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The Sins of Two Fathers	By : wickedorin Category: Final Fantasy VIII > Yaoi - Male/Male Views: 687 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VIII, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 12
- 13
- 14
"The Sins of Two Fathers" and the general overall
concept of "The Sins of Two Fathers" is completely copyright Orin Drake
1999-2005, as are the characters Kyrie and Rodger and some more random
people that don't matter as much. The characters Seifer Almasy, Squall
Leonhart, Quistis Trepe, Ellone (Leonhart?), Laguna Loire and Rinoa "The
Great Big Bitch" Heartily (biased? me?) are copyright Squaresoft, as are
the terms SeeD, gunblade, Trabia Garden, Griever, and probably a lot of
other stuff I forgot to mention. Hell, if you played the game, you
know. Enough said. Oh yeah, and there are plenty of spoilers
everywhere for everything. That about covers it.

        Background:
To be completely honest, I had no idea this was going to turn into a serious
story. I started writing is as a free-for-all squickfic yaoi fan
fantasy, but it got so out of my control that the characters are actually...
endearing. What have I done?! Ah well. Lesse, there's
a real obvious homosexual relationship, but they don't really do anything
in this chapter, so... oh, there's language. You know me, I like
my nasty language, so look out. Angst, I love putting angst everywhere.
That's about it for now. I will warn you, though, that FF characters
actually don't make up a lot of this story, especially not in the beginning.
I will make it up to you all some day. Enjoy.

        WARNING!!!
This chapter contains not so terribly graphic descriptions of violence
and death.

The Sins of Two Fathers

Chapter 13

by Orin Drake
        As his lift clicked into
place on the metal floor, Sephiroth nodded almost politely to all of them.
Not a word passed his lips; this was far too enjoyable for him. Squall
was still weak and very much the product of his torture. Kyrie was
only now discovering power that she had no idea how to use or even if she
could call upon again. Rodger was completely untested in battle and
ever so slightly mad with rage over what he'd done to his precious girlfriend.
Vincent, of course, always had his reason to hate and distrust him; now
was no different. And Cloud Strife... that little bastard.

        The focus of their gazes
walked slowly toward them, every click of his boot against the metal floor
dancing on their nerves. No weapons drawn, not yet. They'd
have to time this just right amongst themselves, when the time was perfectly
right. Until then... well, they'd just have to listen.

        Sephiroth stopped only paces
away from them, daring them to attack when he was obviously so ready.
His eyes went from a satisfaction at seeing Squall's anger to the new piece
of Kyrie's outfit. That crazy bastard looked all too proud when he
noticed at Seifer's collar securely around her thigh. "Well, now."
He began patiently. "I believe I know almost all of you."

        Rodger wanted to
cower as those unnatural eyes fell upon him. They had a physical
force to them, something that completely inspired fear. But he did
not cower, or flinch. He was just too pissed.

        "What do you want?"
Cloud's voice was easy going, cool and collected. Speaking in rage
did nothing but further Sephiroth's advantage, he knew that. He hated
that.

        "Mother is down there."
Sephiroth stated in an almost sane manner, indicating the drill with a
minute movement of his hand. "She's waiting to be discovered... But
she calls for me. And she's down there somewhere."

        Jenova. It
moved like a shared thought across them. Across all but Rodger.
He didn't need any convincing that this guy was a dangerous nut case, however.

        And then Sephiroth made
lasting eye contact with Squall. One left. One stormy, rage
filled eye left behind that ice coldness. Most of that rage was his
doing, he knew that. It made him... happy. "And how are you
faring, Leonhart?"

        He didn't answer.
But then, he didn't really need to. It wasn't just that one eye throwing
daggers at the form, but his daughter's red ones that were creating the
storm this time.

        "Like father, like daughter."
The psycho growled almost seductively.

        This was it; this was the
time, the place, and Squall knew that it was he, himself, that was going
to have to get them rolling. "Fucking liar!" he shouted, darting
forward too quickly for anyone to stop him.

        For anyone who didn't know
him, it looked like he was sincerely taken by his rage. But Kyrie
knew it had been a cool, calculated move. Damn her father.
She didn't want him to make this sacrifice. "Get to the computer."
She grunted lowly between her teeth to Vincent and Rodger, indicating the
emergency ladder on the wall just between the two lifts with a glance.

        It took no more than that
to get them to haul ass. Cloud was certainly glad she'd taken such
initiative; he'd been a little numb at the time. Watching Squall
throw himself at Sephiroth, nothing to fight with but his bare hands, was
quite a sight. In the same way a horrific train wreck is quite a
sight.

        Kyrie wasted no time.
She pulled her precious weapon from her hip, aimed, and fired. It
was only Sephiroth's shoulder--Goddamn it why is it always the fucking
shoulder?! Kyrie thought desperately--but it was effective enough to
distract him. At least her dad got a great shot at his jaw.
Damn, when that fist connected--

        Now wasn't the time.
She moved forward, taking complete advantage of Squall's strength and Sephiroth's
sudden weakness. They'd try to drive him over the edge of the pit
together, into the earth itself. There was a good chance he'd get
ground up by the machinery before he hit bottom. Then they'd have
to scrape him up. But that would be satisfying.

        Cloud saw what they were
after, and backed up to stay behind, just for the moment. He could
do no better than the two of them were already. Besides, father and
daughter had better communication than he would have been able to have
with either. He'd wait, sword ready, in case.

        Another fist went flying,
but Sephiroth caught this one. He growled, squeezing the fingers,
then grunted in pain; Kyrie had hit him square in the upper thigh. Better,
much better.

        Those green, nightmarish
cat eyes focussed on her. He continued to squeeze Squall's
fist, inciting a weakened cry. Too fast, too quickly he turned on
the edge of the pit--

        Kyrie darted like a wild
cat. She was only a few paces away to begin with, but this was happening
too fast. Too much, unbelievable, could not be happening--she skidded
just at the edge of the floor, right at the end of the metal grating before
the mouth of the earth.

        She didn't move. She
didn't so much as flinch. Squall's life had just been fully taken
from her, right in front of her face. No "I love you", no "good-bye".
Distantly, she heard his body being torn up by the machinery below.
There was no scream, though. He was already quite dead by the time
he'd fallen. That fucking silver haired lunatic had snapped his neck
all too mercifully before he'd spun him in like they'd been locked in dance
that millisecond before the fall.

        Sephiroth took advantage
of her shock this time, throwing her down at the edge so she partially
hung over. He heavily placed his right foot on her shoulder, forcing
her body flat and her face well over the edge of the drop. She could
see tiny bits of Squall's insides and splatters of blood being ground with
bits of stone and oil. That's all his body was now. Lubricant
for a machine. Vincent's band had wrapped itself around a smaller
gear only to be torn half a turn later. And still she did not openly
react.

        The silver tressed man laughed
softly. "You're colder than he was."

        Kyrie tried with all of
her strength to disengage his boot, having made yet another painful mark
in her flesh. It proved completely useless, however. She was
no match for him. He only pressed down harder, causing Griever to
slice a tiny line in her chest. She grunted, but said nothing.
She was too afraid; speaking may send her into a tearful anger. A
feminine rage. She had no use for that kind of rage, not now.
At the moment, her life meant nothing more than an end to Sephiroth.
She'd use it however she had to to see that through.

        Sephiroth grinned and pressed
harder, feeling the tension as she tried to keep him from breaking her
shoulder, but allowing her chest room to expand for the obviously important
task of breathing, as well. A sudden jolt from the entire building
attracted the attention of both parties, however.

        A screeching siren began
blaring every other second, the lights dimming then flashing brightly,
repeating the pattern over and over. After a few seconds of this,
the building began to shake harder, tremoring with some horrific weight
and the surge of more gears powering up.

        "What the hell is going
on?" Sephiroth shouted over the noise, momentarily abandoning his pursuit
of crushing Kyrie in favor of trying to figure out recent events.

        She was quite glad to be
able to lift when she was. A floor slid in place over the pit of
machinery, made of several dozen thick metal fins that had expanded from
special underground fittings on the outside walls. She could easily
have been decapitated and joined Squall's body as biological lubrication.
But
you're not getting off that easy, asshole...

        Cloud had laid in wait with
blind faith for long enough. When Sephiroth turned around, he attacked
with his beloved Buster Sword. He yanked the blade outward and downward,
leaving a giant rip right through the man's body. Then he backed
away, waiting for him to drop to his knees so he could finish him off.

        But it was no doubt not
that easy. Sephiroth was not dying. He wasn't even in pain.
In fact, he was chuckling to himself. With every passing heartbeat,
the blood that had been squirting from him lessened until there was no
wound at all to spill from.

        Vincent watched from above
with a chill as the flesh sealed itself perfectly in a matter of seconds,
giving no indication that a sword had been there save the ripped shirt.
He didn't bother waiting for more of a reaction from anyone; he drew his
rifle and shot without help from Lightning from the distance.

        That appeared a little more
effective, sending Sephiroth stumbling backward with his hands covering
his face. But that was only an act, so it appeared. He suddenly
pulled his hands away, showing his once handsome face torn to ribbons and
soaked with blood. "You can't kill me!" he shouted triumphantly.
"You can never even harm me! I am a god, haven't you been
listening!?"
Even as he talked with tattered lips, the blood had begun to slow.
He smiled bitterly, the deep gashes in his face sealing as if they were
melting back together, reforming muscle and bone.

        Oh shit. Kyrie
thought. It was her turn. If physical attacks wouldn't do it,
then what about magic? As little practice as she had gotten, she
was confident enough that she could control her Materia. At least
enough to act as a distraction. She closed her eyes, feeling the
energy already building because of her emotions, forming a ball deep inside
that burned twice the size it had before. Her eyes flashed open with
a momentary green light as she cast a fanned hand toward the bastard that
had killed her parents.

        That did it. That
sure as hell was the most powerful Ultima she'd cast yet. The shimmering
eruption of green energy at least enticed a grunt from the man as it surged
in and out of his flesh. But even as the magic dimmed, he was up
again, ready to attack right afterward.

        Cloud unleashed Ice, little
sharp razors of crystal erupting in every direction from Sephiroth's body.
The man let out a small cry of pain that time, his body stiffening as the
ice melted pink with blood on his skin. Again, however, it seemed
too good to be true. Even though the magic had wounded him, it seemed
also to invigorate him; he threw his hands in the air and a momentary gleam
of silver enveloped him, dropping the ice to the floor in a puddle of water
that steamed and dried on impact. As he put his hands back to his
sides, there was a crackle of electricity.

        That was when Vincent knew
he couldn't use his materia. Lightning may only heal him or, worse,
add to his power. So, he mentally put the materia away for the duration
of the fight and jumped from the balcony, landing gracefully in a crouch.
Now or never, he pulled his gun again and fired again. He hoped maybe
enough shots would weaken him. Or at least act as a distraction.

        Kyrie was not about to be
outdone. Maybe magic didn't work now, but it might later. As
apprehensive as part of her was to get close to the lunatic, she'd use
her weapon of choice in every way she knew how. She pulled her gunblade
from her side and rushed him, using an upward slash to open his stomach
up to his shoulder with a tinge of Ultima burning through her fingers and
a bullet in-between for good measure. She darted backward with warm
blood splattered across her clothes and watched hopefully.

        She certainly hadn't expected
what came next. Instead of seeing the contents of his gut on the
floor, she saw a flash of blue take her vision as a vivid pain thundered
through every part of her body. It was heat and electricity, but
it was also a frosty cold that surpassed any bitter winters she'd ever
endured. Immediately she was out of breath, weakened, and on unsteady
legs. It lasted just a second, but she had been partially drained
of her very life force. Every muscle in her body tinged with the
sharp pains of circulation loss. She'd have dropped her gunblade
for it's weight had she not been holding onto it for dear life. Seeing
that Sephiroth looked perfectly unharmed when her vision returned didn't
really help matters.

        Cloud cringed as he watched
the occurrence, helpless to stop it. At least he could give her a
little boost, though. He turned to her and commanded Restore, thinking
it most important his team be healthy enough to continue the battle.

        It was at that point Rodger
leapt from the catwalk, landing with a less than graceful stance.
But at least he'd made it. Without breaking anything. There
was no way he could rewire the computer in a circumstance like this.
He'd seen too much not to come and help all he could. With Vincent's
unspoken signal, the two fired.

        Kyrie was too pissed to
let the effect of the energy drain last. Thanks to Cloud restoring
her energy partially, she rushed Sephiroth again, letting Ultima rip
into him. Cloud caught on and sliced opposite and across Sephiroth's
body from where she had, Vincent and Rodger taking aim and firing as soon
as they were out of the way.

        Sephiroth's body didn't
even resemble Sephiroth anymore. They were sure he was going to fall
any moment; but Vincent was not going to take chances. He reloaded
and fired twice more.

        A cry; they'd all heard
it come from Sephiroth. A cry of disdain, certainly, but also one
of pain and great loss. Instead of falling, however, there was a
sudden beam of silvery black light almost, like a thin fog column.
By the time they'd gotten their thoughts together, it was gone. So
was Sephiroth's body entirely.

        "Shit." Cloud commented
in a tired gasp. "We lost him again."

        Kyrie sighed quietly, placing
her gunblade back on her hip, blood and all. The empty silence of
the room was actually quite welcome. But it was lonely. Maybe
that's a little of what she was feeling. Not necessarily loneliness,
but loss. She'd endured a great one of both parents. She didn't
even move from where she was standing, just... being there for a moment.
They all needed that stillness, just for a little while.

        But then, the stillness
wasn't quite... stillness. There was a distant rustling, like...
like fabric, really that--

        It was so quick and so unexpected.
Such an utter shock to watch that there was no reaction. Not until
it was too late. Sephiroth had descended, and the scene was a little
too familiar for some.

        "No!" she heard Cloud's
terrified cry before anything else. It somehow seemed louder than
any of the other things she'd heard in her life. Louder than the
gunshots, louder than the music, louder than any memory. It had power
in it, that scream. Power and meaning. And she had no idea
why she felt she needed to take it personally.

        Until she looked down and
shivered. She'd never seen a blade through her body before, obviously.
Right through her heart. Right through her. And she
was still conscious enough to know it. To understand the implications.
To feel it. Masamune; though she did not know what to name
it. Not that it mattered in the least. It was inside
her. It had gone through her. Sephiroth had gotten his
chance to fuck her after all.

        "Do you have any idea how
long I've waited to do that again?" the madman laughed behind her, twisting
the blade.

        Instead of a scream as Kyrie
had anticipated, a gurgling sound came from her mouth. The pain was
so intense it almost ceased to be pain at all. Oh, it was far from
pleasure, but it was too strong for pain. It went beyond her physical
body, straight past her mind.

        Laughing still, Sephiroth
shoved her off of his precious sword with a sharp kick from the heel of
his boot, watching her body drain of life. He grinned at Cloud and
Vincent, standing there stunned. "Now it's time to finish this.
For good."

        "Not again." Cloud
had meant to shout it. But he hadn't the energy, nor the will; he
was saving all of that. Only a whisper, only a breath, and he dashed
forward again--this time meeting a ball of energy that sent him all the
way against the wall.

        Rodger was shaking
with rage. He just fired. Again and again. Reloaded blindly,
and fired. Soon he, too, was sent against the wall.

        Vincent merely stood there,
unmoving, silent. And then it happened; he'd never wanted it to occur
again. The painful ripping of his own flesh from the inside
out... he screamed, but it didn't matter. Chaos didn't stop.
It was still a part of him, and it would prove to be a powerful force for
him now. Part of him did want the beast out, for vengeance.
And that was why it emerged, slashing for blood.

        And blood of a god it got.
Claws tore through Sephiroth's chest, ripped at his biceps, made ribbons
of his flesh and what little was left of his clothes; but now it was not
enough. Too strong, the man was just too strong even for Chaos.
The beast was thrown harshly against the wall beside pain stricken and
dazed comrades.

        Sephiroth raised his arms
in victory, laughing. Laughing, really and truly rejoicing.
His day had come! It was won and final! He then raised
a single palm to concoct an energy ball as Kyrie had done to finish them.
Even as they watched, even as they tried to get back up again and Vincent's
body slowly reformed, he would annihilate them forever. The earth
was his, and Mother's...

        And then a very odd
thing happened. It was really too quick to see exactly what was going
on, but the result was clear enough. Sephiroth's victorious smile
wavered a little. Then there was the sharp crack of a firearm, perhaps,
deafening them all. The smile changed entirely into surprise as his
vibrant green eyes widened and seemed to roll backward and to the side
just a little too much... blood gushed from his neck, and soon the eyes
were altogether gone. Come to think of it, so was his head in general.

        Her gunblade clattered heavily
to the floor, her arm unable to hold it any longer. That was all
she had left in her to raise the damn thing, let alone the momentum to
behead the bastard and pull the trigger. Blood gushed steadily from
her chest, but she was still alive. There was no doubt, now.
She had certainly somehow survived Masamune, but she was pretty certain
it wouldn't last long, the way things were going. She stared back
at absolutely shocked eyes before she lost her footing and collapsed near
Sephiorth's head.

        But the head was not lifeless,
as she had hoped it would be. The body was splayed, bleeding, just
feet away from her. But the head--those fucking eyes--was
still very much alive. The facial muscles shuddered and convulsed
like dying machinery even as the blood drained from the gored neck.
Jenova was still alive in him.

        The display of "life" was
more than enough to empty the contents of Kyrie's stomach; had she not
been previously impaled. But far worse was a momentary glance at
the body. As Cloud slowly approached (just as disturbed and surprised
as she was, no doubt), the body's extremities twitched. It was barely
noticeable, but it was enough. It wasn't just alive, he saw, but
it was trying to reform itself. The veins and arteries had already
begun to... change. Instead of pouring streams of blood, they
were
stretching out like little tentacles of an ocean plant, creeping
unnaturally toward the head that had been detached.

        Kyrie had a glimpse of the
same gut churning behavior from the head itself as the eyes focussed unconscious
hatred toward her. But she didn't have the strength to raise her
head. She was passing out from the loss of blood, and she really
wasn't sure she'd be coming back.

        Out of absolute revoltion
as much as out of instinct, Cloud just kicked the damn head across the
room. It obviously wasn't a long term solution, but it would do for
now. As long as they could keep the head away from the body, they
had some time to come up with a solution. Or so they hoped.
It seemed a worthwhile plan at the time.

        Rodger walked on wobbling
legs toward his collapsed girlfriend, making certain to close his eyes
as he passed the writhing corpse. This was all just too much.
Absolutely too much to take in. He just wanted Kyrie to wake up and
get the hell out of here.

        Vincent followed close behind.
Even his normally stoic face was a little overcome with disgust.
This wasn't quite right, obviously. The tendrils still jerking
from Sephiroth's bloody neck seemed to reach out for his foot, and he took
an uncharacteristic leap backward with his hand over his chest.

        Rodger more or less dropped
to the floor, just letting his legs go under him. It was too hard
to stand. He wrapped his arms around a still breathing Kyrie and
laid her head across his lap, wiping a stream of blood from her lips.
He cringed when he realized it weren't her lips that were bleeding; the
blood was leaking out from within. There was severe damage in there,
as if he needed assurance.

        Shocking all of them, Kyrie
took a deep and quivering breath, then opened her eyes. They were
glazed with pain and fear, but they were still there, still intelligent.
She swallowed the blood back down, feeling the hole through her with every
passing second. It was... unsettling.

        Rodger soundlessly cradled
her shaking body, trying hard not to show the hovering emotions he thought
would tear him apart. Fear, love, hope, happiness, despair, ferocious
worry...

        "How the hell are you still
alive?" Cloud breathed, slowly lowering himself to the ground next to her.
He was afraid if he went any faster he very well might give into his mind's
demands and faint.

        A very weak grin appeared
on her face as she panted from a wave of severe pain. Her voice was
thick of death, but it seemed that she denied it. It almost appeared
that her willpower was enough to keep her suspended there. "I'm...
a l-Leonhart."

        The completely blank expression
on Cloud's face was enough to have made her laugh. Could she have
done so, of course. The situation kind of prevented that. Instead,
she raised a shaky hand to lay gently on Rodger's shoulder. He closed
his eyes; it was everything he could do to hold the emotions back.
She glanced up into Vincent's wide eyes and wondered to herself how long
it would be before she finally kicked it.

        Cloud reached for her wound,
but his hand stopped before it made contact. Maybe he didn't want
to know how bad it was. Maybe none of them did. But then, she
was still alive, wasn't she? Maybe it wasn't... so bad. With
a breath to summon his courage, he unceremoniously tugged at the laces
and pulled the front of her shirt open just a bit to judge the damage.
What he saw caused his face to pale. "Vincent..."

        The already quite pale man
swallowed and stepped a little closer, looking. He also seemed somewhat
astounded. "How..?"

        Cloud shook his head and
continued to stare. They'd all seen Masamune go straight through
her. And Sephiroth had most certainly twisted it. Kyrie could
probably attest to it better than the rest of them. But what he saw
there was a wound that certainly had not gone all the way through.
The two men stared in awe and confusion as the hole in her chest ceased
to look like raw meat, and more like a flesh wound that would leave little
more than a scar.

        It reminded Cloud of moments
before. It was very similar to... "Jenova?" he whispered.

        Kyrie's eyes flashed as
a crackpot theory came to mind. While it was still hard to talk,
and she felt like she were drowning in her own internal fluids, the pain
was becoming easier to bear. Even her breathing seemed less strained.
"Sephiroth... would have Jenova cells... in his blood... right?"

        Cloud gave Vincent quite
a hard, almost accusing look before turning back to consider the idea.
"You... didn't..?"

        Kyrie cringed with another
vibrant flurry of pain before answering. "Well... I bit him... twice."
The look she saw passed between Cloud and Vincent was almost worth a million
more brutal stabbings.

        Rodger didn't give a fuck
what was going on, not at that moment. "Just tell me it's going to
be alright."

        "I think she'll make a full
recovery." Cloud agreed. "But... here." From his palm
emerged the Restore materia. "If you hold this, it will help the
pain and healing."

        Kyrie was only glad for
anything
that would help her out. She delicately reached for it, but this
time felt almost no pain at all as it merged into her. Of course,
on later thought, maybe it was simply overcome by all of the other shit
going on. Indeed, three Materia meant three distinctive pulses, though
Restore was like a cool breeze where the others were a warm summer day.
Maybe it was simply because she'd have to be "feeding" off of it, in a
sense, until she was completely healed.

        "Alright..." already her
breath was easier, though it still hurt to expand her chest. "I've
got to... contact Laguna."

        "I'll do it for you."
Rodger volunteered.

        Kyrie shook her head lightly.
"You'll need a code. And it's... way too long for me..."

        Rodger nodded, understanding.
He could see the difficult enough time she had speaking. Trying to
recite a huge security code was a little much at this point. "Okay.
But I'll carry you."

        "I'm too heavy... for you,
boy." She tried joking. The very feel of the Restore materia
in her body was making things a little easier. It still felt weird--everything
felt weird at this point--but more bearable. Even when Rodger scooped
her up into his arms, there wasn't half as much pain as she had expected.
It didn't feel like a trip to a theme park or anything, but...

        "And we should..?" Cloud
quested.

        "Watch the head."
Kyrie answered coldly.

        That seemed a good enough
answer. Rodger carried her as delicately as he could to the closest
lift and spun Kyrie around to hit the button. At least she could
do that without feeling like an invalid. Once they were in the main
control area, he put her down gently to lean against the communications
panel. "Can you stand?"

        "Yeah." She assured,
sounding the slightest bit out of breath already. "I'll be fine."

        Rodger nodded and continued
to fiddle with the wires for a moment more. Then he flipped a couple
of switches beside her. The light hum of a computer sounded while
all of the switches lit up, the communication screen slowly going from
black to blue. A few seconds later, the screen flashed back to black
with a single word in white flashing: LOCATION.

        The boy was good, there
was no doubt about it. With a knowing tap of the grey panel board
below the screen, Kyrie initiated the keyboard to emerge from below. Good,
it's a newer model. They'd have had problems if that hadn't have
worked. She was only familiar with so much in the way of technology.
"Esthar PresEst 1573681-13k", she typed.

        A lag. Not a long
one, but enough to make her heart skip a beat. For just a moment
there, she'd thought Sephiroth had destroyed the entire communications
network of the system. It certainly wouldn't have surprised her.
Apparently, however, as the screen read CONNECTING, he simply hadn't
had the foresight. He'd been sure he could take them.

        That thought was not a pleasant
one right now. Luckily she concentrated on the authentication screen.
And here came the long line of numbers and letters.

        Rodger watched her fingers
move away, seeing dozens of coded stars appear in the password location.
It was amazing that a family member needed that much for electronic
face-to-face communication with the president of Esthar, but if any "commoner"
wanted to actually talk to him face-to-face, all you had to do was hang
out around the city.

        Two beeps. Then the
screen read, DIRECT CONNECTION. Silence and a black screen.
No doubt Laguna was in the middle of saying something to someone in his
office, interrupted by a call. He'd have to promise to finish the
conversation, as he always did, while whoever he was talking to was thanking
their lucky stars for an interruption from the never-ending banter.
At least that thought put a small smile on her face.

        Another beep, then the screen
flashed. Instantly there was a live picture of her grandfather, looking
absolutely puzzled. No doubt he'd seen the location from which she
was communicating. He sounded as worried as he looked. "Kyrie?"

        "Hey, Laguna." She
panted.

        An absolutely terrified
look masked his features. "W-what's going on?"

        "The seal..." she tried
to breathe, hold herself up as straight as her body would allow her, and
concentrate on the words at the same time; a difficult task given the circumstances.
"The seal for Adel. We need another. Two, actually."

        Blankness became painfully
apparent on his face. It was clear that she was injured, of course.
More so was the fact that whatever had occurred had been big.
And, apparently, needed to be contained now. Instead of asking
questions, he just nodded. "Okay. I'll get there as soon as
I can."

        "As soon as possible."
She added, flinching as her stomach felt like it was working knots in itself.
"I don't think we can hold up long."

        Laguna nodded and broke
communication. Thank heavens he knew an important situation when
he saw one.

        Kyrie sighed and turned,
leaning her back against the terminal. Healing though she was, she
suspected the damage was probably going to take quite some time to heal
all the way. He'd gone through a number of organs and shredded the
hell out of them, after all.

        But everything was going
to be alright. Laguna could take charge when he needed to.
And he had complete access to the Ragnarok. She'd seen that sucker
take off several times, and it was fast. The only thing that
may take the time were those seals. But she suspected that it was
quite possible he had more around. She had the sneaking suspicion
he was more ready for odd matters such as this than most people would ever
imagine. He'd learned his lesson.

        She looked up at Rodger,
noting a worried look on his face, too. It was... kinda cute.
She smiled softly at that thought. Sure she still hurt, but she'd
get better. And when she did, oh boy.

        "I thought I was going to
lose you." He whispered.

        "Can't get rid of me that
easily." She joked with a light cough. Seeing a look that was
in equal parts elation and fear, she raised a hand and gestured him to
her. Painful though it was, she wrapped her arms around him and brought
him closer. The pain didn't matter. This, mattered.

        He held onto her though
she were the only thing keeping the universe together. So many times
he could have lost her forever... but he tried not to think about that.
He tried, instead, to picture what life would be like back at Trabia Garden.
How much trouble were they going to be in for abandoning the place?
Sure it was for a good cause, in the end, but he doubted the Headmaster
would see it that way...

        Eh, it didn't matter.
One still moment was all they needed for now. One moment, one instant
in time where they had this security in one another would last them until
all of this shit blew over. Then they could talk about it, worry
about it. Until then, they had a task to accomplish. So, he
kissed her and scooped her back into his arms, bringing her back down to
ground level.

        But the look that was being
exchanged between Cloud and Vincent caused a little... hesitancy.
They'd been talking, obviously. And there was something... uncertain
about something one of them had said. It was unnerving.

        Cloud noticed their curious
looks and decided to just be forward about it. "If we leave him on
this planet, in piece or not, there's a good chance he could absorb more
of Jenova's powers over time. Or worse, that they could somehow find
one another."

        Alright, well, that didn't
sound so far-fetched. He knew very well they had to throw Adel into
space, so it wasn't a big deal to do the same with yet another psycho.
They still prodded him with their gazes, both knowing he wasn't practicing
full disclosure at this point.

        "I..." Cloud spoke up, albeit
softly. "I want to be sealed with him."

        Kyrie looked at him like
a madman for a few seconds. "Cloud... you can't..."

        He hushed her with a confident
smile. "Look... it's not safe with him around. In two pieces
or a million. If I'm going to live as long as he is, anyway... may
as well be doing something useful with that time."

        She grunted quietly.
It was the only word her mind could form at that moment. She saw,
clearly, what he was getting at. She knew he'd followed Sephiroth
all over the world before. And still, even after doing so twice,
that bastard wasn't really dead. But that thought plagued her.
Locking Cloud up with the lunatic's body, or even the head... wouldn't
he go insane as well? Wasn't that just too grotesque to manage sanity
around?

        "It's just safer this way."
The blonde continued to try and convince everyone.

        There was silence.
A lot of stunned, reflective silence. Maybe he had a point.
Maybe it was a good one. But it... sucked. Kyrie didn't want
him to be outer-fucking-space all the time. Shit, they'd become friends...
more or less.

        "You are certain about this?"
Vincent tried quietly.

        "Yeah." Cloud was
not moving on his position. Hey, it may not be... forever.

        A sudden deep, roaring vibrating
overcame the moment. Not already... Kyrie thought as the sound
registered. It sure as hell sounded like the Ragnarok just above
them. She couldn't say she wasn't glad he'd gotten here so quickly,
but... man, after the bombshell Cloud had just cropped, this whole moment
was getting more and more surreal.

        And then there was a crash
out in the hallway. Only seconds later, her grandfather literally
dashed
in, not even bothering with the lift. He simply grasped hold of one
of the ladders and slid down it, landing as surely as if he'd actually
intended to do so. He came to a dead halt when he finally witnessed
the carnage around him. There were some people he didn't really recognize
(though he swore he'd seen Cloud somewhere), a headless body that was still
flinching
on one side of the room with what looked like its head all the way across
to the other. And then there was his granddaughter in this kid's
arms, covered in drying blood and looking... not terribly healthy.
Apart from those, there was no one else. And apart from Seifer's
collar around her thigh--he started getting the picture. Turning
gears, ticking like a clock, it was becoming clear. Squall was not
here. Neither was Seifer. And they all looked worn out, tired...
and grieving.

        His shoulders faltered,
then dropped. He started walking toward them again, slowly.
It was a cold, stunned pace as he closed the gap between them.

        Rodger very gently let Kyrie
down to stand on her own. He was right behind her, just in case.
He saw she was a little shaky, but he couldn't have been certain exactly
why. There was a lot going on now. A lot more than just her
physical strength. Even he wasn't sure how much longer he was going
to be able to stand up by himself.

        Laguna stopped in front
of his granddaughter for a moment, without moving. Just looking at
her. Hyne, what memories she brought to him, looking like that.
"Kyrie..." he whispered, wrapping his arms around her.

        It was strange for him not
to have more to say. She was sure he knew enough to understand it
had been tragic, though. It felt good to be held by her grandfather,
even under the circumstances. Maybe the Squall part of her reveled
in being able to accept the touch. Maybe she was just insane with
all of the shit that had just happened to her. It didn't matter.
He was gentle enough not to squeeze any "damaged parts", so... it just
felt nice.

        "The seals are back at the
airstation." He whispered roughly. "They're ready."

        She knew what he meant;
ready to be blasted into space. Again she thought of Cloud going
with them, and what an awful feeling that brought on.

        As if on cue, a dozen officers
began climbing down the ladder, sent to have "contained the problem".
They weren't quite ready for the scene before them.

        "The head and body."
Kyrie stated to the startled, questioning eyes of the young soldiers.
"Keep them separated. And contained."

        Things were utterly silent
on the Ragnarok. Cloud had made a big deal moments before about how
awesome
he thought the ship itself was. But now that that conversation was
over... well, there wasn't much left to talk about. Not at that moment,
in that place. Too much. Just too much. It would have
to wait. Even the normally talkative, good natured Laguna was acting
fidgety and abnormally quiet. All he knew of was the death, the cost.
It's all he needed to know until the danger had passed.

        Landing at Esthar Airstation,
not a word was uttered until they made it to what had come to be known
as the Shuttle Room. From there was where all space operations were
launched or landed. Down at the very end of the building was where
the seals waited.

        And it was at the point
that they were headed in that direction that Cloud started getting a bit
nervous. The thought of just... floating there... for no one knew
how long... What would he do? Count stars? Would he even
see the stars?

        By that point, Kyrie was
actually fine to walk by herself. She could still feel some... tears
internally, but they hadn't been nearly as bad as they were before.
She could walk and keep up without having to pant or rest, and that's what
mattered.

        Laguna never looked back.
He simply led them through the maze-like halls of the building beyond the
Shuttle Room, determined to see this obvious danger off. Question
later. Action now.

        At long last, they came
to the door. A huge, well guarded, locked iron door. Laguna
walked past and through without a second thought, but the rest of them
hesitated. They weren't so quick to get rid of Cloud. And,
well, neither was he quick to step on in and say good-bye.

        "What?" Laguna asked quietly.

        Cloud swallowed, looking
to his comrades for a moment. "I, uh... I'd like to be sealed along,
there... with the head, preferably."

        The president's eyes went
wide. "Sealed with--?" but then he stopped himself. Granted
that it was not a thrilling proposition even for him, who didn't even know
the guy. This was just... getting weirder and weirder. All
so very odd and unusual, and completely contrary to all common sense.
But he'd experienced this from other people before. Act fast or be
unable to act at all. He looked squarely at Kyrie to read her reaction.
From that, he nodded and continued without saying another word.

        Coming into the room, they
saw Sephiroth's body was already in the process of being sealed; none of
the soldiers looked happy about this task. In fact, there was one
in the far corner who was obviously losing his breakfast. Another,
who was working on the locking mechanism, simply looked pale and slightly
unstable.

        Yeah, just imagine if
that thing got stronger... Kyrie tried to suppress the thought.
She still didn't like the idea of Cloud getting locked up with a head
of all things. It was an unpleasant thought.

        "We've got complete privacy
and clearance for the next ten minutes." Laguna announced calmly.
"But we won't after that. I'm sorry, but... this will have to be
quick." He then graciously walked away.

        The group stood there for
a few seconds. This was all going too fast, too soon, too much...
but Cloud looked sure of himself. Nervous, granted. A little
pale, yes. But... certain. Complete in his decision.

        So, Kyrie decided to give
him a little entertainment. She reached into her back pocket and
produced a gift, pressing it into his palm immediately. "You will
take this." She indicated.

        Cloud blinked. Yes,
he supposed he would. He looked at the small palm computer she'd
given him.

        "It's a fully self contained
solar powered communication device linked up to the world's electronic
library." She announced quietly, taking a moment to catch her breath
after all that. "You know, just in case. And so you won't go
loony on us." Certainly it would finally work with completely
direct sunlight... right? She could get another one any time.
Maybe one that even worked.

        "Well... thanks."
He accepted with sincerity.

        "And thanks for taking care
of her." Rodger said honestly, softly poking his girlfriend playfully
in the shoulder.

        Cloud looked almost honored.
"Glad to be of service." He looked to Vincent, who was standing completely
still and a little off to the side. He looked as if he simply didn't
know what to say at all.

        You never forget those you
fight with. There is a special bond shared with those you battle
alongside, that is not quite love and not quite companionship, but is just
as strong as both. Kyrie regarded the still moment with almost passive
sorrow; she really didn't want to see him go, no matter the circumstances.
But his decision was clearly made. He had a task that he felt he
really needed to accomplish.

        Cloud pulled away from his
own thoughts for a moment, as if considering something entirely different.
He then looked Kyrie square in the eye. "You ought to have the Buster
Sword."

        That was a bit surprising.
"You need it more than I do."

        That cocky grin returned.
"I've got a knife. I think I'll be alright. Besides, there
won't be room for my big-ass sword."

        Kyrie grinned back at him
widely, trying not to crack a crude joke. "Only if you really, really
insist."

        Cloud nodded, unbuckling
the scabbard from around his waist and shoulders. "It's heavy."
He warned.

        "I'll bet." Kyrie
joked. Rodger accepted the gift for her, grunting softly in surprise
at just how heavy it really was.

        "I think you earned Masamune,
too." The blonde said quietly.

        "Masamune?" the word itself
sounded almost as evil to her as it did pleasantly exotic.

        Cloud just nodded his head
toward that giant sword that the soldiers had also picked up to bring with
them. It was laying on an equipment table right beside Kyrie's gunblade,
and together they looked like a force of Chaos itself.

        She swallowed that thought
down. She couldn't really help but agree, in a sense. It had
very nearly killed her, but she'd survived it. And it was simply
too damn big for Cloud to take with him. Besides, wouldn't that
look glorious on her dorm wall?

        And now for the old friends.
Cloud leaned in and whispered something that only Vincent could hear.
Whatever it was he said, it had surprised the pale man. The blonde pulled
back with a wide smile on his face and left whatever it was he had whispered
alone.

        "Rodger." Cloud called
his attention. He raised his last Materia from his palm and held
it in front of his eyes, regarding it. It had been a very long time
since he'd been without them in constant contact. But this had to
be done. It was a just in case sort of thing. Seeing the absolutely
unsure look across the boy's face, he gently suggested, "Just play with
it for a while."

        Well, that didn't help any.
But, it was rude to refuse a gift from someone who may be saying good-bye
forever. He hesitantly extended his own palm and felt that tingling
surge he'd felt with Fire, only this was by far a... cooler feeling.
The Ice materia was actually a bit of a comfort to match his Fire.

        Cloud took a deep breath,
seeing there were a couple of soldiers moving with a rolling table in between
them. Atop it was the head, still squirming, and they did not look
at all happy to be handling this thing. There was no use and no reason
to draw this out. It would just be harder to leave. And this
was hard enough, really. He opened his mouth to say something, anything...
but closed it again. Nah, no use. No need. He just smiled
and waved, then turned to step into the other seal.

        At least that one had a
window. A nice tinted window so he could see out without getting
his retinas completely destroyed. At least thankfully they left that
godawful frightening head in a box so he wouldn't have to stare at it all
the time. And so his friends watched the process as it went all too
quickly, the sealing, the setting up, and having to wave their good-byes
so they could clear the room and see the whole process on a big screen
in the Shuttle Room.

        Only... well, they elected
not to. That would have been too much for Kyrie, herself. Rodger
just... well, it was hard enough to fathom all of this, let alone seeing
this stuff shot into space--he was a little afraid he'd faint or something.
As for Vincent... he just followed them. Silently looking at the
floor, he walked a few paces after them. They heard the roar of the
engines and the cries of success which always came out of the Shuttle Room,
and that's all they needed to know.
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The Sins of Two Fathers