Sephiroth groaned painfully. It wasn’t the fall that hurt him; it was what he landed on. His right shoulder was impaled by a long and dangerous piece of debris, and the silver Demigod just happened to be the unlucky one to fall on it. Careful not to further injure himself, the black-clad silver pulled out a knife and sliced through the wood that held his right arm in place. He sat up and, carefully still, pulled the large splinter out, wincing and biting his lower lip as he did so, careful not to cry out.
He took off his cloak to examine the wound, then promptly put it back on. Worse than I thought… I’ll have to see a doctor—if there… are… any here…
Kuja woke up hearing the sound of water rushing on and off the shoreline. He looked around for any other survivors from the party, only finding Zidane and Vivi, both out cold. He stood up dizzily. Being a lucky survivor of the fall, Kuja decided to walk around to find any injured and maybe help them.
Maybe.
"I think it’s broken," Cloud whimpered as Cid lifted up the ex-SOLDIER’s arm. Cloud squealed by the slightest touch of air hitting his wrist up to the elbow.
"Could be, son." Cid sighed. He looked up just in time to see Sephiroth stumble to the ground, clutching his shoulder. "Whadda ya suppose is wrong with Hell’s Angel, there?" Cloud looked over.
"He’s not moving his right arm… you think he got hurt?"
"Frankly I don’t give a shit—"
"Cid! That’s just rude! After all, he DID guard you from that attack that fiend used." Cloud retorted, then looked on as Kimahri helped Sephiroth up.
"Would you mind taking me to someone who can heal? I’m in terrible pain as of now."
"…"
"You can’t find any healer’s can you? Do you at least have a potion?"
Kimahri shook his head. Sephiroth looked down.
"No again… um… could you set me down here? This seems like a reasonable spot for me to rest up."
Kimahri set the black-clad Demigod down next to a pile of machina rubble.
"I’ll just sit here, and hopefully I’ll find something in my inventory… go find any other survivors…"
The Ronso nodded and walked off. Sephiroth sighed and leaned on the machina, gazing at the bloodstains on the sand left when Sephiroth was practically dragged to this spot. He closed his eyes.
"You look like you need help." A voice called from outside Sephiroth’s consciousness. He slowly opened his eyes and focused on a red-clad warrior.
"S-Sir Auron…?" he asked weakly.
Auron sat next to the ailing angel.
"You need not speak, I am here, and I’ll help you."
"Princess, I don’t think we’re on Gaia anymore…" Rufus heard through his consciousness. He escaped being hurt as bad as some of the other party members, but the landing he had…
His eyes snapped open.
"Reno?" he whispered, looking around frantically for his Turk.
"Another one’s awake Steiner… I must help them." A female voice said. Rufus looked over and saw a girl, no older than 16, and an ironclad warrior.
"But Princess… they’re ruffians…"
"Excuse me," Rufus said and got up diligently. "But I am no… ruffian…"
The man known as Steiner looked at the young president.
"The way you look now, you do."
The girl could definitely see sparks between these two.
"What happened here?" the girl asked. Rufus was about to say when he spotted Reno.
"Oh, Dear Holy…" Rufus whimpered. The Turk was in terrible condition; his body contorted in an uncomfortable way. Rufus ran over and kneeled next to Reno, Amarant on the other side of his body. The young president wiped some blood from the Turk’s mouth, tears forming in his eyes.
"Must have been quick and painless…" Amarant muttered. Rufus’ enhanced hearing sensed what the flaming-haired man had muttered and quickly stood, saw-end shotgun aiming at the large man’s heart.
"I can bring him back! Anyone can! All it takes is a bloody Phoenix Down! … Unless…" Rufus dropped back down and searched Reno’s armor for a Phoenix Materia, to no avail.
"Dannazióne!" Rufus cursed. The girl walked up to him.
"Do you have any Phoenix Down?" she asked. Rufus shook his head.
"The others… I must find the others—they may have a…" Rufus shot up and sped off, looking for Cid, Cloud or Sephiroth.
Reno looked down at the party, all scattered about. I don’t want to leave them… he thought as he watched Rufus run off. His mangled body was just fifty meters from a Materia holder, and it just happened to be Cloud and Cid. He looked over that way. Reno sighed as they told him they didn’t have the Materia, sadly enough. I knew 27 was the year of death… I knew Turks didn’t live long—I knew that—his thought were cut off, however, by the hymn of fayth. Reno looked back at a glowing figure, dressed in shimmering blue.
"You are a beautiful boy… I haven’t seen you since you were born, my son."
Reno blinked.
"M… Mama?" he whispered. The woman nodded. "Have I… died?" Again the woman nodded. Reno narrowed his eyes in thought. "But… if I’m the son of a God… doesn’t that make me a Demigod?"
"You are a Demigod… but you are still mortal…"
"That’s not fair!" Reno retorted. "Send me back down now!"
Shiva looked at her son sadly.
"I’m afraid I can’t do that."
"WHY THE HELL NOT?!"
Shiva thought for a moment.
"We’ll meet again at Macalania Temple. If Yevon found me taking back a being for the Farplane… well, I don’t know what would happen," she said sadly.
The last thing Reno heard from her was, "I love you," before being engulfed in a white light.
Princess Garnet stood over the redhead and sighed.
"If we were here sooner… I could have saved him."
"P-Princess… what are you talking about?" Steiner stammered. Garnet looked at the large knight and was about to say something when she heard a noise coming from the mangled figure on the ground.
"… Okay, I’m lost… isn’t he supposed to be dead?" Amarant questioned.
"Must be nerves…"
I am in severe pain! Wake up, you idiot!
The redhead groaned again, slightly shifting, moving his body off from the uncomfortable jagged rock in which he fell upon. His face landed straight in the sand and coughed. Amarant scratched his head.
"Steiner… go tell the white-clad man that his… uhmm… friend is alive." Garnet said. Steiner was about to protest, then headed off. Garnet kneeled next to the figure.
"Hey… are you… alive?"
Amarant blinked.
"Best way to find out it to kick him over…"
"Amarant…"
The bulky redhead walked over to the scrawny one and kicked him onto his back.
"Ungh…"
Rufus was just about at Sephiroth when he heard something close to his name being called. He turned and saw Cid running up behind him.
"Hey, uh… there’s this big guy and he said he needed to talk to you."
Rufus blinked. Cid, becoming impatient, took the young president’s arm and dragged him to Steiner.
When they got there, they were witness to an amusing argument between the knight and the puppet.
"Y’know… if I were you, I’d get better rust repellent…" Cloud stated, smirking. Steiner glared at the ex-SOLDIER.
"If you weren’t a mere ruffian, I’d—oh…!" he exclaimed upon seeing Rufus. "I have news… it seems your redheaded lout is, in fact, alive."
"Lead me to him!" Rufus shouted. Steiner stayed put and tapped his foot.
"I do not take orders from you."
Rufus held his saw-end shotgun to the knight’s head and sighed coldly.
"Don’t make me use this. Now lead me to Reno," Rufus calmly stated. Steiner squeaked and conformed.
"It’s like the shoulder was detached…" Auron sighed as he brought out a sling and Hi-potion for the silver Demigod. "Drink this, Sephiroth."
The angel took the potion and looked at the red-clad warrior.
"Why are we here, Sir Auron… we were taken away from our lives on our Planets… to be brought here to face off against an evil even I cannot withstand."
Auron looked up and sighed again.
"It was what Jecht wanted."
"You keep mentioning this man, Jecht, and yet… you steer away from my question," Sephiroth replied. Auron looked at him.
"Your JENOVA and the Necron from Gaia have joined Sin… if we’re not careful—"
Sephiroth narrowed his eyes.
"JENOVA?"
Auron nodded. In a swift feat, Sephiroth was on top of the red-clad warrior, his left hand about to strangle him.
"I am… sorry I did not mention it earlier, you see… I knew this would be your reaction, hence, I took the liberty of making sure we were alone before you tried to kill me," Auron said simply. Sephiroth wanted to strangle him, but collapsed in a rush of emotion.
"Do you know what would happen if JENOVA overtook me again?" he whispered in between sobs.
"You would go mad, and die trying to keep the Summoners from their pilgrimage." Auron replied, petting the head of the emotion-stricken silver Demigod. "I will protect you, Sephiroth," he whispered. "I promise."
Kuja grimaced, stepping over dead bodies and around debris, having no luck with finding any survivors. He decided to head back to Zidane and Vivi, who were most likely awake, he thought.
He looked toward the water and flipped his hair back. Something was up.
When he reached the spot where he woke up, no one was there.
"Zidane?" he called. "Vivi?"
No answer.
"Zidane? Vivi!" he called, a little louder this time.
Again, no answer. Sighing exasperatedly, he searched for their Life forces. He found everybody’s but the two he was searching for. You two better not be dead, that’s all I can say, he thought as he floated up ten feet to do another Life force scan.
Reno’s eyes still had a faraway look while Rufus held him, just as he had when he opened his eyes.
"I saw my mother…" he whispered. Amarant was still confused as to how Reno had been revived without a Phoenix Down or a Summon.
"Don’t leave me again…" Rufus scolded softly. "I went looking for the others from our Planet to find a—"
Reno shot up.
"The pilgrimage! I… I gotta find Yuna…" he began as he sped off. Rufus sighed and stood up.
"Who’s Yuna?" Garnet asked. Rufus shook his head.
"Follow me if you wish to know."
Yuna was my only hope to getting to Macalania Temple… to see my mother again, and not just in a Materia… I mean, the real thing…
I skidded to a halt when I heard her talking to that Seymour guy again. Intent on doing some evil, I take it, as he had menacing eyes that burned into someone.
As soon as they were finished, I asked Yuna about Macalania.
"Of course. We have to pray at the Djose Temple first, then cross the Moonflow and through Guadosalam and the Thunder Plains," Yuna replied. Reno exhaled deeply.
All that just to see Mama again.
"Why do you ask?" she wondered. Reno straightened up.
"Just wondering, is all."
"I see… and how did you know there was a Macalania Temple?"
"I took a look at the map Tidus has with him!" Reno said rather quickly.
Yuna looked at him oddly.
Djose Temple…where have I heard that name before? I pondered this while the party of 16, along with myself, headed to the Temple. Tidus asked how long until we got to Zanarkand, and I almost flipped out. He’d wondered that.
I talked to him one night when the others were sleeping:
"To tell you the truth, Reno… I’m really scared right now. What if I never get home…?"
"Keep the faith, kiddo… it’s what the rest of us are trying to do."
"I’m trying to, as well. It’s just not working."
"For Yuna’s sake, Tidus. You’re her guardian… you promised to make this trip full of happiness, did you not?"
"Yes, but…"
"No buts. It’s late, we should get some rest."
We’re all scared, Tidus. Some just don’t show it.
On the road to Djose, a rat-like creature climbed up on me. I smiled, welcoming its presence. It stayed with me even after entering the Temple, where we ran into, yet, another Summoner, named Isaaru. He also had a resemblance to yours truly, but I paid no mind—I was too busy with my rat-creature.
He also mentioned to Tidus about Summoners disappearing, and Steiner and Zidane had held close to Garnet afterwards.
About an hour later, Yuna and her guardians exited the Cloister of Trials and we had to spend the night at Djose.
"Hey… got another?" Cid asked Reno about a cigarette. The Turk nodded and gave the pilot one. Cid smiled.
"Despite all the troubles we had with you Turks… you seem to be a good egg."
"Don’t get me wrong, Highwind. I’ve just been thinking enough to stop thinking about annoying the group…"
"Plus that big guy over there already threatened you," Cid finished, pointing to Amarant.
"Gah, don’t remind me." Reno inhaled, ending it in a yawn.
"You okay?"
"Why ask?"
Cid shrugged, also inhaling. "Just wanted to know…"
"Well, I did die today… and saw my mother—hey… what’s Sephiroth doing over there with that Auron guy?"
Cid looked closer and said, "It looks like they’re talkin’."
"Does it still hurt?" Auron asked, lightly touching Sephiroth’s right arm. He jumped and gave Auron a menacing glare. "I’m sorry."
"I’m still unsure about you, Sir Auron. You bring us here, and mention only to Tidus and myself about Sin… and myself only about JENOVA and Necron. I don’t understand you, and frankly, I could have killed you back there on the beach, but I didn’t…"
"… You didn’t have the heart to…" Auron finished. Sephiroth looked at him then collapsed onto his back, gazing at the stars.
"God… if they could see this…" Sephiroth whispered. Auron followed suit and lay down next to the black-clad Demigod.
"Who?"
"All those people I killed… what five years of death at my hands? They didn’t deserve it… just like they don’t here while they’re fighting against Sin."
"I know it’s hard… to be accountable for your mistakes."
Sephiroth was more intent on stargazing than listening to Auron drawl about taking responsibility for your actions and braving it out.
"They’re… beautiful… make a wish…" Sephiroth whispered as he watched a meteor light the sky up. Auron looked up just in time to see the tail end disappear. He looked at the silver Demigod.
"What did you wish?"
Sephiroth stayed silent and sat up. He combed back his untidy hair and cast a sideways glance at Auron. He, once again, followed suit and sat.
"I wished…" he began softly as he leaned his head on Auron’s shoulder, "I wished that this nightmare would subside… that I could go home and begin again…"
"It could be done…" Auron whispered.
Cloud was awake… and he was bored. He didn’t want to go outside, "‘cause Reno and Sephiroth were out there… and I would start a fight with them." He sat huffily on the couch, munching away at peanuts.
"We’re millions of miles away from our Planets, and all you can do is eat?" Zidane grumbled, sitting next to the puppet.
"I’m hungry… this is my late-time snack, okay?" Cloud replied, sticking a few peanuts in his mouth.
"Careful. You might choke," Zidane joked. Cloud said nothing, but just popped a few more peanuts in his mouth. A bit too much—as one happened to head down in one piece while swallowing. The 21-year-old began to choke.
"Oh, by Alexander… I warned you…" Zidane sighed as he performed the Heimlich maneuver. The peanut dislodged itself, but Cloud had passed out from lack of oxygen. "Must be my lucky day," he grumbled as he brought his mouth to Cloud’s, performing CPR.
"Yeah… it’s late… we should go in and get some rest…" Reno called out, rounding up the select few that decided to stay up. The others nodded.
Sephiroth hid a yawn, standing behind Auron as the five headed in. They found a surprise waiting for them in their room.
Even Amarant had a look of shock when he saw Zidane and Cloud mouth-to-mouth. Reno sniggered. The blonde Genome looked up.
"It’s not what you think—"
"Well, it seems you are in a predicament… it doesn’t involve me, so I’m getting some rest." Auron’s voice held amusement as he walked over to his bunk.
"But it isn’t… he began choking and—"
"Choking…" Amarant was clearly ALMOST in shock.
"Yes… you can ask him yourself… Cloud?"
Cloud opened his eyes and realized that Zidane was on top of him.
"AHHGETOFFME!!!" he squealed.
Sephiroth and the Turk began laughing hysterically.
Poor, poor Zidane… but I guess he kind of didn’t really deserve it… he just set himself up for that. He was lucky that the others were out cold to see his reaction to us finding him.
I said goodbye to my little rat-creature as we set off for the Moonflow… after Yuna got up—and fixed her hair.
We passed the Moonflow and Tidus made a suggestion that we stay for nightfall to see the spectacular beauty of the Moonflow. I seconded the motion, but the others overrode us, so I kept my mouth shut. We entered a docking bay where we were to ride a Shoopuf. Some of us decided to split up into groups—the flyers, and the ones who could fly on a Summon. Amongst the groups were Sephiroth and Kuja: the flyers… and myself and whoever could fit on Bahamut ZERO. The rest were destined to ride the Shoopuf.
"Hey, lady… I see your weapon is a stuffed toy. Might I interest you in, perhaps, a Noxious Cait Sith, or even a Fatal Cait Sith?" a woman asked when she saw Lulu. Sephiroth blinked upon seeing the weaponry the woman was talking about.
"Or even me?"
Sephiroth turned around upon hearing a small voice.
Cait Sith didn’t know how he got here… all he knew was Reeve wasn’t anywhere to control his mechanical body… so it became quite hard without a master to beckon upon. The lady was selling cheap rip-offs of himself, and even he knew he looked better than that. The Mog underneath jumped to the dark woman.
"Hey… I’m free…" Cait said. The dark woman looked at him and picked him up.
"You… you talk…"
"I’m a robot, actually… that thing underneath me is Mog… he’s the stuffed toy…"
Lulu set the cat down.
"I’ll stick with my Fire Moomba, thank you very much."
The cat nodded and looked toward Sephiroth.
"Cait Sith, it’s been a long time…"
Auron wasn’t too far behind to know that Cait Sith had been found at the dock where Sephiroth and Lulu were. He walked over to the robotic cat and picked him up.
"So you’re the toy?"
"And you are?"
Auron smiled.
"I am to escort you back to whence you came from, but after the fight with Sin."
"Sin? Izzat bad?"
Sephiroth narrowed his eyes, but stayed silent.
"So… the cat’s comin’ too?" Rufus asked as Reno summoned their ride.
"Not on my ZERO, it ain’t. I’m allergic to cats," Reno deliberated. Rufus hit him. Cid shook his head.
"I’d hate to be in that kind of relationship," he said. Cloud looked up.
"What about Shera?"
"I don’t hit her, for crying out loud!" Cid snapped, making Cloud jump back.
"Jeez…"
Sephiroth closed his eyes, letting the wind entangle itself in his hair, and smiled. Cloud, on the other hand, wasn’t.
"He seems too cheery to be Sephiroth. Maybe he hit his head…" he pondered. "Ow, my head."
Zidane looked at Cloud as he rubbed his head.
"Thinking hurts," Cloud whined.
"Hey… c’mere." Wakka beckoned to Tidus, a few of the others followed.
"That’s an ancient city…"
"What happened?"
"They built it over the river and the bridges collapsed."
Reno scratched his head.
"Why do you think they built the city on the river?" Lulu asked. Tidus pondered.
"Easier water source." He said. Reno blinked.
"They wanted to defy gravity…" Wakka said. Sephiroth opened his eyes upon receiving a small headache.
"To become closer to God—Yevon…" he said softly.
Suddenly Yuna was drug underwater by an Al Bhed.
"Yuna!" Wakka and Tidus called simultaneously and jumped in. Sephiroth also dove in.
"Hang on, Yuna!" Wakka called from underneath the water, swimming ferociously toward the Summoner, who was captured in another Al Bhed machina, the Extractor.
Sephiroth’s headache worsened each time he struck the machine. The feeling he was getting… it was evil… pure evil.
About five minutes of attacking the depth machina, Tidus, Yuna, Wakka and Sephiroth headed to the surface. Sephiroth decided to sit on the Shoopuf instead of flying along side.
"Hey… get back out there," Cloud whined. Sephiroth said nothing, but looked behind the Shoopuf.
"Hey…" Cloud continued, not liking the fact he was being ignored.
"Don’t you feel it, Cloud?" Sephiroth said barely above a whisper. Cloud tilted his head slightly.
"She’s here, Cloud… she’s knows I’m here…"
Garnet looked concerned. "Who?"
"She’s trying to bring me back to her… to give in to her again…"
Yuna looked at Sephiroth; Auron kept impassive. It seemed that everyone’s eyes were on the black-clad silver… including hers.
He hid his face in his long bangs, whispering, "Every time I think I’m free… she comes back to use me again."
Even Kuja felt a twinge of pain, remembering back to his days as Garland’s puppet.