “What, the two of you can agree on something? Imagine that!”
Irritation positively oozed from that oddly split voice. “Just stop help me—!”
“Well, if you insist…”
--
At first Cloud froze when he heard that inhuman shriek echo down the hallway, his eyes wide; then, heart hammering in his chest, he picked up his pace, running as fast as he could towards the source of the sound.
“OW! What in Hades’ flaming cauldron was that for?”
Rounding the corner, the blond skidded to a stop, sending a thankful prayer to whomever was listening. There stood Zack, hand pressed against his neck just above the collar of his uniform, his eyes no longer glowing brilliant violet, his expression a mix of astonishment and indignation; several steps away stood Vincent, and…
If Cloud didn’t know any better, he would’ve sworn his mentor looked almost… embarrassed, of all things.
“I sincerely apologize, Lieutenant,” Vincent said placatingly. “He’s always been quite contrary, and can be rather difficult to—”
“But you— it— he bit me!” The SOLDIER turned to Cloud. “He bit me!” he repeated, looking rather offended and just the smallest bit pitiable.
The sheer relief on the young trooper’s face at the normalcy of his reaction was so overwhelming that Zack had to look away, slightly embarrassed and more than a little guilty.
“It worked, didn’t it?”
“Huh?” They both looked at the former Turk, and the lieutenant was unnerved to see those red eyes starting to glow again.
“My bite distracted Her enough that you were finally able to drive Her out, did it not?”
“Well, yeah, but it also—”
“Then for Gaea’s sake, stop complaining about it.” He held out his hand, stern gaze never leaving the younger man’s face. “Give us back our Restore, boy, so we can patch up our poor little SOLDIER’s scrapes.”
Zack’s tanned cheeks reddened a little at that, but neither he nor Cloud said anything as the blond obediently handed over his mentor’s bracer.
The red glow faded from the gunman’s eyes as he quickly healed the First Class, though the deep puncture wounds on his left arm required a second casting. Frowning disapprovingly at the corresponding streaks of blood on Vincent’s golden claws, Cloud poured a little water from his standard-issue canteen on them (his mentor had long ago told him that whatever curious material the things were actually made of seemed not to rust or corrode) and dutifully began scrubbing with one of the handkerchiefs his mother had made for him, glaring warningly at the former Turk whenever he awkwardly tried to pull his arm away.
They stood like that in uneasy silence for a little while; then, finally, Vincent sighed. “It’s going to take quite some time to quiet him down again,” he murmured, half to himself, then turned his gaze to his protégé. “Are you all right, Cloud?”
Looking up as he finished, the young trooper nodded. “I’ll be fine. I’m just a little sore, and kind of tired.”
“Drawing continually on the power of a materia often leads to mental fatigue,” his teacher reminded him. “It’s nothing a little sleep won’t cure.”
“Hey, Cloud,” Zack interjected, “I have something that’ll help a little, if you’d like…” Reaching into one of the pockets of his uniform pants, he withdrew a small bottle filled with greenish liquid. “Least I can do, after… well.” He coughed, suddenly uncomfortable.
“Thank you,” the blond said softly, not quite looking at him as he took the proffered ether, drinking it down quickly. Before Zack could say anything else, though, Vincent cleared his throat. “We should go now; it wouldn’t do to keep Ms. Lockhart waiting too long.”
“Yeah,” Cloud agreed, his gaze flickering to the SOLDIER for a moment, sliding away when the other man noticed. He fell into step behind his mentor again; sighing deeply, Zack followed.
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