After collapsing I realized that I had been dreaming and I had
fallen to the floor tangled in a mess of sheets and blankets.
I looked at the clock, 6:45. According to the desk
clerk my suit would come back in fifteen minutes. Plenty of time to shower
and eat.
At 7:00 on the nose there was a knock at my door.
I grabbed my suit, thanked them and asked if they would keep my room open-
ended. I handed them the ShinRa card and got dressed.
I was not in the mood to try to decipher my dream. Maybe later.
I entered the mansion cautiously. Had Hojo come back?
The man from the town had said no, but Hojo was good at slithering.
He could have sneaked in.
The once beautiful mansion had fallen to ruin and it was infested
with nasty little monsters. Namely the ones that looked like
mirrors and reflected all magical attacks. Then there was the
fabio-stuck-on-a-sharp-pendulum. Oh yeah, the little
balloon things that try to silence you are always fun. My personal
favorite was Yin-Yang. The rubbery thing always disgusted me.
Yet, they were more annoyance than anything real serious. I
carefully searched. All doors on the upper level were open.
Hmmm. I headed downstairs (where I found Yin-Yang), but before
I got there I found the spiral staircase. Nice, it was all
but rotted out. It seemed pretty solid regardless of how it
looked. I went down. After a few trivial battles
I found a closed door. The key fit and I found myself in a
room full of coffins. ‘Nice.’ “Is my stuff in a
coffin?”
“SILENCE!”
You’d be amazed at how fast I managed to exit that room.
I closed and locked the door behind me. “Oh boy Hojo...what
were you doing down here?”
I went into the library and found, not to my surprise, that Zack
and Cloud had been caught. So... after some more snooping I
found that one of them had escaped and the other had been killed.
After reading the reports I realized that Tifa was probably dead.
Cloud was not the likely survivor. The last moments in the
reactor were foggy... didn’t Cloud defeat Sephiroth? No, he
was a guard. I would bet that Zack had found a way.
Oh well, it will come back to me.
After calming my nerves I sat down and began reading from the
assortment of old journals that were left behind by Professor Gast and
Hojo.
After a couple of hours of reading I realized that the documentation
I was reading was on the voice that hollered at me in the coffin room.
Yuck. Do I want to know? I had to go back
in there, my stuff is supposed to be in there. I was kind of
anxious to see if my summons ‘Anima’ was there. Then I started
wondering about that summons. Where did I get it?
I shook my head, back to work...I’ll wonder about it later.
To hell with all the paperwork that I had for ShinRa. I continued
to read.
It’s hard to say how long I was down there. I fell
asleep a few times and after several trips back to the hotel to shower
and eat. I finally finished reading the journals. Some
had minimal yet interesting information in them. Nothing new,
other than the extent of genetic reconstruction on Sephiroth.
After that I truly believed he was capable of ripping Jenovas’ cage open.
After suppressing the urge to throw up I went back into the coffin room.
“Hello?”
“WHAT?!”
“Who are you?”
“A former employee of ShinRa.”
“SOLDIER?”
“No, Turks.”
“Really? I used to run the Turks.” The
center coffin opened and a man with crimson eyes and raven hair sat up.
His face was hardly visible, hidden underneath his scarlet cape.
“I don’t recognize you.”
“Hmmm. Same here. Well five years ago
I had held the position for several years.”
“Oh, well, I’m tired so, please leave me be.”
“Wait.” He was closing his coffin. “My
stuff is supposed to be in here.” He pointed to a stack of
crates.
“Those weren’t here when I was locked in.”
“Do you know when they moved Jenova?”
“No.”
“Have I been the only person down here recently?”
“I don’t know.”
“What is your name?”
“Vincent Valentine.” He slammed the coffin shut and
wouldn’t respond to me anymore. OK. I dug through
the crates. After much searching I found the few materia orbs
that I carried. Namely I found Anima whose primary attack is
oblivion.
Back at the hotel I spent some time thinking. Sephiroth
would eventually have to come here. All the documentation that
Hojo and Gast left behind was here. He was leaving a trail
for someone to follow, would that trail lead here? I hoped
it would. I knew it would, this was the beginning.
This was where his life had fallen apart five years ago. This
was where he began to believe that Jenova was his mother and she was trapped
in a reactor. He’d show, and I would be here waiting.
To hell with Rufus’s stupid parade in Junon. After I find Sephiroth
and Jenova maybe I’ll put a bullet between his haughty blue eyes.
I laughed aloud as I pictured his third eye, along with the blood that
would ruin his perfect white suit.
I called down to the desk to ask them if they’d tell me if any
other newcomers showed up. After assurances that they would
I settled down to read the files that Rufus had given me.
The only new information that was offered was that Hojo had declared
Vincent dead. Hmmm. The dates showed that he was
‘killed’ mere months after Sephiroth was born. Did he know
who Sephiroths’ parents were?
My phone rang. The lady at the desk informed me that
a group of people rented a room and three of them were heading off towards
the mansion. She also mentioned that several people had
seen beings in black hooded robes wandering around town. I
thanked her and hung up. Black robes? Sephiroths’
clones? I smiled, he’s here. I looked out the window
and saw... Cloud! So Rufus wasn’t being stupid, Cloud did survive.
Well, according to the reports Zack is dead then... oh well.
I went to the mansion after donning my spare clothes and overcoat.
I ran downstairs to be knocked over by Sephiroth. He froze
and glared at me.
“Sephiroth?” Something wasn’t quite right.
He wasn’t wearing his gloves, he was holding them. Then I noticed
it on the back of his left hand. A black number 3 was tattooed
there. “Nevermind.” I stood up and continued into
the bowels of the mansion.
“You’re dead.” Was softly said behind me.
“No, I’m very much alive. Good day to you.”
Before my eyes the clone vanished. ‘Great.
The clones are functional.’ It was going to be a horrid task
to find the real one now.
I saw them coming out of the library.
“Hi, Anne!” The pretty girl all but screamed.
I looked at her, she seemed familiar... “It’s me, Aeris!”
“Oh! How have you been?” She shrugged.
I remembered how much trouble I got into every time I ‘lost’ her or failed
to bring her to Hojo. The truth was, I didn’t have the heart
to turn the last Cetran over to Hojo. He would have killed
her, or worse. He would have mutated her into a dragon or something.
“Do you know him?” She pointed at the door Vincent
was behind.
“I recently met him. According to his file he’s been
in there around thirty years.”
“Yeah, he said he remembered when Sephiroth was born.”
I nodded.
“Cloud. How are you?” His eyes snapped
up suddenly.
“You know me?”
“Yes. I remember you from five years ago.”
“I don’t remember you.” Then I remembered, Hojo had
him. He was permanently damaged. I nodded.
“Tifa?” She was looking at me with horror in her
eyes. She remembered. “I’m glad to see you are
well. Relax. I am simply seeking to collar Sephiroth
and Jenova. Your agendas are your own, I will not interfere.”
She only slightly relaxed, oh yeah, she remembered. “Anyways.
Did he mention who Sephiroths’ parents where?”
“Hojo and Lucrecia.” We all looked towards the door
frame. “Any other questions?”
“Yeah, what happened to her?”
“I do not know. She should still be alive.
After all, I am. I have not aged either. What happened
to the blue suit?”
“Oh.” I looked down at my clothes. “It’s
getting cleaned and pressed. I fell asleep in it.”
“Turks aren’t supposed to be out of uniform.”
“So?” Vincent chuckled.
“How do you plan on bagging Sephiroth?”
“I know!” Aeris shouted. “You’re his wife.
He’ll trust you.” I smiled as jaws proceeded to hit the floor.
Vincent laughed again.
“He’ll expect you.” He said. I nodded
in agreement.
“I don’t think I’ll be able to bring him back alive.”
“Come with us.” Cloud has spoken softly.
“No. I have to report in. You guys didn’t
happen to catch the parade did you?” They nodded ‘yes.’
“Sephiroth was on the boat.”
“One of his clones was.” They all just stared at
me. “Yep. He has a few clones.”
“He said something about a reunion. Do you know what
he meant?”
“No, Cloud. Did he say where?” He shook
his head ‘no.’ “Well, it’s been fun. I have to
go.” I turned on my heel and headed back to the hotel.
Once again my suit was returned to me and I went to my room to call Rufus.
“DAILY!! What part of that didn’t you understand!?!
Parade! Did you forget!?!”
“Parades are stupid Rufus. You said ‘daily PROGRESS
reports. I have made no progress. So, no progress
report.”
“Was he there?”
“One of his clones was. Call Hojo, find out how many
there are.”
“He mentioned 14.” I laughed. “What’s
so funny?”
“You can’t charge Sephiroth for your fathers’ murder.”
“Why not?”
“Clones Rufus! Are you really so stupid?
Are all 14 of them exact?”
“No, only a handful are. What’s your next move?”
“I don’t know. The Gold Saucer?”
“Why?”
“I’m planning on breeding Chocobo’s. Then again,
it’s been awhile since I’ve been in the battle arena.”
“Not funny. Can’t you think of any place he’s likely
to be?”
“No, say Rufie?”
“I’d prefer you called me President ShinRa.”
“Why wasn’t I smeared in the papers?”
“That’s Dad’s warped mind at work.”
“Surely you know why I was kept alive?”
“Find them and I’ll tell you.”
“Any suggestions? What does Tseng say?”
“Tseng has an informant that is bragging about some ancient temple.”
“You mean the Temple of the Ancients?”
“I suppose.”
“You need a key to get in there. I highly doubt Sephiroth
has it.”
“He wants the Promised Land, you have to catch him.”
“You idiots want it too. Isn’t that where you
plan to build Neo-Midgar?”
“FIND HIM!” Dial tone. What an asshole.
‘You aren’t to pleasant either Anne.’ I groaned.
Great. Prolonged exposure to Rufus has made me schizophrenic.
Oh well, I guess now I can keep myself company. ‘Don’t insult
me Anne, I’m not a part of you.’ OK. How do you
forcefully argue with a voice in your head? Oooh, mirrors!
Yeah! I’m behind closed doors, I’ll just yell at the mirror!
‘I don’t remember you being so strange.’
“Who are you?”
“Jiminy Crickett.”
“I’m serious.”
“I am what’s left of Sephiroths’ sanity.”
“Where is he?”
“Follow the clones.”
“Hello?!” Great, my other personality won’t
even talk to me. If memory served the Temple of the Ancients
was southwest of Fort Condor on its’ own island. I called my
pilot and was informed that it’d take at least a week for him to arrive.
Apparently he was having problems with ShinRa. After great
difficulty suppressing laughter I told him that was fine. Goody.
I get to hang around zesty Nibelheim! Hmmm. Why
was Clouds memory screwed up? Tifa remembered.
I could see it in her eyes. What was the deal with Vincent?
Why in all creation would he sleep in a coffin for thirty years?
After what happened with Hojo, if I were him, Hojo would be so smeared
you wouldn’t be able to pick him up with a sponge. I smiled.
Happy thoughts.
Tseng... Did Tseng have a spy inside of Clouds’ group?
If he did, well, at least he managed to keep a minimal amount of brains,
I remember him as being clever. Clouds’ group must be pretty
good. When I first saw Rufus he looked he had been worked over
pretty good. Rufus had told me that they beat Reno twice, the
second time Rude was with him. Could they beat Tseng?
He was better than both of those drunks put together.
The Temple of the Ancients... something special was there.
Tseng had told me that something with great power was there.
It would come back to me. I called down to the desk to see
about acquiring another blue suit. They said it’d be a few
days. After agreeing to that I went back to the mansion.
I gathered up all the information on Sephiroth and Vincent.
There was nothing about any ‘work’ Hojo might have done on Cloud.
When I had it all I headed back to the hotel. It actually took me
a couple of trips. When I was comfortably settled in my room
I mentally slapped myself. I forgot to grab my laptop!
After much muttering and self-cursing I dragged my ass back to the coffin
room (Vincent went to seek revenge on Hojo with Cloud) and dug around for
my laptop. I found it, intact and went back to the hotel.
I took a shower and sat down to start the tedious job of transferring
the journals information into my computer. I’m not sure why
I felt the need to do this, but, somewhere inside me I knew I’d need this
information later.
Lucrecia...she was married to Hojo. So why haven’t
I ever seen her? Crud. I’d have to call Rufus again
to find out if she’s alive. Why did she let Hojo experiment
on her unborn child? Was she in on the ‘creation’ of
Sephiroth? Or did she fight? If she fought then
she’s probably dead. Vincent. He fought Hojo, that’s
the only explanation on why President ShinRa allowed Hojo to have him.
He was a decorated Turk. Was there something else?
Was there a relationship between Vincent and Lucrecia? Perhaps
I should hunt Cloud down and corner Vincent about this.
After completing the daunting task (which took a couple of days)
I leaned back in my chair to rub my temples. Jenova...the Promised
Land...the Temple of the Ancients...
I shot out of my chair. The Temple! Black
materia! They’re going to summon Meteor! Why would
killing all life on the planet create a Promise Land? Wouldn’t
it be a void of death? I groaned. Sleep.
Yes, I’m going to sleep until my pilot arrives. Then I’ll bug
Rufus about Lucrecia. Maybe I’ll give Tseng a call...have him
tell me where Cloud is.
I opened my eyes to take in my surroundings. I’m standing
in the middle of a vast arena. After much thought I manage
to wrench the Coliseum from my foggy brain...wait. The Coliseum
was destroyed long before the supposed World War 3. Geez.
World War 3 was a forgotten myth, this was long before that.
I am not alone. Sephiroth is slowly stalking around me.
Masamune drawn, no emotion on his face. I look at him, he’s
the same except for the black wing. Wing?! After
my initial surprise is over I chuckle. “Didn’t earn a full
pair?”
“I am a one-wing angel.”
“Angels have white wings.” He laughed.
“Why am I here?”
“You are the final match Anne.” All of the sudden
a blaring alarm went off. After looking around I realize I’m
dreaming and it’s actually my phone ringing.
“Hello?”
“Anne, catch them.”
“Rufus. What happened to Hojo’s wife?”
“Umm, she was last seen near a waterfall.”
“Where’s the waterfall?”
“Nibel area. Are you going to permanently camp there?”
“I was thinking about planting a vegetable garden.”
“Well, I’m almost done with you. Tseng says he’s
sure about Sephiroths’ whereabouts...”
“The Temple?”
“Yes. Help Tseng or I’ll send him for you.”
“Be that the case he better bring an army.” Dial
tone. ‘Jerk.’ My pilot arrived a little later.
We were flying around the area of Nibel. “There it
is! The waterfall! I’m going to jump, wait for
me on the west side of this area?”
“Sure, do you want a parachute?”
“No, I’m pretty good at this, low and slow please.”
He did what he was told and I jumped into the water. Impact
hurt. It definitely woke me up. I looked around
the area, and sure enough, there was a cave behind the waterfall.
I went in to have a very wicked looking rifle pointed to my temple.
“Get out.” I raised my hands, it’s best not to screw
with people that have been infused with Jenova cells.
“Please, I need help with something.”
“I have no desire to help ShinRa or the Turks.”
“I have no desire to help them either, but this uniform gives
me an open ended credit card. Please, Lucrecia.
Help me.” My words only effected her momentarily, she
had slowly began to lower the rifle, then she pushed it closer to my head.
“Leave.”
“Don’t you want to know how your son is?” This made
her drop the weapon.
“I was told he was dead.”
“Who told you that?”
“It was in the newspapers.”
“He’s alive. I need help to try to wrestle him from
Jenovas’ grip. You’re the scientist. How do I free
him from her?”
“You cannot. None of us can be freed from her.
Only in death.”
“What happened to your guard? For all operations
such as that one, a Turk is supposed to be present.” Her knees
gave out on her...she began to whisper.
“It’s my fault... I betrayed him. I told Hojo the
truth. I think it was the truth.”
“What truth?”
“That Hojo might not have been Sephiroths’ father.”
“How did Hojo take that?” She violently shook her
head.
“Leave!” Before she could grab the rifle I kicked
it away and grabbed her by the throat slamming her hard against the cold
walls.
“Listen and listen well. You WILL give me answers
or I will slit your shittin’ throat and make sure you sink to the bottom
of this beautiful little pond. Tell me who Sephiroths’ father
is.”
“I think it was that Turk... I forget his name. It
don’t matter, he was killed.”
“Why was he killed?”
“Because I told Hojo that he raped me.” The urge
to slap her senseless was overwhelming.
“Why did you allow Hojo to fuck with your unborn child?”
“I wanted a perfect child...”
“In your quest to create the perfect child you destroyed more
than two lives...”
“No, no one else was hurt.” I tightened my grip on
her throat.
“NEVER, EVER interrupt me. More than two were hurt.
You see five years ago Sephiroth, my husband, found all that shit that
was documented about him. Guess what? He went crazy
and slaughtered the entire town. Then he went to the reactor,
spouting shit about him and his MOTHER, JENOVA, going to the Promised Land,
then he cut her head off and was thrown into the reactor by a junior officer.
How about this, I jumped after him, and caught him only to have him plant
his dagger in my forearm so I would let him go. Not only did
you destroy the lives of anyone connected to Nibelheim, you destroyed Vincent.
He’s alive. He’s awake and he’s out for revenge.
I hope the fog in his brain clears so he can see what a conniving bitch
you really are. Now, how do I overpower Jenova?”
“Hojo always said that according to ShinRas’ files there is another
person that is like Jenova here. I don’t know who.
But Jenova wasn’t an Ancient, she was something else.”
“Where did Hojo learn this?”
“Long before Nibelheim he was working for Rufus on something,
that’s when he found out.” I released her throat.
“What is going to happen to my son?”
“My instinct tells me that I’ll have to kill him.
Oh, don’t feel bad, what’s one more on you and Hojo’s list?”
“Are you going to tell Vincent where I am?”
“If I see him.” I left. I had a mountain
to hike over.
The mountain sucked, but I managed. Around nightfall
we were approaching the Temple. Something was wrong.
“Circle the building.”
“Yep.”’ I couldn’t believe my eyes. Reno,
Rude and some blonde woman were running like the devil himself were chasing
them. Where was Tseng? Cloud, Tifa, Aeris, Vincent
along with three others and a lion?...were watching in awe amongst the
trees. Then I saw him, the real Sephiroth was crouched in a
tree watching the Temple implode upon itself. I pointed to
the area Sephiroth was in.
“Fly low, there.” The pilot nodded and I went to
work unbuckling my restraints. This could be simple after all...
“After I jump land outside the forest directly East of where you lose me.”
“Be careful Agent Leonheart, this isn’t water.” I
nodded. I was ready to pounce as we flew over him, but he was
too fast. He looked up and literally shot out of the trees
towards the plane. He landed hard on the cockpit roof.
“Pull up as fast as you can!” The pilot was terrified
but he obeyed. “Go straight up, we don’t have much time!”
“What the hell is that?!” Before I could answer a
black glove slammed through the glass and grabbed him by the throat.
I pulled my gun with my left hand, but before I could get a shot off the
pilots’ head had been hammered into the controls. If he wasn’t
dead, he would be shortly.
The plane was speeding towards the crater that had once been
a sacred temple. Sephiroth peeked in. “Can you
fly Anne?” He reached for me and after a brief struggle he
had a death grip on my tie. I closed my eyes, I didn’t want
to, but I had to. I held the door handle with my right hand
and with my left I began firing through the roof of the plane.
As soon as my tie was free I shoved open the door and jumped.
After feeling razor-sharp branches slash at my face and body
I faintly heard an explosion, then everything went black.