Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Zack would like to know what it was like to have a glare so intense that it could literally kill with no magic at all.

Okay, maybe not literally, but with the way Sephiroth looked at Zack, he was sure he would have died from a heart attack if he had never received his mako enhancements.

Sephiroth had always been an intense person. She was all stoic and shit everywhere she went and no matter who she talked to. The biggest and burliest of SOLDIERs dashed out of her way when she walked with purpose through the halls of Shinra tower. Not a single person even dared to come within a centimeter of her knee-length hair and risk her wrath for being in her way.

That was until a week ago.

Sephiroth and Zack, along with a few infantry grunts, had gone on a mission in the tiny town of Nibelheim. There had been a problem with the mako reactor, but because of all the scary monsters hanging around, only SOLDIERs were strong enough to climb up the mountain and figure it all out.

Inside the reactor, there had been pods full of monsters soaking in mako, and there had also been giant letters spelling “JENOVA” above a locked door. Sephiroth had immediately started acting weird. Jenova had been her mother’s name, and something about the mako levels of the pod people had made her start pulling her hair and questioning her humanity.

None of it had made any sense to Zack.

Sephiroth had marched back to Shinra Manor, and she had gone into the weird hidden library several stories underground. Zack made sure she had plenty of food and water, but she ignored the supplies and him more and more as every day passed. Her hair became more and a tangled mess as she neglected her every need while reading through dozens of books every day.

Zack may not have been a books kind of guy, but he knew there was nothing normal about this. Every bookworm he had ever met could take a break long enough to take care of their basic needs. He had tried to tell her such, but she had only glared at him over her book and shouted at him to leave her alone. Even if he had not seen firsthand what Sephiroth could do, he would have been terrified. She had sounded so...

There was no nice way to say it. She’d sounded like a demon—nothing like her usual calm and collected self at all.

It had been nearly a week, and Zack would bet Cloud, a trooper from Nibelheim and Zack’s good friend, was just as sick of watching Zack do a thousand squats as Zack was of doing them. He was so bored, and he was getting sick with worry. He’d promised his girlfriend he’d see her soon, and his friend—or his boss, at least—showed no signs of letting them go or even caring they were there. One infantryman had insisted they just leave her there, but Zack had sworn he would not leave another one of his friends behind.

All of that had to be the reason he was so reluctant to leave the basement this time. Zack strolled past the creepy mausoleums on either side of the narrow hallway. Most of the coffins inside them had been empty or full of giant bugs that had to have been from a mad scientist’s lab, but there was one coffin with a guy sleeping in it.

Sure, it had been weird as hell to find a living person randomly sleeping in a secret mausoleum, but that was sadly one of the more normal things he had come across since joining Shinra’s military as a SOLDIER, which spoke a lot about how weird the company was, now that he thought about it. When Zack had found him, he had just shut the lid as quietly as he could, and then he had all but forgotten about the dude while watching Sephiroth’s physical and mental health deteriorate.

Whatever this guy’s deal was, he had to be easier to talk to than Sephiroth.

If Zack stood still enough, he could hear the faint breathing of the guy sleeping in the coffin. He did not bother to keep his footsteps quiet as he went to it, and he lifted the lid.

The guy was in the same position as he had been when Zack had last seen him. He had midnight black hair and the palest skin Zack had ever seen—and he knew not just Sephiroth but many redheads—and he wore a crimson cloth wrapped around his head and a matching cloak. He also wore black leather and golden armor, and the fingers of his single golden sabaton ended with sharp points.

Zack watched the guy sleep soundly, as if there was not some weird dude—yeah, Zack could admit he was far from normal himself—hovering over him. He lifted his hand to his mouth and coughed. He frowned when the guy did not even flinch.

“Okay, so you’re leaving me with no choice, then,” Zack said. He cracked his knuckles, and then he shoved his fingers into the sleeping guy’s sides.

The guy’s eyes opened, revealing red irises, and Zack jerked back with a very manly squeak.

“Do not disturb me in my slumber,” the guy said, his voice far too soft for someone whose glare was oddly reminiscent of the person Zack was hiding from.

“Yeah, gotcha, but why are you asleep in a creepy basement, man? That’s super weird.”

The man sat upright like a vampire from a movie, and Zack gulped.

Maybe this had been a mistake.

“I must atone for my sins,” the maybe-vampire said. “Now leave me be.”

Zack’s eyes narrowed as the guy’s words sunk in. “Atone for what sins?”

The guy opened his mouth, but he seemed to think better of whatever he had been about to say. He shook his head. “It doesn’t matter to you,” he said. He grabbed the coffin’s lid, but Zack snapped his hand forward to stop him from pulling it back over himself.

“Whoa, dude!” he said. “I’ve never met someone with worse people skills than Sephiroth before now, and I’m in SOLDIER.”

The man stiffened, and his eyes widened. “Sephiroth?”

“Yeah.” It was no surprise that the guy would know who Sephiroth was. She was famous, which was unusual for a Turk, but there was an incredulity to his tone of voice that made Zack quirk up an eyebrow at him.

“You know Sephiroth?” the man asked.

“Everyone knows Sephiroth.”

The guy’s mouth worked like a fish for a full five seconds before he snapped out his hand and grabbed Zack by the shirt. “Where is she?” he asked. “How is she? Is Lucrecia—“ He froze, and his eyes somehow widened further, practically bugging out of his eye sockets.

“You okay, bud?”

“How long has it been?”

Zack shook his head, unsure how long this guy’s been in here. “I’ve only been here for about a week, man.”

The guy clicked his tongue, having the audacity to be annoyed with Zack while explaining absolutely nothing. “What year is it?”

“Two years since the turn of the millennium.”

The guy shifted his eyes away. His teeth clicked as he snapped his mouth closed. He loosened his grip on Zack’s shirt, allowing the other man to draw himself away.

“You know, I didn’t expect talking to you to be even more confusing,” Zack said under his breath.

“Tell me where I can find Sephiroth,” the guy asked.

“So, no introductions. Just straight to talking all about the Hero of Shinra, huh?”

“Vincent.”

“What?”

“My name.”

“Oh, uh, I’m Zack.”

“Zack. Now, tell me where to find Sephiroth.”

Zack could not help but laugh at how serious this guy was. “Ah, well, she’s been in a pretty terrible mood lately, so maybe don’t worry about that for now, buddy. I’m a pretty strong dude, but she could certainly tear my head off pretty easily if she really wanted to.”

Vincent narrowed his eyes. “What do you mean?”

“She’s the strongest in Shinra. She was supposed to be in SOLDIER, but apparently President Shinra didn’t want girls in the program. They made her a Turk instead, and they started sticking her on posters to get people into the military. And a ton of girls started passing the tests and demanding they get into SOLDIER. And that meant the old man had to loosen up on the rules a bit. Apparently, Hojo wanted her to get into SOLDIER after all that, but she wanted to stay in the Turks, which apparently they pay better, so fair enough—“

Vincent jolted. “Hojo wanted her in the military?”

“Yeah, but like I said, she told him, ‘no.’ She started getting assigned on the field, anyway—Hey!”

Vincent leaped out of the coffin—defying gravity like only an enhanced person could—and knocked into Zack as he dashed toward the door. It was a strong hit, too, knocking the air out of Zack’s lungs—further confirming this was no ordinary person.

“Where is she?” Vincent asked, and he poked his head out of the doorway.

Zack clutched at his chest as he coughed air back into his lungs. “Wait!” he said. “I’m so confused right now.”

Vincent evidently did not care as he dashed out of sight. He went toward the old library. Zack groaned, and he ran after him. He moved fast, but Zack, with all of his boundless energy, kept pace with him well enough.

“Dude!” Zack said. “Wait a second! She’s not in a good mood right now!”

That did not make Vincent stop or slow down. He kept running, and he reached the door of the library, which he jerked open with no trouble at all. The hinges creaked, and Zack winced at the sharp noise, like he did every time.

Vincent froze in the doorway, allowing Zack to catch up to him.

They were about equal in height, Zack realized as he looked over Vincent’s shoulder to see what Sephiroth was up to. She sat on top of a huge stack of books she had already read through. Her cat-like, green-glowing eyes scanned the pages of a thick volume, and she did not even bother to look away from her work. Her silver hair was a knotted mess that would be a pain to detangle as soon as she came to her senses. The whites of her eyes were bloodshot, and there were dark circles under them.

Turks were normally very particular about their looks, but Sephiroth’s all black suit was looking a little gray thanks to the dust and the cobwebs clinging to it.

Zack grimaced as he waited for her to shout at them, but she remained too absorbed in the book in her hands.

Vincent’s breathing got really fast, and Zack put his hand on his shoulder, which fell out of his grasp when Vincent sank onto his knees, his armor clanging against the floor.

Sephiroth finally turned away from the book, and she glared at Zack until her gaze caught the strange man sitting on the ground and crying.

“Wait, why are you crying?” Zack asked, even more confused.

“What is this?” Sephiroth asked, spitting out each syllable. She lifted her hand in that way she did every time she was about to summon her massive odachi-style sword.

Zack held up his hands in a placating gesture. “Whoa! Let’s keep things as civil as we can, please!” he said. He stepped around Vincent, but there was no way to avoid knocking the guy into the frame with his butt.

Sephiroth narrowed her eyes at Zack, but she did not summon her sword. The threat remained, though, with her hand still in the air. “Who is this man?”

“I found him sleeping in a coffin. I tried to get him out of here, but—“

“You—“ Vincent gasped. He pressed the hand with the gauntlet to his chest. “You look so much like your mother,” he said, voice trembling.

Sephiroth looked at Zack, and she lifted an eyebrow. Zack could only shrug.

“You’ve met Jenova?” Sephiroth asked.

Vincent blinked, but then he snarled. “Is that what he told you?” he asked.

“He...who?”

“Hojo.”

“He’s not the only one who’s said it.”

“Then they’re all lying to you.”

“And I’m supposed to just trust you, a complete stranger, that they’re lying to me?”

Vincent huffed a sigh. He climbed to his feet. “Your mother was a woman named Lucrecia. I was there when she gave birth to you.”

Zack crossed his arms over his chest, and he looked at Vincent. The guy looked like he might have been the same age as Sephiroth. He narrowed his eyes as he noticed there was something a tad familiar about him, but he could not tell what.

Sephiroth examined him in silence, a scowl on her face. She lowered the hand she used to summon her sword, and she snapped shut the book in her other hand. She stood from the stack of books, and she turned her back to them. “Leave me be,” she said, practically growling. “Both of you.”

“Sephiroth.” Vincent went to take a step forward, but Zack grabbed his wrist and shook his head.

“It’s better if you listen to her, man,” Zack said, keeping his voice low. His stomach flipped at the mere idea of the damage she could do if Sephiroth fought him.

Vincent tugged on Zack’s grip, but with one last glance at Sephiroth’s back, he seemed to think better of saying whatever he had to say. He allowed Zack to tug him outside of the room before closing the door with a light thud, but he resisted when Zack tried to pull him down the hall.

Zack sighed as he released Vincent. He ruffled the black spikes of his hair. “Look, I don’t know what any of this is about,” he said, “but you can’t just throw a ton of information like that at someone. Hell, she’s been getting that a lot over the last week, and you see how poorly she’s handling it.”

Vincent turned just enough to look at him out of the corner of his eye.

“You said you were SOLDIER.”

“Yeah, usually the eyes are a dead giveaway.”

“You say the word like there’s a lot of weight to it. What exactly are you talking about?”

Zack tilted his head to the side. “You’ve never heard of it?”

“I’m afraid not.”

Zack glanced down at his all-black pants and his sleeveless sweater. Even the leathers of his stomach guard and suspenders were black, and his pauldrons matched. “It’s the military—the elite military.” He grinned, and he hooked a thumb toward himself. “Actually, there are three classes, and you happen to be in the presence of a First Class SOLDIER.”

Vincent answered only with a hum as he turned his full gaze back to the door. He went silent, and he was dead still as he stared at the door.

Zack felt all of his limbs go a tad tingly as he realized he had been standing around longer than he liked to. “Say, why were you sleeping in that coffin?” he asked.

“Hojo.”

“It was an experiment, you mean?”

“Not one I consented to.”

“Right, right, that’s...a lot. Sorry to hear that, man.”

Vincent grunted. He turned all the way to Zack. “It was a punishment I deserved.”

“Huh?” Zack titled his head as he thought, and then he remembered what Vincent had said before. “Oh, you mean the atonement thing? I’m pretty sure nothing justifies being experimented on, dude.”

Vincent ignored him. He drew up his hands and looked at them. Zack looked at them, too. He did not know what the hand under the gauntlet looked like, he supposed, but the right one with the fingerless gloves had a normal shape and color to him.

Suddenly, Vincent spun around, and he opened the door again.

“Dude!” Zack said, but he paused at what he heard drifting from inside the library.

It was sniffling. Whimpering. Sobbing.

Ah, no, that was unrestrained laughter, which Zack had never heard come out of Sephiroth before. Zack’s blood ran cold.

“You are all pathetic creatures,” Sephiroth said. “Weak. Monstrous. Conniving little wretches.”

Zack peered over Vincent’s shoulder. The library was a wreck: books scattered everywhere, shelves busted and knocked over, and a trembling Sephiroth standing in the middle of it. Her transformation into a ghoul was complete.

“Sephiroth?” Zack said. “Buddy?”

“Mother, I will save you,” Sephiroth said, “and together we can finish what you started.” She turned toward them, grinning. She flicked out her left hand, and Masamune, the longest blade in history, materialized with a puff of black smoke. “But first, let me start with these traitors.”

Sephiroth rushed toward them, readying her weapon. Zack grabbed Vincent by the shoulder and shoved him to the side, and he grabbed his stupid-heavy Buster Sword and swung it off his back and down just in time to catch Masamune before it skewered him. There was so much power behind the strike Zack had to use all of his strength to stay upright.

Sephiroth grinned at him over the Buster Sword, and Zack had never cursed their height difference more than he did now. She jumped back, only to slash at him again. And again. And again. She giggled with every strike, and all Zack could do was to meet her glare with one of his own.

“What has gotten into you?” Zack asked through gritted teeth. “I thought we were friends!”

“Friends?” Sephiroth laughed, and she shoved hard into the next blow. “With a stupid little boy like you? Angeal was never worthy of me, and you thought you and I were equals?” She giggled in absolute delight when her next strike forced Zack onto his knee.

“What does being worthy have to do with friendship?”

Sephiroth pressed her foot on the flat of the Buster Sword, and she pressed down on him while raising Masamune. “Everything, you pest!”

Zack cringed as she swung her blade down, but a loud bang startled her and made her swing miss him. His own ears rang, and it took Zack a full second to notice the wet spot blooming in Sephiroth’s thigh. She spun with a snarl, and both she and Zack turned their attention to Vincent, who now stood with a massive handgun aimed at her. Smoke poured out of the barrel. Tears streaked his face, but he squared his jaw with determination as he aimed his gun again.

“This is not what your mother would have wanted for you,” Vincent said.

“You are nothing to me!” Sephiroth gathered fire magic in her free hand, and when she lobbed it at Vincent, he dodged so quickly he looked like a red blur, even to Zack’s enhanced eyes.

Zack saw Sephiroth leaving herself open, and he hopped back to his feet and swung the Buster Sword. He did not have enough room to give her his most powerful strike, but the flat of the blade hit hard enough to make Sephiroth stumble forward. Vincent took another shot, and Zack noticed her left hand explode with blood. She snapped her other hand around the handle before she dropped her prized weapon.

Sephiroth charged at Vincent with a guttural scream, and this time she was a black and silver blur, faster than Zack could comprehend despite her injuries. Vincent dodged, but her sword caught him in the shoulder. He grunted from the pain, but he grabbed it with his free hand and held it in place as she pulled Masamune back. She let the sword disappear in a cloud of smoke, and she swung her fist at him.

Zack dashed forward with a cry of his own, and he swung the Buster Sword, knocking into her with the flat of the blade again. She stumbled, but she drew back her elbow, hitting Zack square in the voice box. He stumbled back, clutching at his throat as he coughed, and she tackled Vincent. A gun went off, but Zack only heard some dirt and rock plop onto the ground instead of flesh.

When Zack could breathe again, he saw Sephiroth on top of Vincent, repeatedly smashing her fists into him. His handgun had spun away from him, and he used his arms to block her punches. Zack readied his massive sword, and he finally had room to gather as much power as he could muster in his swing. He aimed for her shoulder, only wanting to knock her away, but whiplash made her head hit the sword, anyway.

Sephiroth collapsed hard onto the ground with a huff, and Zack did not waste a second to drop the Buster Sword and elbow drop on top of her, making her grunt with pain. He locked his arms around hers, holding them in place, but it was not until Vincent stood and helped hold her down that Zack could lock his legs around hers. She struggled, letting out inhuman growls, and the only thing keeping her from breaking out of Zack’s hold was Vincent helping him.

Footsteps charged down the stairs, but Zack was too preoccupied to see who they belonged to.

“What’s going on?” It was Cloud. His voice was breathless from running. “I heard gunshots, and—wha—?”

“Get enough tranquilizers to knock out a flight of dragons,” Vincent commanded him.

“Who the hell—“

“Do what he says, Cloudy!” Zack said.

There was only a second of hesitation as Cloud retreated out of the tunnel.

And now Zack and Vincent had to hold on for dear life as they waited.

An interesting thing about Sephiroth was that she was strong. Shinra liked to pretend she was only good at using magic, that she never could be more powerful than their prized Shinra poster boys, Angeal and Genesis, but during his first friendly spar with Sephiroth, he had realized just how stupid an idea that was to push. Zack had trained with Angeal, who had been strong—like two behemoths packed into one human body. He had not gotten to fight Genesis until after he had defected from Shinra, which meant Zack had only known the genetically degrading version of him, and while he was probably only half as strong as Angeal, he could still pack quite the wallop despite his condition.

But sparring with Sephiroth had always been different. She was fast, and every strike was like hitting the brakes too hard while moving faster than the speed of light. All of that on top of her magic being incredible. Shinra had downplayed her might and insisted she was only useful to the company as a Turk, but she had proven herself to them long ago as a SOLDIER. There was just no denying it.

Even injured, Sephiroth was like no other fighter in this world.

Sephiroth got a single leg free, and she used it to kick Vincent away from her. “Pathetic!” she said, screaming it so loud Zack could hear the strain in her voice. “Weak idiots!”

Without Vincent there to help, she tore her arm out of Zack’s grip and elbowed him in the ribs, startling him into releasing her. Lightning gathered in her hand, and Zack dodged it just fast enough for most of it to spear into the ground, shaking the surrounding tunnel. Some went up his arm, but it felt like little more than static cling to a SOLDIER like him.

“Please stop this!” Vincent said, voice thick with emotion.

Sephiroth hurled another fireball at him, and this time she summoned Masamune and swung in the direction where he dodged. He let it hit where it had already injured him, and he grabbed it again, forcing her to make it disappear. Zack climbed to his feet, ignoring the ache in his ribs, and he charged at her. She stepped to the side, and he stumbled. His feet struck something, and he looked down. It was Vincent’s gun.

Now, Zack had never been much of a gun guy, but he would take anything at this point. He snatched it up from the ground, and he spun around with it in time to witness Vincent and Sephiroth locking hands and pushing against each other. Shinra had given him some rifle training, but handguns were more in line with Turk training. Still, he thought he knew enough he could aim for Sephiroth’s middle and hope for the best.

Zack aimed, and he squeezed the trigger. After the ear-ringing bang, Sephiroth’s shoulder exploded with blood, darkening her suit from a new spot. She gasped and stumbled, and it was Vincent’s turn to lock his arms around hers.

“Her knees!” Vincent said.

Zack went to aim, but Sephiroth kicked at Vincent’s legs and sent him crashing onto the ground. She sent another bolt of lightning toward Zack, and he dropped the handgun while he dodged. Just as he recovered from the bolt, Sephiroth was on top of Vincent and pummeling him with her fists again. Zack looked around the tunnel in search of the Buster Sword, and when he found it lying on the ground, half covered in dirt, he dashed for it.

Bones popped, and Zack spun toward them in alarm. What he saw was beyond what he ever could have guessed would happen. Vincent not only grew in size underneath Sephiroth, but dark purple fur sprouted from his pale skin. His bones cracked as they changed shape and grew, and his hair moved and hardened into two black horns on his head. Zack gaped at Vincent as he watched the man transform into something like a small bipedal behemoth.

Even Sephiroth jerked away with a gasp, but this new creature lunged and wrapped its arms around her. It growled and howled as it held her in place even while she struggled and kicked, and it was having a much easier time than Vincent and Zack had. When she gave it a hard kick in the tail—yes, that was a tail, Zack marveled—it roared, and it sank its teeth into her injured shoulder, sending even more of her blood to soak into her clothes.

Zack hoped this creature would not turn on him at some point—or just straight up kill Sephiroth. He had to step in and try to minimize the damage as much as he could, so he dropped the Buster Sword and rushed to them, grabbing Sephiroth’s limbs while she continued to thrash.

“Listen!” Zack said. “I’m just as freaked out as you right now!”

Sephiroth’s eyes were wild with fear, which was definitely not helping Zack feel more confident in the moment. There was some blood on her lips that Zack desperately hoped was not from the inside of her body.

“What is this?” she asked. “Mother, what is this?”

It felt like an eternity had passed when footsteps bounded through the tunnel again, and Zack looked away just enough to catch Cloud running toward them. He stopped and gasped in horror at the scene, and he brandished the bag in his hands as a shield.

“What’s happening?” Cloud asked.

“I don’t know!” Zack said. “Did you get the tranquilizers?”

“Will they work on that thing?”

“We need them for Sephiroth!”

Cloud gave Zack an incredulous look, but he set the bag down. He loaded up his rifle with what Zack could only assume were tranquilizer darts, and he took aim at the pile of three struggling beings. The first shot missed all three of them, but the second, third, and fifth landed in Sephiroth’s arm and chest. The fourth landed in the—the Vincent thing. Zack got the unlucky sixth shot right into his arm.

“Sorry!” Cloud said. “I’m sorry. I—“

“You did it, buddy!”

Cloud reloaded his rifle with more darts; he took aim at them, but he did not shoot. Sephiroth’s struggle against Vincent’s hold slowed, and it slowed and slowed until she finally sagged against the ground. Zack’s vision grew spotty, so he reached out to tap Vincent.

“Hey, I think she’s out, man!” Zack said, hoping this creature could understand him.

But then, he was unconscious himself.

Chapter Text

Vincent had never wanted to know what it would feel like to take a hit from a behemoth, but he had a feeling it was a lot like taking a punch from Sephiroth, who had given him way too many chances to feel it than he was comfortable with. He also had taken those punches a lot better than he should have been able to.

Whatever Hojo had done to him had been more than just a punishment. It had changed him, and that change included shapeshifting, to Vincent’s horror.

The shapeshifting was a blur. Vincent had been worrying about how he was supposed to deal with this magically enhanced warrior, and then that annoying little voice in the back of his mind—Chaos, it called itself—promised it could help him if he let it. He had not wanted to give in to it, but in the end, he had had little choice.

Vincent had felt his body shift, but there had been no pain. Then, he had shifted again, and he had come to feeling refreshed. None of the bruises she had given him made themselves known to him. If not for the metallic tang of blood coating his mouth, he might have been able to pretend like nothing had happened at all.

There was the cock of a rifle, and Vincent untangled himself enough to look toward it. The blond trooper Zack had called “Cloudy” sat crouched on the ground, and he pointed his gun at Vincent. “What are you?” he asked.

Vincent hummed. He was not sure of the answer to that himself. “A vessel for Chaos,” he said.

Cloud pressed his eyebrows together in confusion, and that was fair enough. If Vincent had not spent years alongside scientists, he would not have known what to make of that sentence either.

Vincent held up his hands, palms outward. “I’m an acquaintance of Sephiroth’s,” he said. It was not a lie, even if she had been a mere infant when they met. “I mean no one any harm.”

An eyebrow rose on Cloud’s face, but he lowered his rifle just a tad. Cloud had had normal eyes, unlike Zack, whose eyes glowed green—not as much as Sephiroth’s, but the transition from human to enhanced had affected him similarly.

“Is she okay?” Cloud asked.

One startling thing Vincent had noticed upon waking was his ability to hear heartbeats. Cloud’s heart beat quickly from adrenaline, but both Sephiroth and Zack had strong heartbeats that had slowed as the tranquilizers circulated their systems.

“For now,” Vincent said. “I’d rather not stay down here too long while she’s bleeding.” Hojo had likely left them many strange monsters to deal with, and he would rather not fight them while protecting their two strongest fighters. The library might have been safe, but he would rather get Sephiroth as far away from that room as possible.

Cloud chewed on his bottom lip as he looked back and forth between Sephiroth and Zack. “What happened?” he asked.

Vincent had only just woken up, so even he did not know the answer. He tapped his temple. “Something Shinra told her, I think. It must have made her have a mental breakdown.”

That was enough to get Cloud to lower his rifle. His sky-blue eyes shifted to the ground. “She had been acting strange for a while. Zack said it was normal for her, but she usually wasn’t so manic about it.”

“If we must talk about it, then I suggest we get moving now.”

Cloud only complained because both Sephiroth and Zack were too heavy for him. He wrapped his arms around Zack’s chest and he pulled him down the hall. Vincent hauled Sephiroth over his back, and he grabbed the chunk of iron masquerading as Zack’s sword before he lead the way through the hall.

The first enemy they encountered was a couple of bugs. Vincent swung the massive sword to kill them far more easily than he should have been able to.

“You know, if Zack was awake,” Cloud said, “he’d probably make fun of us both for being so quiet.”

Vincent hummed, even though he had heard Zack stir awake just a few seconds ago. He could have warned Cloud about it, but if Zack wanted to continue pretending to sleep, then he had no reason to tell on him—not yet.

“A common enough complaint toward me,” Vincent said.

“Same actually. Zack is, like, the exact opposite of that, though.”

“He seems the type.”

Cloud had to reposition his arms around Zack’s chest before he could keep going. “Say, how is it you know Sephiroth? And when did you get down here?”

The first question was easier to answer than the second. Those memories were missing. Nothing stopped him from lying, however. “There is a mountain pass that leads to this basement, and that’s how I arrived here.”

“Really?”

Vincent hummed in affirmation. “And I was a friend of Sephiroth’s mother.” And her lover. But that was not something he was going to get into with two strangers.

“You knew...Jenova? I think she said that was her mother’s name.”

“Jenova is a mummy Shinra found encased in ice and rock. Her mother was Lucrecia.”

“Oh.”

Vincent wanted to dispel the confusion that Cloud and Zack must have, but it baffled him, too. It was bad enough Hojo had taken Lucrecia’s child from her, but to not even tell his own child about her birth mother was an extra layer of evil that Vincent had thought no one should have been capable of.

They had to kill a few more bugs, and Vincent really missed his gun when one of them floated just a little too high for the already too massive sword. Cloud’s rifle was full of tranquilizers, and it was not any use to them in the fight. It came down far enough to let him kill it, eventually, and they could finally be on their way.

“How close are you to Sephiroth?” Vincent asked.

“The day we departed for the mission was the first time we talked,” Cloud said, sounding quite winded from dragging Zack through the tunnels. “She asked me some stuff about Nibelheim because I’m from here, but we haven’t really talked much at all. Zack could probably tell you the most about her. They’ve done a few jobs together.”

They reached a spiral staircase. Cloud groaned. “I don’t know if I can carry Zack all the way up there,” he said.

“He can get up there himself,” Vincent said, recognizing it as the perfect time for Zack to reveal himself. “He’s been awake for a while.”

Cloud dropped his burden, who groaned, and he glared at Zack.

“Oh, Cloudy, you didn’t have to be so rough,” Zack said, and he lifted himself onto an elbow to rub the back of his head. His movements were sluggish compared to how he had been while fighting Sephiroth, an effect of the tranquilizers undoubtedly.

“Why didn’t you say anything? You’re so heavy!” Cloud said.

“I’m sorry! It was just so nice being pillowed on your bosoms.”

Vincent snorted, but Cloud was less amused, spinning around with a huff. He climbed up the steps, and he muttered obscenities aimed at Zack the entire way up.

Zack laughed. He sprang up onto his feet, but he sobered when he saw Vincent, who still carried Sephiroth on his back. “Man, she looks so roughed up,” he said.

“She’s alive.”

“She looks like she shouldn’t be.”

“There’s nothing we can do for her down here.”

Zack nodded, but his gaze lingered on Sephiroth’s unconscious form. His eyes looked shiny with tears. He looked so much like a kicked puppy that Vincent, against all of his instincts as an introvert, wanted to give the kid a hug.

“She’s not usually anything like that, you know?” Zack said. “People were afraid of her, but I got the chance to get to know her a little. She never liked to talk about it, but it really hurt her when Ange and Gen—I mean, her friends—up and left the company suddenly. She was still really kind when she had hope of helping them, and we were even talking about leaving the company right before we got assigned here.”

Vincent had to admit there was some relief upon hearing that. If he could smuggle Sephiroth away from the company, she might not run back to them, which made things easier for him, and she deserved to be away from the company.

Zack kicked a rock on the ground. “Whatever that stuff was she found in that reactor—” He shook his head. “It really broke her.”

“If I know Shinra, they’ll likely have sent her out here on purpose,” Vincent said, “but we’ll talk about it more when she’s properly cared for and restrained.”

Zack nodded, and he sighed as he dashed up the stairs. His absence allowed Vincent a moment to focus his ears on Sephiroth’s heartbeat. It was steady and strong despite everything she, Vincent, and Zack had put it through. He breathed a sigh, and he ascended the stairs.

Zack made it to the top well before Vincent, and when the latter made it up, Cloud stood with his back facing Zack, who was laughing at him. His face was beet red, and his shoulders shook. Vincent would guess it was some more flirting that had put the little trooper in such a condition.

Zack turned to Vincent with a grin on his face. “Hey,” he said, “you sure took your time.”

“Do either of you have any medical training?” Vincent asked.

Zack grimaced. “The only one of us who does is unconscious on your back right now,” he said.

“We have a doctor here in town,” Cloud said. “He’s where I got the tranqs from.”

“Does he work for Shinra?” Vincent asked.

“Uh, maybe?”

“We need to be sure. If he informs the company, he'll disclose Sephiroth's injuries to the company, and we don't want them sending an investigator here.”

Zack shook his head. “Yeah, I’m not sure she wants to be anywhere near them right now.”

Vincent nodded. “We have to take care of this ourselves.”

Cloud turned pale. Zack grimaced, but he nodded. Vincent knew this was going to be a disaster.

It was a disaster.

Things had started off fine. Cloud and Zack had gone into their truck and come back with first aid kits, a set of brand new knives, and a cooking stove to boil water for sterilization. Vincent had found a clean cloth to drape over the table in the kitchen. Despite electricity being the only functioning utility within Shinra Mansion, they had set up a makeshift operation that only a black market doctor would be proud of.

Then, they had gotten into their tools. The knives were massive hunting knives and half the stuff inside the first aid kits was out of date or of such poor quality they crumbled in their hands. After they cut off her blood-stained suit—leaving on her undergarments to leave her with some dignity—they found her shoulder looking more like minced meat than it did a human’s flesh.

While Zack removed bullets and helped Vincent attempt to suture every open vein and wound, she woke up four times, and they had to hold her down while Cloud’s tranquilizers took effect. It took them several hours, but they stopped Sephiroth’s bleeding. They covered her shoulder with gauze and then dressed her in a First Class uniform that Zack had found upstairs. Cloud and Zack found chains in the truck and used them to bind her arms and legs.

“I’d be shocked if these are strong enough to hold her,” Zack said. “They’re just barely strong enough for me, and I’ve definitely snapped them when given enough time with them. Plus, she’s a Turk. Turks just know stuff.”

Vincent could not help a laugh bubbling out of him at that, and he coughed to hide it.

“You okay, buddy?” Zack asked.

“I am,” Vincent said. “It’s just a surprise to see that old bit of mythology existing so many years later.”

Zack cocked his head. “What do you mean?”

Vincent huffed a sigh. “I suppose I haven’t told you much about myself. I was a Turk before—” He made a vague gesture toward himself.

“Oh, that—“ Zack nodded. “Yeah, that explains things.”

Vincent was unsure if he wanted to know what “things” that explained.

“Are we going to talk about the part where Zack said he’s been in these before?” Cloud asked.

Zack grinned. “If you think SOLDIERs are wild when they’re bored, you’re not ready to be around a bored Turk.”

“Or maybe they just don’t like you.”

Zack scoffed.

Vincent cleared his throat to draw their attention back to something more important. “What are your plans now?” he asked. “I will take Sephiroth far from here, but what do you plan to do?”

Zack hummed, and he reached behind his head to ruffle his black hair spikes. “That’s a complicated answer for me.”

“How so?”

“Ah, well, I’ve done enough terrible crap for Shinra Electric Company, and I don’t want to work for them anymore. But I still have this adorable girlfriend all the way back in Midgar, and there’s just no way I’m leaving her there by herself. So, I’m quitting Shinra, but I’m definitely going back to the city and figuring out what to do from there.”

Vincent realized how hypocritical it would be to judge Zack for wanting to go back into danger for his girlfriend, considering how had fallen in love with a girl who had been startingly complicated. Cloud looked at Zack with a level of reverence that made Vincent realize he would be the only one in an opposing viewpoint between the three of them.

“And you, Cloud?” Vincent asked.

Cloud snapped his attention from Zack, and his cheeks reddened, which brought up questions Vincent was uncertain he should ask. “Oh, uh, I guess I haven’t thought about it much,” he said.

“It was your dream to get into SOLDIER, right?” Zack said. “I’m sure you could stick around long enough to—“

Cloud shook his head hard. His expression darkened. “No, I don’t want to go back either, but I—“ He sighed. “I’m not sure what’d I do.”

“Well, you could stay here—this is your hometown—come with us to save Aerith, or you could go your own path, I guess.”

Vincent felt a pang in his chest at the sadness in Cloud’s eyes. “Perhaps we should give him some time to decide. Although I would advise either of you against coming with Sephiroth and me.”

Zack pouted. “Why is that?”

“Sephiroth is a biologically enhanced person who just realized she was being manipulated by the very people who raised her, and when she rebelled against them, her friend and a shape-shifting demon wrestled her onto the ground until someone else came along to tranquilize her. I may have been the strongest chain, but that doesn’t mean I can stop her from hurting someone completely.”

“Ah, but she seems to really like Cloud.”

The man of the hour turned beet red, and he nudged Zack in the arm, earning a cackle from him. “She’s not into a scrawny sixteen-year-old kid,” he said.

Vincent was immediately and deeply disturbed at the confirmation this kid was so young and part of Shinra’s military.

Zack scoffed but grinned, and he gave Cloud’s shoulder a gentle push. “I didn’t mean that, man. She was worried and stuff for you on the way here, and she’s never like that with anyone outside the Turks.”

Cloud and Zack’s voices faded into the background as Vincent heard Sephiroth’s heartbeats quicken. He froze, and he only shifted his eyes to Sephiroth, trying not to make the other two worry if she just went back to sleep. Her eyes shifted under her eyelids. Lips twitched. Hands balled up.

And what a terrible time to recall a night he had spent with Lucrecia, Sephiroth’s real mother. They looked similar: the same eye shape and jawline. If not for the color, he would say her hair was the same—just as dense and thick—and he wondered if Hojo had influenced her to do her bangs similarly.

Sephiroth’s heart slowed again, and Vincent’s shoulders lowered in relief. She remained unconscious for now, but she would wake soon. It would be better if he could get her away from this place as soon as possible.

Vincent gathered Sephiroth in his arms. Her chains clinked, and Cloud and Zack turned to the sound.

“I need to go,” Vincent said.

“Whoa, whoa! Wait!” Zack said. “What are your plans?”

“We are going far from here, like I said.”

“Right, cool, but where? Honestly, if none of us are going back to Shinra, then it’s probably better if we stick together. We’d really be safer. Plus, I don’t want to ditch one of my good friends.”

Sephiroth having a faithful friend during her darkest moments brought Vincent both joy and apprehension about what she might do when she woke up. He could hope all day long that she would not lash out at them, but she had four times already, which he could not fault her for.

“If your plan is to go to Midgar,” Vincent said, “she and I would likely be too easily recognizable.”

Zack shrugged. “I mean, I’m not exactly a nobody myself,” he said. “I’m pretty well known in the slums, and besides that, I’m a First Class SOLDIER. Still, I gotta get my girlfriend out of there. She doesn’t deserve to live under that hell anymore.”

“I don’t see how you need us for that.”

“Like I said: protection. We’re way safer together than apart. That’s always how the bad guys get away with stuff. They separate the good guys and pick them off. Hell, it’s part of why we won the damn Wutai War. Separately, we won’t stand a chance against Shinra’s army.”

Sephiroth and Vincent would have far fewer problems with that than Cloud and Zack would, and Vincent supposed that was the point: Cloud and Zack needed the protection. If they reached his girlfriend, she would need it, too.

Vincent sighed. “Then we shouldn’t use your truck,” he said. “It will help them find us.”

“There aren’t really any other trucks around,” Cloud said. “We’ll have to use it for a while, at least, and we can ditch it when we find a good replacement.”

“That’s a solid enough idea. Preferably, we could lose it somewhere in a forest where people are less likely to come across it.”

“Maybe we can make it look like monsters ate us or something,” Zack said.

“Do you think anyone would believe monsters ate Sephiroth?” Cloud asked.

“Well, no, but at least no one will suspect the locals know something about what happened to us.”

“Sephiroth might be the monster who will chew you up,” Vincent said, recalling how her every hit had felt.

Zack grimaced, and he rubbed at his arms, undoubtedly recalling the power behind her swings. “Let’s hope her nap will help her back to her old self,” he said.

Vincent snorted, knowing full well things would not get any easier for them.

Chapter Text

Sephiroth woke up to the loud chug of a truck, and she felt its engine vibrating beneath her. She had fallen asleep—not an unheard of mistake for her, but certainly unusual for someone with her sensory sensitivities. Her body ached, and she felt the worst of it in her head and her shoulder. A sharp pain cleaved through her mind, and it brought with it a green-tainted memory:

—a man in red falls to his knees—

—“I must take back our world”—

—Zack holding Angeal’s Buster Sword at his hips, fear twisting his face—

—"I thought we were friends"—

—the stranger in red sprouts purple fur, and he grows bigger and bigger—

—excruciating pain as sharp teeth pierced through her shoulder—

A leather-clad hand rested on Sephiroth’s less painful—but distressingly bare—shoulder, jolting her out of the memory Mother had gifted to her. Before a strange monster had defeated her, Sephiroth would have never questioned her ability to fight off whoever owned that hand. The cologne coming off it was familiar. It smelled like the cheap brand Zack Fair had worn when he got promoted to First Class.

Sephiroth catalogued her pains properly. Her shoulder and her head had it the worst, but there were dull aches where that stranger had shot her during their altercation. She felt weights around her ankles and wrists. They were chains, but not the heavy ones that could resist her strength.

There was a retching in the distance, and the following cough sounded like Cloud, the blond trooper they had taken to Nibelheim because he had been a local. He had been so innocent with his big blue eyes watching her with reverence, and she had felt a silly twinge of guilt in her chest when she had forgotten to bring motion sickness medication for him.

Mother cut another memory into her brain:

—Cloud, eyes wide with fear, aimed his rifle—

—"You did it, buddy!"—

—Sephiroth felt her body go limp against her will as the tranquilizers took effect—

Innocent or not, Cloud was just a pathetic boy who served as another barrier to her reunion with her mother.

Zack’s hand left Sephiroth’s shoulder, and there was a creak as he stood up and walked around her body. She heard another creak on her other side. It had to be the stranger, unless Zack had pulled a fourth person into their nonsense.

“Hey, you okay, Cloudy?” Zack called.

Cloud coughed. “Yeah,” he said, voice muffled. “I’m fine.”

Sephiroth leaped up then. Her movements were sluggish, but she was fast enough to get the chains around Zack’s throat before he turned. His Buster Sword dug into her chest as she swung them around in search of the third person. The man with black hair and a tattered red cape stood near the back of the truck, and he held up his pistol, pointing it at her face. With her being taller than Zack, there would be plenty of space for him to shoot her without worrying about Zack, if he was careful.

Another pang tore through her mind.

—tear-filled red eyes staring at her—

—the strange man fell to his knees—

—”You look just like your mother”—

Fingers clawing at Sephiroth’s arm drew her out of it. Zack made choking sounds, and she loosened the chains to give him room to breathe.

“You’re not fast enough to kill me before I kill him,” Sephiroth said to the stranger—Vincent, the memory had reminded her.

Vincent hummed, and his face remained neutral, a suspiciously familiar behavior. “Some sacrifices are necessary to achieve the primary objective,” he said.

“Ah, jeez, thanks, man,” Zack said.

Sephiroth narrowed her eyes at him. Not only was that a line she had heard countless times, but she had said it herself. As she watched Vincent, she recognized his stance, too, but her thoughts were too slow to piece things together.

“So, it’d be awesome if we could all just talk all of this out, right?” Zack said. “I mean, we’re all in the same boat, being fugitives of Shinra, right? We can all be friends here.”

“I have no use for friends,” Sephiroth said.

Zack stiffened in her grip. “I don’t know what use you have for some old mummy from a rock, either.”

Sephiroth tightened the chains around his throat for just a second, making her point. “Jenova is my mother.”

Vincent twitched. “She’s not your mother,” he said.

“You don’t know anything.”

“I was there when you were born. Your mother was inconsolable for hours when Hojo swept you away before she got to even hold you. She was an ordinary human woman tortured for Hojo’s ambitions.”

“I know it’s hard to,” Zack said, “but you should listen to him. He was a Turk, like you, and Hojo experimented on him, too. It made him do that crazy stuff back in the basement.”

Sephiroth felt another pain sending a memory into her mind:

—teeth clamped over her shoulder, tearing through her skin—

—"Mother? What is this, Mother?"—

—searing pain, and it held her in place—

A loud snap forced Sephiroth out of the memory. The chain around Zack’s throat had broken. She wrapped her arm around his neck in its place, and Zack let out a pathetic whimper. He clutched at her arm, but Sephiroth snapped her attention to Vincent. His eyes widened as he watched them, but he forced his face back to neutral.

“Something is distracting you,” Vincent said, “making you lose control. What is it?”

Sephiroth did not bother to say anything at all. She released Zack’s neck, and she shoved him with all of her strength toward Vincent, who lowered his gun instead of shooting—so much for sacrificing for the greater good. She flicked her left hand, and she summoned her favored weapon, Masamune. As she drew magical energy, like a static charge tingling against her skin, into the blade, she sliced straight through the side of the truck. Metal grinding through metal assaulted her ears, but she did it again, making an X in the vehicle.

Before Sephiroth could finish cutting open the truck, Zack rushed toward her with the Buster Sword as his shield, and she brought her blade on it, the impact vibrating through her arm.

“I will return to Nibelheim,” Sephiroth said.

“I promise you,” Vincent said, “anything you think you’ll be getting out of Jenova won’t be any good for you.”

Sephiroth wanted to launch a firaga at him, but she felt none of the weight of her equipment. Only Masamune and her strength were available to her without her belt.

The truck lurched to a stop, and they all wobbled. Sephiroth recovered just before Zack could, and she swept her foot under his, knocking him onto his back. She stomped her foot on Zack’s Buster Sword, pinning him to the floor, and she raised Masamune above her head, pointing its tip at Vincent.

Vincent pointed his gun at her.

“There has been a distinct lack of shooting for someone who likes brandishing his gun at me,” Sephiroth said.

“I’d rather not deafen us in this metal box,” Vincent said, “but don’t think I won’t shoot you if things get beyond my control.”

Sephiroth heard the crunching of boots over gravel.

“No, Cloud!” Zack said, voice straining from the pressure on his chest. “Don’t let him come in!”

Confusion flashed on Vincent’s face, likely not understanding how to do that. The door slid up despite Zack’s protests, and there was Cloud Strife, Zack’s favorite little blond trooper. His eyes widened, and he whipped his rifle up to point it at Sephiroth.

“Cloudy, don’t do anything!” Zack said.

“What?” Cloud asked, breathless.

Sephiroth caught Vincent moving. He lowered his gun, and she flinched. She jumped back just as he shot his gun, but she felt a burn in the side of her leg. The sound rang in her ears, but thanks to Cloud, it was not as deafening as it could have been. She rushed forward, and she kicked at the wall she had damaged. It broke apart with a metallic scream.

Zack climbed back to his feet, and he swung the Buster Sword, aiming high. Sephiroth ducked low, and she jumped out of the hole she had made. Vincent shot her, striking her thigh again. Her leg burned like one of Shinra’s weapon forges, but she had endured worse than this. She gritted her teeth as she landed outside of the vehicle. If they would continue to fight her, she would have more room to do so out here.

Vincent was a red blur as he rushed through the new opening. Sephiroth held Masamune above her head again, pointing its tip at Vincent, but to her annoyance, he tossed his handgun n and held up his hands—an unconvincing show of peace while her leg burned with two bullets embedded into her flesh.

“I may know where to look for her,” Vincent said, speaking fast. “I don’t know for sure, but—”

Sephiroth used her blade to send another wave of magic through the air. Vincent ducked. Zack scrambled to protect Cloud, but Sephiroth knew it should pass over his head harmlessly, based on the angle she had shot the magic. Cloud breathed a sigh of relief when it was over.

“We can take you there,” Vincent said, “and if she’s not there—”

“I’m not interested,” Sephiroth said, spitting the words.

Vincent grimaced. His hands twitched, but he kept them in place. “If she’s not there, if there’s no clue where she’s gone, I will not stand in your way any longer,” he said, “nor will I allow Zack or even Cloud to.”

Sephiroth bit back a reminder that Zack had stood no chance against her before Vincent’s strange transformation. In her current state, her body felt as heavy as lead, giving him a much greater chance against her.

“Whoa, Vincent,” Zack said.

“You can have my gun,” Vincent said, “if it will help you believe me, and I don’t know how to transform consistently. I’ve tried since, and it doesn’t seem to work.”

Sephiroth narrowed her eyes at him. Vincent looked sheepish.

Learning about her mother from Hojo had been one thing. Getting any important information from Hojo, the sorry excuse for a scientist who had overseen her care, had been like pulling teeth—even when she had threatened to do that to him literally. Professor Gast had been the scientist who Hojo had been competing against, failing to meet his level of genius even after his disappearance, and the notes at the manor had told her far more than Hojo ever had.

Sephiroth hated to think Vincent, a total stranger, could tell her anything about herself that no one else would, but she had already lost everything many times over. With her true mother all the way in Nibelheim, she supposed there was no substantial harm in following him to whatever place he wanted her to. One thing she had learned in the Turks was excursions could be fun.

“Cloud,” Sephiroth said, tone sing-song. “Bring me both your weapon and Vincent’s, would you?”

Zack turned his heated gaze to Vincent, but he only stood there, clenching his fists around the hilt of the Buster Sword.

Cloud stood at attention. He glanced at Zack, but he found no help as the other continued to glare at both Sephiroth and Vincent. “Ah, yes, ma’am?” he said, voice wavering. He took off the strap of his rifle, and he kept its barrel pointed at the ground as he walked to Sephiroth. Cloud bit his lower lip as he reached for Vincent’s weapon, and his hands shook as he presented both firearms.

Sephiroth did not dare to dismiss Masamune as she took the barrels of both guns with one hand. She slung the strap of the rifle around her neck, allowing her one free hand to bring Vincent’s handgun to her face. It was a clean, well-maintained weapon, but the design was old, like the guns Shinra had made decades ago.

“What did they call you?” Sephiroth asked.

“Quicksilver,” Vincent said.

Sephiroth hummed as she thought back to everything she had learned about the Turks of the past. Some old files held references to a “Quicksilver,” but most of the details were classified or redacted. She pointed the handgun at Vincent’s thigh, the same spot he had shot her more than once.

“A good little Turk would have given me an empty weapon,” Sephiroth said. “Should we see how rusty you’ve gotten?”

Vincent let out a little chuckle, but he was otherwise silent.

Sephiroth squeezed the trigger. It clicked, but there was no deafening bang. She clucked her tongue as she lowered the weapon. Part of her had hoped both of them had been wrong so they would both have legs burning from bullet wounds.

“Where’s this place you want to take me?” Sephiroth asked.

Vincent lowered his hands. “There’s a cave where she and my father—” He gulped back an emotion, and he clenched his fists. “She and my father found something there, but Shinra didn’t think it would be profitable for them and wouldn’t give them any funding for it. I was thinking about it while we were driving, and if she’s going to be anywhere, it would have to be where it all started for her.”

Sephiroth narrowed her eyes at him, and Vincent rushed his next sentence:

“I am hoping to at least find a clue. She’s a scientist. Just because Shinra isn’t funding her research, it doesn’t mean she’s going to give up on it. She could be obsessive, sometimes to everyone’s detriment.”

Sephiroth hummed. It was believable enough for a scientist. “Where is this cave, then?” she asked.

“I’m afraid we’ll have to use a map for that. I have a general idea, but it’s been several years since Hojo changed me. It was behind a waterfall here in the Nibel area.”

Cloud frowned, and Sephiroth turned her attention to him. “Is that familiar to you, Cloud?” she asked.

“I remember hearing about a cave behind a waterfall,” Cloud said. “To the East of Mount Nibel, I think. Old folks used to complain about Shinra messing around with it. They said it brought us all bad luck.”

Vincent laughed. “They weren’t wrong, it seems.”

As they traveled east, Sephiroth longed for her Turk uniform. The SOLDIER uniform was less restrictive than a suit with a Kevlar vest sewn into it, but she missed the soft materials of her tailored outfit. She wanted to ask about it, but she was afraid they had torn it to shreds. The three men with her had taken enough from her, and she did not want to confirm that one loss just yet.

Before setting on their journey, Zack had asked Sephiroth to cut up their truck more, but she had ignored them and headed east without them. Vincent had tried to shapeshift to make it look like an animal had attacked them, but it had not worked. Cloud had grabbed the gear they had pilfered off Sephiroth’s body and their supplies, and then the men had scrambled to catch up to her, leaving the vehicle behind.

Vincent walked in eerie silence, confirming his past as a Turk. Zack’s silence was odd only because it was Zack, who she had never known to be quiet before, and only his heavy footsteps told her he was behind her. Cloud had matched their pace well enough for about an hour, but with his shorter legs, he grew tired. Sephiroth slowed her pace to help him. None of them would leave her alone soon, so she might as well help the most pathetic of them.

They took a couple of breaks to refuel. Sephiroth only partook because Zack was insistent she imbibe something after a week of nothing. The stale ration bars hit her stomach hard, but a few sips of water helped her keep it all down. Vincent ate nothing, insisting he should not waste their food on someone who had no need of it.

“No need of it?” Zack asked. “What’s that mean?”

“I slept in a coffin for over twenty years,” Vincent said, “and I had no access to food or water during that time. I feel no hunger.”

It took a day and a half of hiking before they could hear a large waterfall in the distance. It was at the edge of a vast lake, and the surrounding ground was steep—too steep for anyone to get down without climbing equipment, which none of them had.

Zack, hands on his hips, leaned over the edge of the cliff. “This is our only lead, huh?” he said with a sigh. “Well, three out of four of us are enhanced people. We could certainly figure this out, right?”

Sephiroth summoned her Masamune, which she had hidden away while they had navigated the mountainous area. She used its flat side to tap the side of the cliff, and it clanged. It was solid rock all the way down.

Sephiroth sent her blade away, and she climbed onto the cliff’s face, knowing her enhancements would keep her alive, even if she fell. It would likely be some of the worst pain she had ever endured, but she would survive.

The three men deliberated on how to get Cloud down safely, and Cloud agreed to cling to Vincent. Zack climbed down first so he could catch Cloud if he fell off Vincent’s back.

It was an uneventful climb. It took over an hour, and the sun hung low in the sky as Sephiroth’s boots hit the ground. No one fell. Zack’s foot slipped a time or two, but he always caught himself. As soon as Vincent noticed Sephiroth at the bottom, he jumped off the face of the cliff, and Cloud squeaked in panic until they hit the ground safely. Zack did the same a moment later.

All four of them looked at the waterfall. It looked even bigger now that they were at the bottom, looming over them with the reminder they would have to climb back out of it when they were ready to leave. The waterfall was so loud it drowned out any noises from animals that might have been hanging around, but as she glanced around, she saw no signs of human activity.

Vincent walked past them and under the waterfall. Zack walked next to Cloud, keeping a slower pace for him. Sephiroth walked up to the waterfall, where Vincent stood at the mouth of a huge cave entrance. It was easily taller than three of her stacked on top of each other.

Mist clung to her clothes and hair as Sephiroth walked under the waterfall, compounding the weight she felt on her shoulders. Vincent stood at the mouth of the cave, fists clenching as he stared inside it. Sephiroth came up behind him, and he turned to her.

“Perhaps I should go in alone first,” Vincent said.

“That’s so not happening,” Zack said.

Vincent turned to give Zack an exasperated look. Zack shrugged, and he crossed his arms over his chest.

To Sephiroth’s surprise, Cloud walked ahead of them toward the waterfall. “Let’s get this over with,” he said.

Zack jogged to get ahead of him, playing his guardian puppy.

Sephiroth walked after them, and Vincent did, too, at a slower pace. Inside the cave, there were crystals everywhere, and a small stream flowed through the middle of it. Lizards scattered as Zack walked inside it. He went up to a tall white crystal jutting from the ground, and he took off his glove before touching it.

“Whoa, I think some of these crystals glow,” Zack said, “and they’re warm, too.”

Cloud did as Zack had done, and he gasped in awe.

Vincent gave a low chuckle. Sephiroth glanced behind her. He had lingered near the entrance. The light behind him made him more of a black silhouette to Sephiroth’s perspective, except for the slight glow of his red eyes, which she had never noticed before.

Zack glanced around and he frowned. “Actually, this place feels weird,” he said. “Don’t you think, Seph? Like there’s some kind of energy hanging around?”

Sephiroth mirrored his expression as she focused on the surrounding air.

Mako felt like water caressing the skin, changing flavor when one used Materia to control it. Inside the cave, magic was an oppressive weight on the soul, feeling no different from the anxiety coursing through her. That might have been how she could ignore its presence until Zack pointed it out to her.

Vincent stepped deeper into the cave, bringing the details of his face back. His eyes were soft with worry as he glanced around them, but he narrowed them as he noticed something.

Sephiroth followed his gaze, and she caught a flash of white. Cloud and Zack gasped, noticing it, too. All three of the men darted toward it, Zack grabbing the hilt of his Buster Sword. She walked after them, but they all froze as someone stepped from behind a tall crystal.

The first thing Sephiroth noticed was the long white coat, like the ones scientists at Shinra preferred, and beneath it was a long blue dress. Upon raising her gaze to their face, her mouth gaped. She was well-familiar with this person’s appearance. She reached a hand in her pocket, but that just reminded her that three men had taken her clothes and left them behind. Pain swelled in her chest, and she reached for a crystal as her legs weakened.

Vincent stumbled. “Lucrecia?” he said, breathless.

The woman gave him a sad smile, and Sephiroth fell to her knees.