Vincent wasted no time. Picking up Sephiroth’s still body, he accepted the bundle and the object, and handed them to Cloud. Then turning around, the party walked out of the room to the emergency exits that were now lighting up. Gaspar simply watched them leave with tear-streaked eyes... and whispered, "My dreams... ashes to ashes, dust to dust..."
The journey through the escape pod took only a few minutes. Soon, the party managed to get a good distance away from Midgar before a huge flash of light and a loud explosion ripped through the air. The ground shook violently, and they all knew that Midgar was gone for good this time.
Sephiroth hadn’t moved much since being freed from his icy prison; he simply clung onto Vincent. As the party settled down and waited for Cid to pick them up, Cloud unwrapped the long, mysterious object, revealing Masamune. "Damn... Sephiroth’s sword!... This thing is almost alive! It must have sensed that its master had returned somehow..." Turning his attention to Vincent, he asked, "So tell me Vincent, what the hell is that thing?!"
Vincent looked up, "It is Sephiroth. According to Gaspar’s notes, they found a DNA sample from Sephiroth a few months before he went AWOL. Using Hojo’s research and a lot of patience, they managed to clone him again. So this man you see now is Sephiroth, yet is not Sephiroth. He is not the monster that we knew, just the powerful head member of SOLDIER, and master swordsman... But this time, his destiny will be decided by himself, not by Shinra..."
Cloud looked at Tifa, but she looked just as confused as he did. Vincent didn’t say anything else, just sat there with Sephiroth. Cloud decided to call Cid and think about what to do.
Vincent watched as the Highwind 2 flew towards him, and waited as Cid and Cait Sith walked forward. Sephiroth looked much more comfortable now, as his face regained some color and the lines of pain faded. But he was still unconscious, and completely unaware of the world around him.
Cid got closer and said, "Well, holy hell boys... An’ here I didn’t believe it, but now it’s in front of my damn eyes... Sephiroth, back from the dead. He shoulda stayed in that stinkin’ pit that we left him in."
Tifa looked back and forth between Cid and Vincent, and then said, "Well, Vincent... just WHAT are we going to do with him?"
Vincent thought for moment, and when he spoke it appeared that he was choosing his words carefully, "I believe that we should wait until he heals. If it’s not too much trouble Cloud, I would like to stay at your home for a short time until Sephiroth recovers from his Mako poisoning... Although his case looks much lighter than yours was, you should know what horrors he is going through..."
Cloud was about to interject, but then his memories and feelings began to flood back in, and he wondered if Sephiroth was truly feeling the same hell of dementia that he too had gone through. He looked at Tifa, and then said hesitantly, "Well....... Okay fine... Just for a little while Vincent... I
mean, we watched over each other’s lives and saved each other when the other needed it... But so help me, if that monster so much as twitches the wrong way, I’m gonna slice him apart."
Cid whistled and patted Cloud on the shoulder. "You got balls of steel my friend. I’d never let that lunatic within 5 miles o’ Rocket Town... Wouldn’t want to have another Nibelheim on MY hands. Now I suppose you want me to drag his &^$*ing carcass back in my sweet n’ clean Highwind?!"
Vincent simply nodded. Cait looked a little concerned, but said, "Well, I guess if Vincent is monitoring him, there shouldn’t be TOO much trouble... Just be careful... If Sephiroth went on another rampage now... well, suffice to say that it would be disastrous."
No sooner had they touched down, Cid began shoo’ing Vincent off the ship. Slinging Masamune across his back, Vincent carried Sephiroth through the door of Cloud’s house and laid him into the bed of the guest room. Pulling up a chair, Vincent prepared for what he knew was going to be a long and tedious healing process.
Cloud followed Vincent into the room after a few minutes and said, "Well... he’s here. But like I said Vincent, I don’t want him here any longer than he has to be... As soon as he’s up to it, I want him out of here."
Tifa asked, "How long do you think this will take Vincent?"
Vincent shrugged, "It’s impossible to say how long he was encased within that sphere... But one thing is certain... he has Mako poisoning... he has to heal up on his own."
Cloud nodded slowly, his own experiences in the Lifestream, buried within his mind for 14 years, now came back to haunt him. "Sephiroth’s already been infused with Mako, not to mention he’s pretty damn strong... So this shouldn’t take TOO long... But get one thing straight Vincent... He can’t stay here."
Vincent nodded, "I know... You cannot know how much I appreciate your generosity Cloud, or how deep my thanks are. Do not worry, for as soon as I know Sephiroth is able, we will depart... I will simply keep watch over him, as you requested, until he is ready."
Cloud nodded, "Okay Vince... Fair is fair... C’mon Tifa, let’s go take a shower and get some rest... It’s been a long day..."
Tifa giggled as Cloud gave her butt a playful spank, and then laughed as he hoisted her over his shoulder. Watching as the door closing the door behind them, Vincent whispered to himself, "Lucretia, I kept my promise... What happens next depends on your son... But one thing is certain... I will atone for my sin this time, even if it takes me another 14 years!"
*** *** ***
Sephiroth was only vaguely aware of what was going on around him. He heard a few faint voices and things like "Mako poisoning... he has to heal up on his own" and "He can’t stay here" and finally, "Lucretia, I kept my promise..."
It was easiest to forget about all he heard and to simply drift off to sleep, but as Sephiroth gave into his exhaustion, he found himself in a place he thought he had buried long ago...
He sat alone in his room, crying, but as usual, no one came in to check on him. He had been sick for days, and unconscious for maybe a week more, the excess Mako in his system too much for him to handle.
*It hurts...* he thought, but how many times had this happened before? And always with the same results....
He thought about the slip of paper in his jacket pocket and wished that he could reach it, but he felt so weak and disoriented. It was the only thought that kept him going at times like this, that piece of paper he had snatched out of a book a long time ago, a faded picture of a smiling family which he had adopted as his own... Father, mother, sister, and baby brother. And Sephiroth wondered where his REAL family was...
Peering through the one-way glass unseen, Hojo jotted down some notes and motioned to an aide. A minute later, a stern looking man in uniform entered the room, pulled young Sephiroth up onto his knees, and slapped him across the face for the umpteenth time in his life.
"Soldiers don’t cry," the man reprimanded him.
Sephiroth choked back some tears and nodded reluctantly. The man barked out, "I expect to see you out on the field tomorrow," and left just as quickly as he had come in.
*An endless cycle...* Training, then Mako infusion, then more training and so on... but he always felt so alone...
Strangely enough, this time, Sephiroth felt a hand on his as he awoke; a warm hand. Opening his eyes slowly, he followed the hand up the arm and finally realized that it belonged to a dark haired man who was slumped, sound asleep in a chair next to his bed. He could only remember foggy bits and pieces of what had happened, but then he remembered the man’s embrace and his words... "Your mother loved you Sephiroth...it is her warmth that I give you..."
*My mother? Jenova? No... *
Sephiroth tried to sit up, but realized it was a mistake as soon as he tried it. He head throbbed painfully and the room spun around him. He suddenly felt very nauseous but as he tried to hold back the bile, he suddenly felt the hand move up his arm and to his back, stroking it and supporting him while he swayed uncertainly.
"Just lie back down, slowly..." said the voice soothingly.
Sephiroth did as he was told and looked up at the man. He thought he recognized him somehow, but his mind drew a blank. "Who... are you?" he managed to say.
Vincent regarded him for a moment. "Friend or foe; it’s all up to you."
"Huh? What... what happened to me?"
"What’s the last thing you remember?"
"It was cold, but then... then you came, and I felt warm. And there was something about my mother?"
"Anything else?" Vincent was curious to see if Sephiroth remembered anything about his past life.
"Well, all this seems like a nightmare, but... I was sick and all alone. There was a picture of a family, and this man. There’s some other things too... but it’s hard to remember... there was a town on fire, an endless string of battles, a black Materia? There’s names too, like Shinra, Ghast, Jenova and Hojo and... I thought I saw you..." Sephiroth’s eyes moved over to the foot of the bed, where his old uniform lay in a bundle. "Those are mine, right?"
*So he does remember some of it...* "Yes, they are." Vincent took the clothes and unfolded them, holding them up to show Sephiroth. While he studied them, Vincent picked up something else and asked him, "Do you remember this?"
"My sword, Masamune... Funny, but I don’t remember when I last saw it. Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?"
"Go ahead."
"My mother... it wasn’t ‘Jenova,’ was it?"
Vincent considered it for a moment, then asked, "When did you decide that?"
"It’s so hazy, but I think I recall a time when I thought that was true... I don’t know why. The Mako plays games with my memory and perception sometimes. But I didn’t know that I had a mother..."
Nodding in acknowledgement, Vincent told him, "Your mother’s name is Lucretia."
"Lucretia...," Sephiroth mulled over the name a moment. "Do you know her? You were saying something earlier, I think..."
"Mm. And you said you saw me before?"
"Maybe, but I can hardly remember anything from that time. Just flashes of this or that, but I’m not sure if any of it really happened... you see, I thought I was dead."
Vincent gave him a sober look. Sephiroth’s eyes widened, "Was I? So it wasn’t a dream... no, that’s when I saw you, I think! A battle..." Sephiroth put his head in his hands.
"I was a Turk, working for Shinra. My name is Vincent Valentine."
"Vincent... then, you know about Jenova, and about Hojo..."
With a tired sigh, Vincent leaned back into his chair and closed his eyes. "He... was my enemy, and... Lucretia’s husband."
"Then..." *Hojo is my father?!* Sephiroth couldn’t remember much about Hojo, only that he disliked him and thought of him as a madman, not a scientist. His head spun with the revalation. *But this means that I have a family!?*
"But I loved Lucretia..." Vincent began softly, but then realizing that Sephiroth was staring at him intently, he shut his mouth and silently mulled over what he was doing.
After a few minutes, Sephiroth asked, "So where are they now? My mother and father?"
"I’m sorry..."
"What, what do you mean?"
Vincent opened his eyes for a moment. "Hojo is dead. I," and at that, he held up his mechanical arm, "killed him. And your mother, Lucretia, passed away in my arms... a short time later. 14 years ago, to be precise, and the last thing she thought of was you." He turned and gave the silver-haired man a sad look. "I didn’t have the heart to remind her that you had died, 5 years before she did... she was already so broken hearted because of what Hojo had done, how he had used her, how he took you away from her."
Sephiroth was shocked. In just a few minutes of conversation, he learned that he had a family, but they were dead. And he too was dead? How could this be?
As if reading his mind, Vincent said, "I’m sorry - I shouldn’t have said that. But know this: you’re a clone of the original Sephiroth, but unlike the original, the path you travel in this lifetime is not set for you - you must make your own decisions." Getting up slowly, Vincent put his hand on Sephiroth’s shoulder and said, "Get some rest."
Sephiroth watched as Vincent walked out, then said aloud in a small voice, "So, now I’m alone again?"
From the doorway, Vincent said, "No, you’re not. Please, rest. We’ll be leaving soon."
*... father?...*
*** *** ***
Cloud shook his head. "Well, we had an agreement Vincent. Sephiroth looks pretty healthy, wouldn’t you agree?"
Vincent turned around and watched the man in question chew slowly on a piece of toast in the Strifes’ kitchen. Sephiroth was oblivious to the argument Vincent and Cloud were having and was making small talk with Tifa instead, who could only look at her husband helplessly.
"Out he goes Vincent, one way or another," said Cloud sternly. But as the blonde moved towards Sephiroth, Vincent quickly moved in between them and tapped Sephiroth on the shoulder.
"The time I told you about is at hand... we must leave, so finish your meal and go pack."
Sephiroth ate the rest of the bread quickly, thanked Tifa, and left. Tifa sighed and looked at Vincent. "You know, we’re not kicking YOU out..."
"I fear I have overstayed my welcome as it is, and I intend to find Sephiroth a place he can call home. Thank you, Cloud, Tifa, but I will be accompanying Sephiroth."
After the two men packed their few belongings, Vincent herded Sephiroth out the door and gave their hosts a final farewell wave, before stepping out into the world.
*Where do our futures lie?* He watched Sephiroth, eyes wide as if seeing everything for the first time, then decided on their path. But he was back in his old SOLDIER uniform and trench coat, and carried Masamune over his shoulder with ease.
"To Cosmo Canyon then. I have an old companion there who might be of assistance..."
*** *** ***
Author's notes and such can be found after the last "stage" of the story.
If anyone wants to reach me, come to my Shrine of Bishonen at:
http://www.oocities.org/Tokyo/Towers/4814/
or you can e-mail me at:
bishonennomiko@rocketmail.com
Vegeta can be e-mailed at:
vegeta4@yahoo.com
Bishonen no Miko©, January 10, 1998
