I needed to get down under the plate. I would be too easy to spot up here. I could take the train, assuming first that the ID scan wouldn’t catch me and second that I wouldn’t murder everyone else in the car.
I thought of the maps of the city I’d studied with Tseng, discussing routes for Turk units who needed to get under the plate unnoticed. There was an access hatch somewhere behind the building. I slipped around carefully, trying to avoid being seen; no doubt there would be Turks and SOLDIERS swarming like cockroaches out here any minute.
The hatch was locked, but I pulled on it and felt the metal give beneath my hands. Had I forgotten this? How could anyone forget this rush? I pulled the hatch closed over my head as tightly as I could. It was broken, of course, and it would be found eventually. Hopefully I could make some progress before then. I didn’t have a proper sheath for Masamune, but I used my tie to secure her to my back.
I walked along the train track for a while, looking for the next downward access. I quickly lost track of where I was in relation to the sectors below, but I supposed it didn’t matter much. I didnt have anywhere in particular to go.
When I found an open hatch, I climbed down a service ladder to the bottom of the plate. The endorphins were wearing off now and the metal rungs were hard on my foot. I guessed it was broken. The smell seemed to gather up here and I tried not to gag as I swung out of the tunnel and landed on the platform overlooking the slums. Below me, people hurried in all directions, moving their little clods of dirt to make new tunnels, paying tribute to the queens in Wall Market, bringing food home to the larvae.
That was an odd train of thought. I shook my head and started down the final climb to the ground below. This was turning out to be a very long day.
As I slipped through a hole in the fence to reach the populated sector outside Wall Market, I realized I hadn’t eaten since last night. I looked around for a place that looked open and decent, and settled on the cleanest-looking one on the street. The sign proclaimed it “Seventh Heaven”.
When I walked in, the place was empty aside from a group of six or so people talking near the back. They all turned to stare at me and then one, a brunette girl who was probably not even out of her teens, came over to me.
“Can I help you, sir?”
“Do you serve food here?” I asked. She nodded. “Then I’d like some.” Another woman stood up, a striking one who might have been her mother or her sister. I guessed she was closer to my age than the girl’s. She stepped into the kitchen.
“Do us a favor and leave the, ah, weapon by the door, sir?” I pulled Masamune loose from the impromptu harness and set her carefully into a rack behind me. The waitress showed me to a table.
“What’ll you have?” she asked.
I wasn’t in the mood for anything I could put my finger on. “Bring me whatever is your favorite.” She looked toward the kitchen again and the cook nodded to her. The waitress flicked on the television set next to the bar as she began mixing a drink.
“-death of our beloved President Rufus Shinra today at the hands of terrorists,” the reporter was saying in a voice dripping excitement and false sympathy. The waitress brought my drink and a cheesesteak over to my table.
“Disgusting,” I sneered at the television. “Terrorists didn’t kill Shinra any more than I did.”
As if on cue, the reporter continued, “Former General Sephiroth, seen in this photo, is believed to be working with the terrorist group and to have had a hand in the President’s death.” I was suddenly very aware that all the eyes in the room were on me again.
“Do you want to turn me in?” I asked no on in particular. “Go ahead. Try.” The young waitress looked toward the cook, who shook her head slowly.
“Okay, Tifa,” the waitress said and retreated to the far side of the bar.
Tifa stepped out from the kitchen and walked slowly to my table. I could tell by her posture that she was a fighter, but she tried hard to look harmless. Her curves were impressive to the point of distraction, and I’m sure that on most people, the effect worked. I gave her the benefit of the doubt. After all, the food was good.
When she laid her hand on the chair opposite me, I nodded and she sat down.
“What are you doing here?” she asked, sounding tired.
I looked down at the plate, then back up at her. “Eating.”
Tifa crossed her arms and frowned at me. “And what about that?” she pointed at the television. They were running some sort of retrospective photomontage of the president now.
“Look, I came in here because I was hungry. I didn’t kill Shinra, and I’m not going to kill you if you leave me alone with my sandwich.” My hackles were up, and I realized they actually were, I wasn’t just thinking the phrase because it was sharp-sounding.
“So you expect me to believe it’s an accident that you walked in on an AVALANCHE meeting,” she snapped right back, her voice even. I set the sandwich down and really studied her. She was either lying or she had nerves of steel, I could tell that much right off. She didn’t look like she was lying. Her face was serious and mature, with the dark hard eyes of someone who’d lived under the plate for too long. She probably wasn’t a native, though. Her curves suggested farm-girl muscle underneath.
I decided to take her seriously despite the insult that after years of pursuing AVALANCHE, I’d managed to find an unknown cell in the city entirely by accident. “Believe what you want. I’m here to eat.” She watched me chew my way through half the sandwich.
“Shinra really does turn on everyone eventually,” she said finally. “I believe you didn’t kill him.”
“And why’s that?” I asked her.
“Two reasons. One, intuition. Two, you’ve been hunting us for years, you think we wouldn’t know your patterns by now? I can’t imagine you managing anything as messy as the photos we saw on the network an hour ago.”
“Shinra released photos?” I almost spit out the last mouthful of cheesesteak.
Tifa laughed. “No. Our private network.”
“We shut that down last year– we didn’t, did we?” I sighed.
She smiled and stood up. “Look. You’ve obviously got a bone to pick with Shinra now. We could use someone with your background and skill. Obviously no one’s going to trust you anytime soon, but I’m willing the play go-between for the good of the cause.”
“The cause?”
“Yeah.”
“What cause is that? Destroying civilization?” I snapped before I stopped myself.
She frowned down at me. “I just happen to have enough faith in humanity to think we’re civilized without the benefit of Shinra Electric Power Company.”
“I can’t help you. Not right now, I need to figure out what I’m doing, and I need to start by getting out of Midgar. I might… I might think you’re right. But the last thing I want to do is do something stupidly retaliatory.” I finished my drink. Tifa nodded and walked away, leaving me space to think.
Whatever had come over me this morning, it was fading fast now and I got a good look at just what I was doing. No more job, obviously. I tried that thought on for size and decided I rather liked it. I was still wearing my work clothes; that would definitely have to be remedied soon. No doubt they were watching my apartment and my bank accounts, so no more nice things. I could live with that, I’d gone without things before.
No direction, but I hadn’t really had direction before, only momentum. Now I was falling from grace. I had gravity alone.
I still had the key to Hojo’s apartment. I wondered if Irena had told anyone else about that, whether it would be safe to go there. It was worth a shot.
I told Tifa that I would be back, and I would appreciate their help getting out of the city, but first I had to go somewhere.
“I understand,” she said. “Just remember, if you get caught, we never saw you.”
“Of course.” I wrapped Masamune in some fabric so it would draw less attention and started walking toward sector eight.
The walk to Hojo’s apartment took longer than I’d expected. It was easy to forget how big the slums were if you never came down here. The air seemed a little cooler today, but I might have simply been getting used to it. Either way, it didn’t help that I could feel a headache swelling up behind my eyes.
Eventually, I found myself in an area that looked vaguely familiar, and then it was only a few more minutes to the University Arms. I looked around carefully for signs of army presence, but there didn’t seem to be any more MPs than usual. I waited until they went on their way patrolling and slipped into the building.
Inside his apartment, I dug around until I came up with a decently-sized leather satchel. I emptied the briefcase of notes into it and looked around for anything else that might be of use. There were a few weak materia that I grabbed and some jewelry I figured I could sell. I paused to use the weak cure materia on my foot. It wasn’t set properly, but it would do. I looked for something to wear as well. Even though the professor had been almost my height, he was a lot thinner than I was, and I doubted there would be any useful clothing here, but I figured I was here so I might as well look.
At the bottom of the box of women’s clothing was a pair of old-fashioned Turk suits. They must have been as old as I was, judging by the thickness of the trouser material and the dated styling of the jackets, but they also included the leather trenchcoat that used to be standard issue. It was didn’t look much like my old army coat, but it and the trousers fit well enough and would be practical. I wondered who they’d belonged to.
I froze when I heard the door open. I’d left Masamune in the front room, still wrapped. Hopefully there was enough clutter in there that whoever it was wouldn’t notice. I heard papers being rifled in the living room, then the kitchen cabinets being opened and shut. The step was light, probably a woman’s.
“Irena,” I said, stepping out of the bedroom. She jumped and shrieked.
“I didn’t know you were here!” she said, shoving something into the cabinet behind her. I pulled it back out and glanced over it.
“Nibelheim?” I asked her. “What’s this?”
“Just another of the Professor’s projects. Something he left unfinished.” It looked interesting, but I didn’t have time to read it just then. The tiny print was just making my eyes swim and my head hurt more. I set the file down and rubbed my temples.
“Something wrong?” Irena asked, sliding her hands in under mine and taking over the headache massage.
I flinched, but she persisted and it did help. “Just a migraine. Usually I’d go by the lab to get something for it, but I’m not exactly welcome up there right now.”
“Lucky for you the science department happens to be right here,” she answered, her voice low. Her hands slipped away from my face and into her purse. “I think I have… yes, this should work just fine on you.” She handed me two small pills. I swallowed them and then filled a glass with water from the sink and drained it.
“You’d best come in the bedroom and lie down,” she told me, taking my wrist. “Just in case you have a stronger reaction than I expect.”
I wobbled just before I got to the bed and nearly collapsed onto the mattress. Irena tried to support me and I pushed her away. She was the one who’d given me… whatever this stuff was, after all. Nothing the lab gave me was ever this bad. I crawled across the bed and laid my head on the thin pillows. She sat down on the bed beside me. I tried to push her away, but she caught my wrist tightly and leaned over me, and then it went black.
The first time I woke up, Irena was in bed with me and I was naked. The room was spinning and I thought I was dreaming.
I woke from that to a soft blue light, and the woman I’d seen twice before, once in my apartment and once in the lab, was at the foot of the bed.
“Jenova?” I asked, sitting up. She shook her head.
I wracked my brain for the other name from the journal. “Lucrecia?” I think she smiled a little at that.
“What do you want?” I asked her. She hadn’t answered last time, but maybe this time she could.
She opened her mouth, but no sound came out. I shook my head and shrugged at her. She frowned and then stepped forward, laying her hands on either side of my face. Her touch was chill, soothing the jumpy feeling in my muscles in a way that radiated outward from her.
This wasn’t a hallucination. At least, I didn’t think it was. Obviously I was seeing something that wasn’t there, but it was at least real, wasn’t it? I could almost hear Hojo laughing at me.
“What can I do? Please, tell me,” I said.
She leaned in very close, placing her cold lips against my ear, and I heard a whisper that sounded far too distant. “Release Vincent. Release Hojo. Release me.”
“But– Hojo’s dead. And I don’t even know who Vincent is,” I protested, pulling away to look at her. She seemed sad, and her face was pulled tight. He realized that this was costing her considerable effort and leaned back in toward her, not wanting to cost her any more.
“Nibelheim,” was all she could seem to manage. She faded, and I jerked forward, reaching for her.
I woke up wincing at the neon and sodium light coming in through the dirty window and its thin curtains. I felt sticky inside the borrowed clothing. My head was still pounding and I felt like I’d swallowed an entire hot Costan pepper. That was when I realized I knew these symptoms. Headache, light sensitivity, touch sensitivity, the feeling like my veins were on fire. I was coming fown from a mako treatment.
But the professor hadn’t given me one of those in years, so where–
Irena. And of course now she was gone. Thank Gaea I was at least dressed. I dialed Hojo’s PHS again, figuring she still had it.
“What did you do to me?” I demanded when I heard the other end pick up.
“Ah, Sephiroth,” drawled the voice on the other end. “Irena told us you might try this number. You really should turn yourself in, man, save everyone a lot of trouble.”
“Damn, Reno.”
“Oh, it’s okay, I understand. None of us really liked him, you know? But his old lady’s nagging so we have to bring you in.”
“I didn’t–”
“Now I don’t want to embarass you, you know? I’m sure you don’t want video of a couple of scrawny turks kicking your ass to be all over the evening news, so why don’t you turn yourself in?
“I– wait, turks kicking my anything? Reno, you must be kidding me.”
“Hey, I just call them like I see them, Seph, and you’re not exactly the demon of Wutai anymore.”
“I’ll show you–” I started, but then I heard a click on the line and realized that Reno had just been stalling to trace the call. Slow. Stupid. I really had lost my senses, hadn’t I?
“Nice talking to you, Seph. We’ll see you soon.” The line went dead. I threw my PHS against the wall and watched it lodge in the drywall.
Now what? They’d trace me here, but that gave me about five minutes to get out. I could work with that. I’d been ready to go when Irena showed up, I just needed to grab the satchel. I went into the front room to get it.
It was, of course, gone. On the floor by the couch I did find the small journal that I’d begun reading. Irena must have overlooked it. I pocketed it before I checked the kitchen. The Nibelheim report was gone as well.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Ground. Center. Breathe. Center. This wasn’t as bad as it seemed. They couldn’t track me if I lost them here. I had a destination in the short term — Seventh Heaven. I had a destination in the long term too — Nibelheim.
After that, I didn’t know, but a soldier worries about the battle first and the war later. Breathe. Center. I opened my eyes. Go. I grabbed Masamune and then I was out the door.
Apparently I wasn’t fast enough.
Two turk-suited punks came at me from either side as I stepped out the front door. I hadn’t expected them to get here this quickly, but I could adapt. I knew them, of course. It was Tseng’s job to train them, but there were never more than a dozen on staff and I had always thought it important to know the people I was asking the worst of.
“Nae,” I said, nodding to the young woman, and then her partner on the right. “Daniel. You must expect that I won’t go easy on you.” Each of them smirked a little as they drew their weapons. These two had been considered Reno’s specialty unit and they carried a lot of the older man’s attitude in their style. (Also, his fashion sense. I’d never been pleased that Nay insisted on wearing her uniform shirt untucked and unbuttoned in Reno’s style. At least Reno had never had cleavage to show off.)
Daniel flung ice at me. “Don’t worry, old man, we never expect anything.” Old man? Hmph. I stepped aside, but he wasn’t aiming for me– he hit the ground beneath my feet and I almost lost my footing. As I struggled to stay upright, I was hit from behind.
I looked up from the ground to see Nae with her mythril staff, decorated with Cosmo-styled feathers and beads against every line of regulation and good sense, standing over me. I rolled off the ice and jumped to my feet just in time to feel one of Daniel’s throwing knives glance off my borrowed leather jacket. I pulled Masamune from the fabric I’d wrapped her in.
Nae’s eyes were unfocused and energy was buzzing around her head. “Holy shit, Dani, his energy levels are crazy! No materia, though, doesn’t even have anything equipped in his sword. If we just keep hitting him, he’ll go down eventually.” She shook her head to clear the magic and refocused on me, swinging her staff for another blow.
I parried with Masamune. I felt energy flaring up beside me and assumed Daniel was preparing another spell. I braced myself for it and focused on forcing Nae back. Her heart was strong but her technique was weak and she was giving ground without realizing it. I managed to turn her so that she was between me and her partner.
He released the energy anyway, letting it sink into Nae. I watched her movements get jumpy and her attacks flew at me twice as fast. I’d guessed wrong again, but now I knew he was planning on playing support today and I could take advantage of that.
I led Nae on with a few feints and took her hits until I fell backward, then dodged and went for her knees, using her own speed and momentum against her. She went sprawling past Daniel, who answered with another course of his knives. This time I felt a two bit into my skin through the coat.
I wanted to end the fight. I wanted to get out of Midgar once and for all. Fire crackled from my fingertips and along Masamune’s blade. At least I had the sense to release the energy before I stopped to think about what the hell I was doing.
“I thought he didn’t have any materia!” Daniel shouted as he dodged.
“He doesn’t!” Nae answered, her eyes wide, as the flames ripped into her. She screamed.
He hurried to pull her out of the way. “Nae! Fuck!”
“Now get. Out. Of my way,” I ordered Daniel. He bit his lip and looked like he might do it for just a minute.
“Stand down, Daniel,” came the shout from behind him. The young turk looked entirely happy to do so. Behind him was Reno, looking entirely too pleased with himself, and a unit of SOLDIERs.
“Looks like you got stalled out again, Sephiroth,” Reno announced, “and I’m glad to see you can still hold out against a couple of kids. But do you really want to try your luck against an entire SOLDIER unit?”
Now these guys weren’t punks, or kids. Most of these guys had served under me when I was still in SOLDIER. I knew them. Reno was playing dirty. Of course, that was what Shinra paid him to do.
“Sephiroth, just turn yourself in and I promise you we’ll make a full investigation.” That was Nightblade, behind me. That made me proud, that Zack wasn’t afraid to get out here in the streets with me after so long.
I spun to face him. “You and I both know that’s a lie, Nightblade. This is only going to end one way, and it’s not going to be fun for you.”
“It’s not going to be fun for you either, sir,” he said, resigned, and signaled the rush. A dozen well-trained SOLDIERs — men I would have considered as close as I got to friends — advanced on me with swords drawn. My head hurt. My skin burned. It had been years since I threw raw energy like that without materia, another in the long list of my accomplishments that weren’t technically humanly possible. Now it felt like everything had been building up, frustration alongside flames under my skin with nowhere to go.
I swung Masamune once, twice, two dozen times, not even willing the fire that flew around me. It was simply there. My body remembered the passion now but I was losing the precision, dancing among the SOLDIERs increasingly erratically.
I found myself six inches from Zack’s face, Masamune pressed against his buster sword, and when I looked him in the eyes he knew me. I could almost see him flashing back to Wutai, to Da Chao and every time he’d dragged me back from the edge, every time I’d cursed him for it.
He screamed and it took me a minute to realize it wasn’t fear. I smelled his skin as it burned raw. He collapsed. There were no SOLDIERs left standing. Reno and his brats were gone. Most of the street was on fire.
Nightblade looked up at me and I dared him to follow. I didn’t look back; I knew he wouldn’t. I had appointments to keep. Some other Shinra lapdog could clean this up.
