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year 5, quarter 3
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Cissnei was relieved to hear from the doctors that Freyra would be alright. It would just take loads of time for her to recover. She looked over the shotgun expert one last time. The woman had finally fallen asleep, which was much relief considering the mouth on her and the fact she did not really want to sit still. Despite wanting to stay by her side and watch over her recovery, Cissnei had other business.
She gave a slight grunt as the sharp pain in her own arm jolted her body. She had been lucky that her dive to save Umbrella only resulted in a dislocated shoulder and they were waiting on the X-Rays to see if her wrist was sprained or dislocated. The bullets she took pierced right through, leaving only scratched and no serious damage. Either way, she popped some pain relievers and readjusted her now tattered blue jacket to cover the splint and sling that her arm resided in. She felt stiff from the wrapped bandages, which caused annoyance to fall over. This would be a setback, but it would not prevent her from continuing her duties.
She had not listened to the media. Her plan had gone awry and despite trying to contain the fight or move it, a portion of the city was damaged and the number of elite guards reduced. They filled the hospitals as doctors tried to do what they could to try to save the lives of brave men and women. It was partially Cissnei’s fault and she would not bulk at that. But if Asael had not been in town already wreaking chaos as he searched for Sephiroth, perhaps this could have been avoided. There was many factors to her plan she could not foresee and the entire event spiraled out of control. She grit her teeth. She simply wasn’t Veld or Tseng. This type of planning was their specialty. She really wished they were here.
Leaving the hospital, she was happy to be free of the sterile smell and into the icy cold breeze. She took her time walking through the empty gray streets. Despite the events, some people continued their business as usual. She simply kept her head low and headed in the direction of the bar. She was cold, tired, and ready to get this meeting out of the way.
She opened the wooden door to the bar, after giving a nod to Brick. Words were not needed this time. Her guess was the Sephiroth was already in and waiting for her. This was a conversation she was not really looking forward to, and the fact the Turks came before him postponed it. She could feel the rush of warm air as she opened the door, and the familiar storage location of the crates of supplies for the bar. “I thought you would get more comfortable in the bar.” She opened the conversation as she closed the door behind her. It would have been more entertaining than staring at crates, she thought.
He considered them like motes of dust on wine glasses. Since he’d woken in this strange place, he’d found nothing but questions. Where was he? What was he? What had happened, and Genesis…?
Sephiroth’s eyes narrowed. Genesis in particular felt wrong. They had never been so close -- so dependent -- and every reverent line of poetry brought another twinge of unease. He breathed questions -- questions that Sephiroth did not want answered. Some part of him instructed Sephiroth to demand his friend speak the truth, but he couldn’t. For some irrational reason, he couldn’t, and so he was here. Biding his time.
That was what the Turks were for.
He’d waited for three hours in a back room that smelled of softened wood. The bounder recognized him, and perhaps on instinct, let him through without a word. Sephiroth knew that this too was likely a trap, but he had never been one to shy away from them. He had made his position as clear as the consequences. He would have his answers no matter what blood he had to spill.
One way or the other, Cissnei would speak.
Sephiroth did not sit. He simply waited, arms crossed, eyes thoughtful. When the door finally creaked open, he didn’t bother to turn his head. She revealed herself.
”I thought you would get more comfortable in the bar,” she said. Sephiroth’s eyes cooled.
”No.” He had no time for small talk. His patience had burned away with the smell of her smoldering office. He would waste no more time.
”You said you knew my past.” His fingers clenched into black leather. ”Talk.”
It was honestly like walking in from the snow only to find she was drowning in ice water. The room felt much colder with Sephiroth chilled tone and brusque manner of speech. Was it something she did? She gave a mental chuckle. He did not ask her to explain what happened mere hours ago, so she would not explain. It would save her some breath, at least. Either way, he came out for the better.
She pulled her jacket over her injured form a little more. Ochre eyes sparkled in the yellow smudge of dim light given off from the light bulbs above. Finally, she crossed her arms and looked down. Snowflakes fell from her jacket at the movement and scattered across the wooden floor. What did she remember? She had failed to tell him that not all her memories were there. She only gave him enough for him to believe her. Regardless, she knew enough. And she knew well enough to tread these waters carefully. Triggering another incident would be unwise. Finding someone to help with Asael was hard enough. Finding someone to handle the potential might of Sephiroth…a little harder.
“It would be easier for me to begin if…” She paced softly in quiet thought. She ignored the searing pain in her back and shoulder. “…you give me a place to start. What have you learned about yourself? What gaps may I fill in for you? What blurred lines may I clarify?” Her tone was gentle and matter of fact. There was no defiance in it and her willingness to speak was clear. Intelligence section could do amazing things, but they were unable to do so without direction.
She paused for a moment and raised her chin to study him a little more. He was not the crazed man that dropped meteor, before she arrived. Something had triggered that in him. But a part of her knew that a person deserved the truth about themselves. To make decisions for themselves. But information and knowledge could damage and wound. She found herself afraid. Not of Sephiroth himself, necessarily. But some strange revelation that weighed heavy in her chest she could not name. She had felt it before with someone in her past. Someone with dark hair and blue eyes. She tried to cover up the uncertainty, with a small joke. “Also, if you don’t like what you hear, try not to kill the messenger.”
Cissnei paced behind him, her heels clicking on the wooden floor. She was cautious. Testing. It was a smart tactic, he thought, and one that more could employ. Say what he would about the Turks, they knew how to navigate a delicate conversation. He was outmatched in this and this alone.
A place to start. That would give her the advantage. It put the weight of the question on him. The shift of power twisted his lips into a smirk. In a battle, it was imperative never to be put on guard. Not without a plan at least.
A plan. This was unfamiliar territory. How was he supposed to take the upper hand?
She gave him a moment to think, but no longer than that. He heard a hint of amusement in her voice. ”Also, if you don’t like what you hear, try not to kill the messenger.”
He felt a hint of laughter as well. He couldn’t help it. The joke was humanizing. ”No promises,” he said, smirking faintly. He turned and fixed his eyes on hers. Would it set her off balance or merely soften him? It was a risk he was willing to take.
”I don’t remember my past. Or...my future?” His smirk turned dry. ”I’ve reconvened with Genesis, but he’s hiding something. He isn’t hard to read.”Not if you knew his poems, at least. His friend wore every emotion blazing upon his sleeve. They were a fiery contrast -- black on red. He still didn’t quite understand what drew them together. Their history with Angeal, perhaps.
He glanced to the side. ”Angeal is dead,” he said. ”Genesis and I fought. I defected. And I was pronounced dead in action.” He let out a short breath that was almost like a laugh. ”It...feels right. I know I’ve lived it, but my memory…” He scowled.
”Was it Hojo?” He was quiet. ”My memory. This…thing.” He unfurled his wing only slightly. He felt exposed. Ashamed. ”If I defected, they would keep me alive. As a specimen.”
“Fair.” She simply stated to his no promises statement. Turks rarely made promises. They were binding and when a Turk did make a promise they would die trying to keep it. She did not sway under his gaze. She had seen many eyes in her lifetime. There were always stories to be seen in them. What did his cat-like green gaze tell her? Angeal and Rude’s eyes were easy to read, as they were terribly honest and expressive. Hence why Rude wore his trademark shades.
Sephiroth’s were clear and bright, though not entirely human. Ethereal was the word. Intelligence stood strong in them. He was searching her as she searched him, she was very much aware. She did not want to cloud the light that currently stood in them, but she could see his determination to know about himself.
She held the same expressionless face. A mask she was trained to wear often. Instead, she listened quietly as he spoke. She gave him her absolute undivided attention. She soaked in every detail he gave her. And when he finished, only then did she turn her eyes to the floor where she noticed a soft black feather had loosened itself from his wing.
Perhaps, for now, she would be a mirror. “Past. Future. I think they are irrelevant concepts. There are so many different timelines and worlds pulled here...You could have been pulled out of a timeline where the future that Genesis and I are aware of has yet to happen for you. That’s not truly your future is it? Your future now lies somewhere between now and a distant time on this planet. You could choose to rewrite what happens now.” In essence, he was free to make his choices. Not that Cissnei could stop him. Not directly anyway.
She crossed her arms and shook her head, before looking back at him. Her expression held a bit of sorrow in it. Her brow creased and a sad, but only slight, upturn of the lips followed. “Genesis is your friend. I imagine he is hiding something from you because he doesn’t want to see you hurt. Or take a turn for the worse.” She huffed at another thought, “And so you, ask me to do it for him.” Isn’t that what Turks are always asked to do? The dirty work because no one else is willing to do it?
Well, here goes nothing. “But Genesis is incorrect. What may have been Genesis’s past may not be relevant here. For example...” She was reiterating, really to try and buy time to find the words she needed. But she wanted it to mesh with her next statement as well. “Angeal is dead?” She paused and she inadvertently could not look at him, so she turned her eyes from the feather to the crates of lined glass bottles. “Interesting. He was oddly alive for a date. Only last month too.”
She finally turned to study him and his wing. The fragments of information he gave her were not a lot. Like broken glass, they were fragmented and in many pieces. She moved back to that single black feather on the floor. She stooped down to pick it up. She examined it for a moment. Memories of the dead Genesis clone flooded to her mind. Some words between her and a Soldier.
She stood up and walked towards him. “When I was first assigned to follow Zack, one word was used by the SOLDIERs to describe themselves. Monster. ...I never understood why.” She furrowed her brow again in thought, her eyes looked over to his wing. “To me, you were angels.” A one winged angel indeed. “With wings much like what I dreamed of when I was but a girl.” She looked upon him with admiration. They sought their freedom from Shinra. Something she had been too afraid to do. That she could not will herself to do. A similar feeling of being afraid of the vast openness of the sky. “Hojo did not take your memories. That is the side effects of the planet. But he did do this to you.” She gestured toward his wing. “As far as I am aware, he is not here. Neither is Shinra. And if they did appear, they would be too scattered to harm you any further.” Did Cissnei believe this? Part of her did believe he was safe. “The leadership of Shinra changed as well. The new president has different goals than the previous. But then again, that was my past.”
She hesitated a moment. But perhaps after being an ex-Turk for many years made her soft. She reached out and touched his arm lightly. He didn’t need to be ashamed. He didn’t need to be stuck in his head. “I will do what Genesis cannot. I will tell you. But Tseng and Veld hid a lot from me - to protect me like Genesis is protecting you. I had to defy them to get the answers I needed. Not out of anger, but because I knew it was too hard for them.” She had been tired of the lies of the executives. Tired of the assassination attempts on the Turks by those same people. Tired of Tseng and Veld protecting her. Tired of seeing good employees be hurt by Shinra and not understanding why. She had been young and naive then. It took very little to crumple her world then. “But, most of my information is second hand knowledge because of it. Is this good enough for you?” Really, the question was “Are you ready?”
She lapsed into silence, once more ending the way they began. Searching his eyes. Letting him absorb what she said.
He couldn’t tell whether it was a tactic, competence, or something softer. In fact, he couldn’t tell anything from her expression except that she took his words seriously. His fist tightened under her scrutiny. He felt like he was under a microscope. He folded his wing tightly back into place.
”Past. Future. I think they are irrelevant concepts.”
It wasn’t the answer he was looking for. She was stalling for time, and yet he couldn’t say that he wasn’t interested. Different timelines? His eyebrows knit together. Such thoughts were beyond him, and in most ways irrelevant. There was nothing to do but act in the present and plan for the future. Theorizing about useless concepts like that were…
Not entirely invalid given the circumstances, but it wasn’t what he wanted to hear.
She spoke of Genesis. Slightly better. He doubted that he kept his secrets for anyone’s sake but his own. Genesis was a selfish man, and Sephiroth had never known him to act in any other way. Not for him and not for anyone else.
But if he was wrong…
”Angeal is dead?” She turned her head to the stock of liquor and wine. ”Interesting. He was oddly alive for a date. Only last month too.”
”What?” Sephiroth stopped -- frozen, staring. His breath caught, and for that moment, there was nothing else. Angeal? Alive? It felt wrong, like something he had dismissed long ago. But if she was right...If she wasn’t lying…
”He’s…?” He couldn’t finish it. The words were lost to him. There was only that echo: Angeal. Angeal. Angeal.
He gave a short laugh instead. Weak. His strength had left him. ”He doesn’t date,” he said. Or at least he hadn’t. That he knew of? It was hard to imagine.
Angeal, catching eyes on a woman. Angeal, making the suggestion. Angeal, sipping wine and wondering what would come of it. It was wrong. Angeal was not Genesis.
His thoughts were so clouded that he hardly heard her speak. Zack. Monsters. Angels. It slid off him like rain. There was only one name that caught. Hojo.
A side effect of the planet? He watched her warily. He didn’t know what it meant, but Hojo had done...something. He’d known that to be true, but hadn’t he known of Angeal’s death? He didn’t want to hear it.
”You’re here,” he said. An agent of Shinra. ”And the rest of the Turks.” Working together like bees in a hive. Against him -- or using him at least. How could he trust them? If they still served Shinra…
She touched him.
Sephiroth stiffened, all other matters forgotten. His eyes turned cold as he watched her grip. He didn’t need her pity.
”Genesis is protecting himself,” he said. There was no need to dress it up into something it wasn’t. There was something that Genesis wanted forgotten. Whether that was a denial, a provocation, or his own mistakes, Sephiroth couldn’t say. He wrenched his arm away from her. That was enough.
”It’s better than nothing,” he said and then paused. What was it, exactly, that he wanted to hear? His past, yes, but after all that she’d said…
His voice weakened. ”Where did you meet Angeal?” That was most important. Despite everything, despite the odds, he had to know. ”Is he...well?”
She tells him his friend is alive and he can only blurt, ‘He doesn’t date’. Amusing. “I was surprised too. But it was some event at a bar, and he was highly uncomfortable. I think he simply wanted company. Said I was the first familiar face he’s seen.” She could tell she jabbed Sephiroth with Angeal. He seemed to not hear anything else she’s said. Not really.
However, his sharp tones and his sudden pulling away made her gasp. She was not getting through to him. She suddenly felt vulnerable under his accusations. The same silent accusations Angeal had judged her with. Though Angeal had warmed up to her when he realized she was not there to bite. Maybe it was wrong of her to help those who didn’t trust her? She thought Sephiroth would have understood her position. That Tseng and the other Turks were not mere tools. That they could act of their own accord for what they thought was right.
She found tears welling in her eyes. The hand she used to reach out to him shakily moved to her chest. She would always be a Turk, even though she was pronounced dead on a death certificate. Never trusted. Not even by co-workers. Her brow furrowed and she found her breath caught in her chest. She shakily let it out and turned away. She was forever trapped in the image Shinra created for her. Even if it was by impressions. She answered none of his questions now.
“How…” Her voice cracked and she paused. She was irritated at this sudden rush of emotion. “How can I tell you anything when you will not believe a word I say?” Her words were much more forceful than she intended to try to cover up the sudden sorrow she felt. “Maybe you are right about Genesis. You know him better. But don’t talk like you know me. You can’t even remember.”
She glared at him, though her eyes seemed to shine with moisture, “I am not your enemy…unless you make me your enemy.” Her tone suggested she really didn’t want him as an enemy. “Maybe you have been hurt by Shinra, but so have the Turks. Don’t act like you and your friends are the only victims!” If Sephiroth was a science project, then Cissnei was a social experiment. When she felt all these emotions well up, no one taught her how to handle the torrent. “I thought you at least knew Tseng better than that.” After all, Sephiroth seemed to have some remembrance of camaraderie with Tseng during their earlier meetings.
But so many harsh memories of back then were welling up. Her entire world had come tumbling down in a short period of time back then. It was overwhelming to remember. Her tough façade was crumbling. “We tried to help you and the others. But we had no idea what was going on. Why anyone was defecting. That’s why I was sent to follow Zack.” She clenched her fists and looked at the ground. She gritted her teeth. “To find out what was happening to Genesis and Angeal. You were too perceptive and too close to them.” She shook her head. Zack was more malleable and likely to act on impulse. “I am sorry we acted too late. The only person Tseng and I could help in the end was Zack and an infantryman. And even that…I failed.” She gave a sad, twisted smile. What was she good for? Despite her best efforts. All those dark memories coming back. She beat herself up even though she was stretched thin during that point in her job.
Zack had been the only one to trust her. She was not Sephiroth’s enemy. At least not until he had finally returned and decided to destroy the Planet for his own personal gain. But this couldn’t be the same man, could it?
When she realized what she was blurting, she gave a gasp and then a huff. “But I read the files, even if I reached the others too late. The top-secret experiments Hojo and Hollander performed. Those who were the test subjects from birth. Designed to be perfect. But it was far from the truth. Hollander made mistakes. The cost of those mistakes, degradation, would be paid by Angeal and Genesis.” She remembered letting Zack run while she booked it for Shinra manor. What was this human experimentation? Why was any of it happening. She paused shaking her head at the idea that his could happen. That Rufus’s father simply approved of such things and funded these experiments. She was young and naïve back then. “He promised he could cure them. But I found no scientific notation that it was possible. They were played by scientists.” Not the Turks. Not even the Turks could spin such terrible false hope.
She turned away from him. All this animation made the pain in her shoulder come back. She could only wince at it and the rawness of the words she unleashed.
All the details could not be recalled. It had been so many years ago and the side effects of this world had messed with her memories. Cissnei was unhinged now. Messy, untamed. Something untypical for the usually mild Turk. If she had a deadly sin, it was wrath. And when her emotions came to the surface, she exploded. Another reason that she would never be like Tseng, no matter how hard she tried.
That was enough to give Sephiroth pause. For that brief moment, all of her poise dissipated into pure emotion. She touched a trembling hand to her chest. ”How…?” Her voice rasped before she tried again. ”How can I tell you anything when you will not believe a word I say?”
For not the first time that night, Sephiroth was thrown. He hadn’t expected weakness from a Turk -- let alone insecurity. Turks were cool, calculating, and above all professional. Turks did not cry.
And yet Cissnei did.
Sephiroth felt uncertainty creep into his eyes. Her previous plays at warmth could have been deceptive, but this was not. It couldn’t be. It wasn’t their style.
“I am not your enemy…unless you make me your enemy,” she said. Her eyes were hot with passion. “Maybe you have been hurt by Shinra, but so have the Turks. Don’t act like you and your friends are the only victims!”
She raised her voice, and Sephiroth glanced away. He knew that he wasn’t the only victim. Of course he knew though he had never particularly cared. He knew Genesis and Angeal. Anyone else was estranged to him, and he’d been trained never to make connections.
Still, the thought that the Turks were victims of Shinra…
It hadn’t crossed his mind.
”Tseng…” Had he ever felt like a victim? Sephiroth doubted it. The man was stoic, competent, and devoted to his work. Disloyalty wouldn’t have so much crossed his mind. Then again, he supposed others could have said the same of him.
“We tried to help you and the others,” she said. ”But we had no idea what was going on. Why anyone was defecting. That’s why I was sent to follow Zack.”
That felt wrong. Why would any of them have helped him? Zack, maybe, but not him. His stomach turned with unease.
Had Tseng really…?
She shook her head. “I am sorry we acted too late. The only person Tseng and I could help in the end was Zack and an infantryman. And even that…I failed.” She gave a bitter smile. She still blamed herself. Whatever had happened, she felt its weight.
Despite her frustrations, she told him what he wanted to know -- or some of it at least. He’d heard about what Hojo and Hollander had done. The thought had filled him with a kind of muffled rage when spoken from Genesis’ tongue, but he felt numb now. He had accepted it, he thought, or pushed it back so far that it might didn’t matter anymore. Genesis and Angeal had been tampered with. Genesis and Angeal were like him…
His fist tightened. No. He had never wanted that.
”Genesis is alive,” he said quietly. ”He’s made a recovery.”From degradation. He remembered the word muttered by Hojo in his scientific fervor. ’Cellular degradation is always a possibility,’ he’d said. ’In which case the subject could be compromised.’
He hesitated. Part of him wanted to give some comment on her feelings. The other wanted to stick to business and leave her personal life very much alone. Still…
”If you are not my enemy then we could assist each other.” He glanced away. ”For Tseng.” That was the only explanation he needed. If the man had risked disloyalty for his sake then Sephiroth owed him a debt. As much as that was worth.
He felt suddenly tired. It clouded his eyes. ”Where is Angeal?” he asked again. ”That’s all I need to know.”
Cissnei mentally battered herself in her moment of weakness. Had Zack softened her, much like Aerith did to Tseng? She thought the Headstone Forest had gotten such feelings out of her system. The regret and failure seemed to still linger deep. But the cruelest fate of all was for Shinra to cut her off completely for one too many deviances. She was an orphaned dolled repurposed to serve the Shinra company. She was their security and their punching bag. When the doll acted on her own, they decided she was not worth keeping without her painted smile.
‘No…stop that. You’ve already spiraled out of control, no need to follow that rabbit hole right now.’
And to do so in front of a SOLDIER no less. What had she come to? These years outside of Shinra and without purpose made her too soft. She looked away and at the crates, but not seeing the crates. Her eyes seemed to be reading something that wasn’t there as she tried to work out something. She took a slow, deep breath. It was uneven, but it seemed to hit in her chest where she needed it to. She let it out and took another one. It was much calmer.
He spoke Tseng’s name out loud. She never got to hear how Tseng felt back then. She was shocked when he told her that she was to save Zack and return him alive. Perhaps her first defiance to him made him realize she needed to be in the loop of his thoughts. He risked everything to not only save Veld and his daughter, but to save all the Turks from the executives. His risks paid off. And when she learned of Vincent’s story, how he was tormented for simply speaking up against the executives and their experimentations. She gave a huff. What was the point? The Turks had less power than they led the others to believe. They were simply and unfortunately human.
Another breath and she pressed a hand up to push her hair behind her ear. She was a little red from the rush of emotion, but she was regaining her cool. He didn’t care about her story. It didn’t matter.
“He is…alive and recovered?” She seemed surprised. “…How? Angeal did not seem to have any signs of it when I saw him. But if there is a treatment just in case…” He seemed very healthy. Inebriated and anxious, but healthy none the less. She tried not to look at her hand, as she remembered Angeal giving it a gentle squeeze. SOLDIERs were such a weird breed. But Angeal was not a bad person. She did not want to see him fall to something untreatable.
However, Sephiroth’s request in assisting each other made her have mixed feelings. She was not his enemy for now, but she had conditions. Conditions that if broken could change that, much like Asael. Turks operated on a weird set of codes. Or she supposed she was still an ex-Turk. Who knew?
She raised a hand to stop him. “I do not mind offering my services to you. But I have conditions.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “Genesis left the company with others. He spliced these men with his cells and started a war with Shinra.” Which Cissnei could not blame him and her words were a matter of fact. “But his attacks spread to civilian locations as well. I will not hold you to what Genesis did. However, when you first discovered these things for yourself…”
He was unaffected when she told him. Was there something specifically in the experimentation details that triggered his mental breakdown then? “You did not take it well either. You attacked a civilian village and disappeared. Tseng could not verify your location. It was heroically noted as killed in action.” Another taste of his past. They did eventually locate him many years later…
She shook her head. “We are in a different time and place now. I am not sure if you have been pulled from a time before that. But I will protect the people of Sonora and do not wish them further harm than what has been caused today.” It was the closest she had to Midgar. She would protect it like she did that city. “I cannot offer my full services to you unless you can meet those conditions.” She was not even asking him to stay off the Turks. The Turks expected a fight. But a part of her needed Midgar. With Sonora as its substitute, it gave her a strange purpose to defend its peace and safety. A purpose she needed to cling to until a leader came by.
“Also, I will give you a warning.” He did not have all his memories, but he should be aware. “You have many enemies for what you did in your past.” Such as the village, but she offered no other examples. “Asael was one of them. He was killing civilians in search of you. I decided to give him what he wanted. I threw you in the warzone, knowing you could handle it, but hoping he could not.” They both knew how that turned out. She wouldn’t admit her mistakes out loud. “If he still lives, he will seek you out again for vengeance. I doubt he is the only one with a grudge.” He’d probably seek her out too for backstabbing him.
She studied him again, her normal color returning now. “I still have more about your past, if you want it.” She debated telling him more about Angeal. Her business part wanted to ask for more compensation. But she saw how tired he looked. And she felt like she had only told him things he seemed to already know. The information she gave him did not seem a fair trade for putting his life on the line today. Another part of her thought of another reason to give him the information. She really was going soft. But only for ex-Shinra members apparently.
“I don’t know where he is now. But the last I saw him he was in a bar called The Siren in Provo. You can verify that I was there that night with him by asking them who the winners were for the Valentine’s Day event.” Would verifying this information on his own help corroborate her truthfulness? Cissnei would rather keep threats close to her. It was easier to keep an eye on them that way. “Maybe someone heard news where he went from there.”
Thanks Sephiroth. It's almost like you don't care about Cissnei at all
I knew mine was a special existence
Cissnei stopped him with a hand. She had conditions. Of course she did.
”I will not hold you to what Genesis did. However, when you first discovered things for yourself…” She paused. He’d already heard of the fires, and the massacre that had followed. He’d never heard the exact reason, but he’d never doubted it. Had he been under stress...Had his faith been shattered…
It was what he’d been trained for since birth. He felt nothing at the blood on his blade. It was like him. He wouldn’t have hesitated.
”We are in a different time and place now,” Cissnei said. ”I am not sure if you have been pulled from a time before that. But I will protect the people of Sonora and do not wish them further harm than what has been done today.”
He saw the resolution in her eyes and the truth behind them. Any enemy to this city was an enemy of hers -- and by extension, the Turks. Their truce was conditional. He saw the logic behind it.
”Hmph.” He had no reason to say anything. She knew exactly how dangerous he could become.
She warned him of his enemies. It was nothing new. There were always swordsmen out for revenge. For their people. For their country. For the devastation reaped on Shinra’s orders. He’d faced the wrong end of too many grudges to count. A few more meant nothing.
”Noted.” No matter how worthless her warning, it was a warning none the less. It meant well. It was at least worth a minimal response.
She offered him his past. Part of him wanted to take it. Why else had he hunted them but for answers? Still, another part of him -- a secret part -- resisted. No matter why he’d come, he had only one mission now. He couldn’t afford to be compromised by the unknown.
”A Valentine’s Day event?” His eyebrows raised. If there was anything to contradict her story, it was this. He couldn’t imagine Angeal ever going to something so useless of his own volition. Still, it was too specific a lie to fabricate easily. And too outrageous for someone of her intellect and cunning.
He mulled the thought over before finally giving a hum of acknowledgement. ”Provo then.” He walked by her without another word. He had what he wanted. He would waste no more time on feelings and reflections of the past.
Still, he paused as he reached the door. Was there anything else to say? It had been a chaotic night full of surprises and disaster. Cissnei had purposefully put him in the line of fire and used him for her own purposes. Still, she’d given him something that he couldn’t have imagined. Angeal. Alive.
”I have an apartment in Torensten,” he said. ”You can find me there.”
With that said, he opened the door and started into the cold and dismal night. It would be sunrise soon, he thought, and still he would press on. He’d found his focus, and his thoughts wouldn’t rest. Provo. Every minute he hesitated, was another minute that Angeal slipped further from his grasp.
’I’m coming.’ Sephiroth looked up to consider the sky. In seconds he had joined it, fading into the night on a shadowed wing.
