"Sure is coming down heavy."
           Sephiroth said nothing, but remained still, leaning against the side of the truck with his Masamune comfortably nestled against his shoulder. He listened as his partner on this mission, a SOLDIER First Class named Zack, shuffled around and made small talk with the two MPs that were assigned to them. The only other sound he could hear was the steady drumming of several million raindrops.
           "Hey, calm down," said Sephiroth. He opened his eyes and looked over at Zack.
           "I got new materia," Zack replied as he launched into a set of squatting exercises. "Can't wait to try it out."
           "That's nice, but you're acting like a little kid."
           Zack seemed to ignore this. "Are you going to brief us on this mission, sir?"
           "You didn't read the dossier?"
           "Didn't have time to. All I knew was that this was a big mission—my kind of thing. I just had to sign up for it."
           "Mmm. There haven't been many 'big missions' since the war ended."
           "Yeah. So are you gonna brief us or what?"
           Sephiroth shifted his weight. His muscles had grown stiff over the course of the long ride; perhaps he needed to get up as well. "There have been reports of monsters appearing near Nibelheim's mako reactor. Our job is to take care of the monsters, then inspect the reactor and fix any problems there."
           "So we'll be up against monsters, huh? Do you know what kind?"
           Just then, a loud thud came from outside, and the truck screeched to a halt. Sephiroth stood and took the Masamune in hand. "No, but we're about to find out."

           The dragon they encountered was taken out fairly easily, thanks mainly to Sephiroth's own strength, and they soon continued on their way. The rest of the ride was uneventful, and by the time they reached Nibelheim, it was mid-afternoon the following day. The rain had stopped, but the air was heavy with a sour mako stench.
           "Make sure to get to bed early tonight," Sephiroth ordered his men. "We head for the reactor first thing tomorrow morning. I want one of you MPs on watch by the town's entrance. The rest of you are free to do as you wish until nightfall."
           Zack nodded and wandered off somewhere, while the two MPs negotiated their sentry schedule. In the meantime, Sephiroth checked them all into a room at the local inn, where he then went to place a call to his superiors.
           "We've reached Nibelheim," he told Heidegger over his PHS, "and plan to start our mission in earnest tomorrow."
           "Good, good. Did you run into any trouble on the road?" Heidegger asked.
           "We did come across a dragon last night, but I don't know where we were at the time."
           "Just a dragon, eh? Well, as long as there were no major problems, that's good to hear."
           Sephiroth said nothing. How is a wild dragon on a Shinra military route not a "major problem"?
           "Good luck with your mission. And please remember to report in again once you have inspected the mako reactor."
           "Yes, sir."
           Sephiroth ended the call, then walked across the room and looked out of the window. This town was quiet—almost too quiet—but that wasn't the only thing which bothered him. To the best of his recollection, he had never been to this town before… and yet there was something familiar about it.

           The following morning, Sephiroth, along with his troops, patiently waited for their guide outside of the Shinra Mansion at the edge of town. He stared at the mansion, which stood behind a brick wall and a locked wrought-iron gate. He didn't know much about the place, only that it was owned by Shinra and housed some of its employees during the early days of the Company's history. Currently, it was overgrown with ivy, and the windows were thick with grime. Obviously it had been several years since anyone had lived there.
           "Which one of you is Sephiroth?" said a man's voice.
           Sephiroth turned around to see two villagers, the man who had addressed him and a teenaged girl wearing a wide-brimmed hat. "That would be me," he replied.
           "Listen, if anything should happen to my daughter—"
           "Dad, don't worry! I'll be fine," said the girl. She walked up to Sephiroth. "I'm Tifa Lockheart, the guide you requested."
           "I'm Commander Sephiroth, and this is First Class SOLDIER Zack. Let's get going."
           As Sephiroth turned to leave, a new voice called his name. He turned around to see a third villager, this time a man holding a camera.
           "Can I get a picture as a memento? It's not every day that a war hero of your stature comes to our town."
           Zack said, "Sure, why not? Well, if that's okay with you, sir."
           Sephiroth sighed; "Fine." He joined Zack and Tifa, already posing by the Shinra Mansion's outer wall, and waited for the cameraman to get things over and done with. Once the picture was taken, Sephiroth wasted no time and ordered Tifa to escort them to Mt. Nibel, home of the town's mako reactor.

           The twisting, narrow passages of the Nibel mountain range were infested with several monsters. Soon, Sephiroth and his charges found themselves before a long rope bridge which, according to Tifa, led directly to Mt. Nibel's mako reactor. Unfortunately, as they started across, a huge gust of wind rocked the bridge, ultimately snapping the ropes which secured it. They fell several feet to a mountain pass below, but one of the MPs who was with them was not so lucky; out of the corner of his eye, Sephiroth watched as he fell into a deep ravine.
           "Is everyone all right?" Zack asked as he came around a corner with Tifa. Aside from some scrapes and bruises, they both looked fine.
           Sephiroth himself was also in good shape, as was the MP who had survived. "We lost a man, and unfortunately, we don't have the time to go looking for him. Tifa, will we still be able to get to the mako reactor with the bridge out?"
           "It'll take longer, but yeah."
           "All right. Let's continue on."
           Their new route towards the reactor consisted of several interconnected caves. At the heart of one of them was a mako fountain, which surrounded a large materia crystal. Tifa commented on how beautiful it was, and indeed, it was quite a sight to behold in their otherwise dreary surroundings. Here was the knowledge of the Ancients in tangible form, surrounded by the fuel which enabled Shinra to supply electricity to the world, nestled in a green, leafy oasis.
           They soon left this cavern for the next, and after a bit more walking and several more battles against monsters, arrived at their destination. Sephiroth ordered the remaining MP to guard the entrance to the reactor and keep an eye on Tifa while he and Zack checked out the place. The steady drone of machinery filled the reactor, but thus far, Sephiroth couldn't see anything wrong. He crossed a set of pipes that doubled as a catwalk and came before the main control room. However, nothing could prepare him for what was inside.
           Several rows of large, egg-shaped pods were lined up on either side of a narrow staircase, at the top of which was a scratched and stained metal door. Sephiroth walked over to one of the pods and peered inside; it contained some sort of mutated, deformed person, immersed in green liquid. He had long known that the Company's Science Department conducted experiments involving humans—the results of which had led to the SOLDIER program—but this was unlike anything he had ever seen before.
           "Sephiroth? What's in those things?" asked Zack from somewhere behind him.
           "Humans, or what were once humans." Sephiroth stepped away. "Take a look for yourself."
           Zack did so, and soon shrank back. "What happened to them? Who are they?"
           "This is what happens when human beings are exposed to large amounts of mako, far more than members of SOLDIER receive. As for their identities, I'm not sure; perhaps they were prisoners of war. Whoever they might have been, they're simply the Science Department's pawns now." Sephiroth glanced around the room. "These pods may be the source of our monster problem. Check the valves for mako leaks."
           "Yes sir."
           As Zack got to work, Sephiroth wandered up to the top of the stairs to inspect the door. It had seen much wear, and the black and red stains that marred it indicated some kind of past struggle. Beneath the stains, a hint of an old document caught his eye. It was once some kind of form, and though much of it had been torn off, Sephiroth could make out snippets of words here and there. "Progeny", "genetic", "mitosis", "unstable". However, there was one that, once it caught his eye, he could not turn away from.
           "Lucrecia…"
           "Did you say something?" Zack asked.
           "My mother's name is on this door."
           "Huh?"
           Sephiroth examined the door, searching for some way to open it. "She died not long after I was born. Why is her name on here? What does she have to do with this place?" He eyed the document again, hoping to find some sort of additional clue. The word "progeny" caught his attention again. No… it can't be. I've always had the feeling that I was special, out of the ordinary in some way, but… He banged on the handle-less door with his fists.
           "Sephiroth, what the hell's going on?"
           The door wouldn't budge. He drew his Masamune.
           "Sephiroth! Calm down! It's probably just a coincidence!"
           "I'm not sure about that," he replied, but sheathed his sword and came down the stairs anyway. He needed to know more about the torn document, and had a feeling that he wasn't going to get answers here. Now that Zack had taken care of the mako leaks, their job was done, but he himself was not done with Nibelheim.

           His call to Heidegger that evening was brief and to the point. He told his boss a little white lie, saying that although they'd located the source of the problem, it would take him and Zack a few more days to wipe out the remaining monsters and complete their task. Afterwards, he shared dinner with Zack, though neither of them spoke to the other during the meal. Once their plates had been taken away, Sephiroth told Zack that they were going to be staying in Nibelheim awhile longer. By way of reply, Zack simply nodded. Once Zack had retired back to their room, Sephiroth left for the Shinra Mansion.
           The lock that was bolted to the mansion's gates was old and rusted, and thus Sephiroth was able to make quick work of it with his sword. The gates creaked open, and before him was a weed-filled yard and the barest hints of a path leading up to the front door. Another broken lock later, he was inside. The building smelled of cobwebs and history.
           It took Sephiroth a good hour and a half of wandering around before he found the hidden passageway on the second floor that led to the basement. With the help of a candlestick he had found in the mansion's ballroom, he descended into the darkness until he came upon a door at the very end of the basement's cavernous hallway. It was open, and when he walked inside, a light came on overhead. He blew out the candle and examined his new surroundings.
           It was a laboratory. There was an examination table, two large glass chambers, and several dozen beakers and jars filled with all manner of chemicals. To his left was a narrow hallway, each side of which was lined with packed bookshelves. He began walking through the bookshelf-cramped hallway to his left when another light, just ahead of him, came on, revealing a desk and several more books. Unlike the rest of the mansion, these rooms were clean, and had obviously seen more regular usage than the ones upstairs.
           A notebook was on the desk in the back; it bore the name of Professor Gast, an Shinra scientist he had admired as a child. He didn't know what, if anything, he had to do with what he saw in the reactor, but as he was at a loss for a place to start, he settled down in the chair behind the desk and began to read.

           Over the following few days, Sephiroth barely emerged from the basement. His only visitors during that time had been Zack and the remaining MP, both of whom expressed worry over him. Sephiroth asked them to leave him be, and he delved back into the stacks of books.
           Aside from a handful of reference books, they were all scientific records, many of them from around thirty years ago. There were several written by Gast and a few by his mother, but the rest were penned by Hojo, a reckless biologist whom Sephiroth had long regarded with disdain. As it turned out, it was these three who had pooled their efforts into creating an "ultimate warrior" by combining DNA from various rare and powerful beasts with that of a human, with his mother's womb serving as the test tube. All of this work had been underwritten by a then-fledgling Shinra Company, which was merely a weapons manufacturer back then. Sephiroth was a prototype, a proof of concept for the perfect weapon: a warrior who looked human, but could not be strictly classified as such. He was a chimera who had been created to fulfill the selfish and corrupt aims of his creators.
           During the course of his reading, he found mentions in his mother's notebooks of a Turk who served security detail for the mansion at the time, a man who objected to the very experiments that led to Sephiroth's birth. He filed this information in the back of his mind, but was reminded of it again while he wandered the mansion one evening. It was his fifth night in this accursed village, and he had left the basement after wringing it for as much information as he could. While searching the parlor, it was on the floor, under a table, that he found it: a yellowed letter, in Hojo's handwriting, detailing how to find a Turk whom he had genetically altered for his defiance. Sephiroth wasted no time in following the instructions and securing a key, but he wasn't sure what it was for. Remembering that the letter mentioned something about the Turk being locked away in the basement, Sephiroth headed back down there, thinking he might've overlooked something. Sure enough, tucked away in an especially dark corner was a second door, which was locked.
           Sephiroth used the key and pushed the door open. He found a freestanding candelabra near the door, which he lit before taking a proper look around. Inside the room were five coffins, all of which—save for the middle one—were open and filled with bones and cobwebs. The fifth bore its share of dust, but its lid was perfectly secured. Carefully, he took the lid in his hands and lifted it off. Inside the coffin was a pale man with long black hair, dressed in black, gold, and red. Sephiroth reached out to touch the man, but the latter's eyes began to open before the former made contact.
           "Who are you?" the man asked.
           Sephiroth gave his name.
           The man narrowed his eyes at the Shinra commander and quivered slightly, as if trying to hold back something. "Tell me, why have you awakened me?"
           "Because you were here for the experiments that led to my creation, if what I have read is true."
           "So, you are that Sephiroth. At first I wondered if it was just a coincidence, but now I see that you and her have some of the same features."
           "Are you talking about my mother?"
           "Yes. She was a wonderful, vibrant person, but now she's gone."
           "No she isn't. Not completely."
           The former Turk slowly sat up in his coffin. "What do you mean?"
           "She's in the mako reactor on Mt. Nibel. After her 'death'—and, I'm guessing, after your imprisonment—Hojo salvaged what he could of her." Sephiroth looked at the open door. "I'm heading there shortly. She has suffered long enough."
           "You're going to kill your own mother?" said the man, his voice suddenly taking on a gravely undertone.
           "No, I'm just putting an end to—"
           He was interrupted by a roar as the caped man shot up to his feet, gripping his head in what appeared to be agonizing pain. The man then leapt upwards, slamming through the wooden boards that served as the ceiling, and screaming all the while. Sephiroth shook his head, then proceeded to leave the basement.

           The town was in flames when he strode outside, and a monster of some sort was atop one of the roofs, pushing fireballs from his maw. Zack and an old martial artist scurried about the town square, while the commander's second MP lay near the Shinra Mansion's gates, flames hungrily lapping at his dead body.
           "Sephiroth!" he heard Zack call, as he started to turn away toward the mountain passes. "Are you responsible for this?"
           These words made him bristle with anger. Not anger at Zack, but at Shinra, the ones who had made him this way. "I have something I must take care of. Don't follow me." He left the flaming town behind him as Zack continued calling his name.

           The Nibel mountains were dark and quiet, and a shrill wind blew throughout them. There were far fewer monsters around than there were the other day, before Zack closed those valves, but this evidence of a job well done was hardly satisfactory. Once he was inside of the control room, he unsheathed his Masamune and made quick work of every single valve on every single containment pod. The mutated humans within them struggled to stand, but they quickly found their footing and began wreaking havoc. Sephiroth watched dispassionately for awhile, then climbed the stairs and used a keycard he had found wedged in one of Hojo's notebooks. The door slid open, and the lights slowly came on.
           Beyond the door was a room at least as large as the one he had entered from. It was lined wall to wall with cylindrical glass chambers, not unlike the ones he had seen in the Shinra Mansion's basement. Each contained a humanoid specimen in varying degrees of deformity, but what most startled him was that every single one of them all bore some sort of resemblance to himself. In the center of the room was an especially large chamber, most of which was covered by a black sheet. He took the sheet in his hands and pulled it off. Housed inside, suspended in a thick, clear liquid, was the most deformed of all of the horrors he had seen thus far. Her left arm was a mass of claws, with a thick coil of tentacles dangling from the elbow. Her right resembled the wing of an especially sickly bird. Her body was blue and purple, and her legs were scarred and decaying to the point that bones began to stick through. Her face was one that had long been stored away in the deepest recesses of his mind.
           At that moment, the tough web of self-control that had kept him in check up until then finally broke. The last thing he remembered was the pain coursing through his body, only to be unleashed as unimaginable strength.

           When he came to, the ex-Turk from the Shinra Mansion's basement stood before him, a smoking pistol in his right hand. He felt a pain in his bare right shoulder; looking down, he saw that his coat had been shed, and he was bleeding. All around them were the remains of Lucrecia and the clone-like mutants.
           "Are you all right?" asked the Turk.
           Sephiroth struggled to stand. "Not sure."
           "We should get out of here. Some people from Shinra have come to Nibelheim, and I'd rather not stick around to see what happens."
           "There was a SOLDIER who had traveled here with me. He had black, spiky hair. Do you know what happened to him?"
           "I didn't see anyone alive after I transformed back, save for a large old man. He was too far away for me to get a good look, but he appeared to be carrying someone."
           Sephiroth closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "I don't know what came over me."
           "Mmm," was all the cloaked man would say as he started toward the door. "By the way, my name's Vincent. Vincent Valentine, formerly of the Turks. Your mother, Lucrecia, was a very dear friend of mine, but I harbor no resentment for what you did. She must have been suffering terribly. Now, let's get out of here."
           "Right."
           "Oh, and sorry about shooting you. If you want, I'll tend to your wound as soon as we've left."
           Sephiroth stared at Vincent. "Just lead the way."

           They fled from Mt. Nibel, walking through the mountains until the range intersected with the Corel peaks. Stopping to rest in a cave, Vincent left to get food and medical supplies. With some help from a cure spell, the makeshift bandage that covered Sephiroth's shoulder had staunched the bleeding, but there was still the matter of extracting the tranquilizer-tipped bullet and giving the wound a proper dressing.
           After Vincent had gone, Sephiroth settled down on the floor of the cave and looked outside. He thought about the mission, and what Shinra's representatives would think upon seeing the damage. Would they believe him dead, and if not, would they try to hunt him down? If he went back to the Company now—not that that was an option at this point—what punishment, if any, would await him? Did Zack survive? What would become of them now?
           Vincent returned a couple of hours later and, after removing his cloak and the odd brass-colored gauntlet on his left arm, began attending to Sephiroth's wound. He told Sephiroth about the work he had conducted in Nibelheim, nearly thirty years ago, and of Gast and Hojo's experiments. He also told him about Lucrecia, and the events leading up to Sephiroth's birth. The silver-haired man listened on in silence to these eyewitness accounts, tales from a time he never knew, but was ultimately the result of.
           "I couldn't stop her from going through with Hojo's plans, and because of that, you were born the way you were," said Vincent. "I can't help feeling how things would've been different, perhaps for the better, if I had spoken up sooner."
           "Are you apologizing for what I am? Because I'd rather you didn't."
           Vincent didn't reply.
           "Circumstances being what they were, you shouldn't feel responsible for such things. Turks are expected to be obedient to their superiors."
           "True, but that doesn't mean I don't have a mind and thoughts of my own…"
           "I realize that, but consider again your position in these events. My mother was a strong-willed woman, yes?"
           Vincent nodded. "It was something that I admired about her."
           "Well then, that being the case, I don't think she would've changed her mind, no matter when you spoke up."
           "What makes you say that?"
           Sephiroth smiled to himself. "Let's just say that I like to think I take after her."
           "Hmm." Vincent finished wrapping the last bit of dressing around Sephiroth's shoulder and taped the end in place. He then walked over to the mouth of the cave. "What are you going to do now?"
           "I don't know. I can't go back to Shinra, even if I wanted to. You?"
           "I've only just awakened, and going by what I've seen since then, there is much I must re-learn about the world before I can rejoin it. Besides, someone at Shinra will likely notice I'm gone."
           "So you're going to do a bit of traveling, then?"
           "Yes, I'm considering it. Why?"
           "I would like to come with you. If there is anything my experience in Nibelheim has taught me, it is perhaps that I don't know as much as I thought."
           "Very well. I don't mind. However, we're going to have to see about getting you covered up. If you really are as famous as you claim, we can't have you walking around like that."
           Sephiroth looked down at his bare chest and laughed for the first time in weeks. His time in Nibelheim had been painful, but it also marked a new beginning. Soon, he would leave here with Vincent, and his self-made exile would truly begin.

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Completed July 2009 | Copyright 2009, Reeve Kasahara.

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