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Final Fantasy VII: Awakening	By : Saan Category: Final Fantasy VII > General Views: 844 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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"It's all yours,� said Rudah. "To show my gratitude, I'm gonna let you off easy!" A wide hearty smile showed the blackened gaps between his teeth. "I'll take one of your birds,� he pointed. "I'll even grant you a room for the night. If you stay any longer it will be a bird a night."

"What?!" blurted out Sephiroth.

Vincent folded his arms. It seemed funny for Sephiroth to suddenly show any type of emotion or concern. Leira just stood her ground. Her expression was like stone. "That's fine. Show us the way and wheel it to our room." She tossed a hand to the side and turned toward a rubble heap.

The two party members were confused. Neither of them had any idea what had brought about her sudden cold nature.

"Where's she going?" asked Sephiroth.

"Oh," answered Rudah. "She's heading for the little love nest I call home." His foul smile made Sephiroth look the other way.

The man in black followed her.

Leira was caught up on herself. The debris piles reached skyward. It was amazing that a large percentage of the sky was visible. Because of the pollution, it was grayish in color, but that did not stop her wonderment. Clouds panned the air above her. She thought to herself about the many territories of Midgar that she had covered on foot. A sign appeared attached to a rubble heap. The paint was aged and peeling. She laughed to herself when she finally was able to recognize it.

"Let me get this straight�" This job was one that she had never intended to volunteer for. "You want me to do what?!"

Jody tried hard not to laugh. He was happy that his face was hidden beneath his helmet. "Norelliies wanted me to accompany you on your mission. She likes to assign tests."

She tilted her head. "This is all a test?! Don Corneo is a test?!"

Jody started to choke as he tried to stop himself from laughing. The exasperation on her face was more than he could stomach. He had never seen a woman's face turn so many shades of red before.

Leira had never seen his face before but, suddenly, she found herself wishing for the opportunity to plunge her fist into it. "I read his files while I was a Turk! The man's a pig! He's like Palmer on acid!� The head of the Space Department brought several ill memories to her mind.

Turk Elite Jody let out a huge laugh before finally shaking his head at her. "Listen, kiddo, you wanna make it as one of the big boys, you gotta play like one!"

"He's a fucking pimp!� Leira spat as a reminder to him.

Jody suddenly found himself looking at his trainee in a different light. His eyes focused on her feet and moved upward slowly as he secretly savored every inch of her tanned skin.

"You do know who my uncle is?!" She cursed and waved a fist.

"Of course I do, ma'am." The Elite second class found himself regretting that he had been married for six years.

The woman before him was dressed in a black balconette top and a tiny black mini skirt. A silk mint and white striped covering just barely covered the fullness of her breasts. Three clear plastic buttons were the only thing that held the covering together. A long tuxedo-like tail extended from the skimpy over clothing. Her nine-inch white patent high heels were killing her feet. "Can we just go ahead and call it a day?" she said shortly. The thick black beehive wig had long bangs that were affecting her eyesight. She flicked at it every five seconds in what seemed to be a losing battle.

Almost eight years later, Leira picked up the sign. "Honeybee Inn." she whispered. Of course, it was not the main sign to the infamous bordello. This particular advertisement was a marker to let any visitors know how much farther they had to travel. The Elite threw the sign back into the pile of waste.

"The memories really are coming back to you." An audibly masculine sigh came forth. "I heard that Norelliies put you on watch in the Wallmarket area." He put his hands on her shoulders and tapped his fingers.

"Who is Norelliies?" she screamed to herself. She turned to the man in black. "Whatever."

Vincent decided to make his presence known. "Rudah gave me the room key!"

Sephiroth scowled and crossed his arms. His aquamarine eyes narrowed noticeably.

The three entered the room that the junk dealer had set aside.

The accommodations were not anything to really brag about. It had two beds and one chair. Two huge squares filled with aging concrete filled spaces that Leira had guessed used to be windows. All in all, it seemed clean enough. The bedclothes had a fresh scent to them and were white.

Sephiroth unbuckled his shoulder guards and removed the attached long black coat. He sat in the small wooden chair and let his legs out to his sides.

Vincent followed Sephiroth's example and removed his scarlet cloak. After removing his head wrappings, too, he looked about him suspiciously.

After several minutes of silence, Leira spoke out. "So this is what's left of Wallmarket�?"

As hard as they found it to believe, it was true. The marketing capital of Midgar was crushed beneath the fabled floating city.

A knock interrupted the solitude. Rudah did not bother to wait for a reply. He flung open the door and wheeled in the prize. "Just want you to know that I've already picked out a chocobo! Here's you cabinet." With a finger placed to the side of his nose, the junk dealer departed.

Sephiroth closed the door. "Are you sure he can be trusted? What if this is just a ploy of his? What if there's nothing of importance in there?"

"Do we even know that this belonged to Hojo in the first place?" added Vincent.

The Elite only heard their voices as she dropped to her knees and simultaneously raised her hands high above her head. Both middle fingers were extended. The old file cabinet seemed like a gold mine to her.

For all her effort, Leira could not pry it open. Vincent put his hand on her shoulder. "We'll take it from here."

The two men gripped the rusted file cabinet by the handle and pulled as hard as they could. The metal had become fused. Vincent finally gave up while Sephiroth stepped forward and drew Masamune. He wedged the tip of his blade into the tiny gap between the lower drawer and the rest of the cabinet. The ex general prayed that his blade would not break as he tried to gain access to it.

Sweat began to pour down his head. Finally, a drawer slid open. There were hundreds of folders. They ranged in thickness. All looked the same on the outside. Their manila colored tabs were unmarked.

"A man of many complexities." huffed Sephiroth as he slouched and placed his hands on his knees. His breaths were hard and heavy as they filled his lungs.

Leira elbowed him in the leg as the ex Turk sat on the floor in front of them. He scratched at the bridge of his nose and began to leaf through the files.

"You know what you're doing right?" asked the Elite beside him. She could see his lips moving but was not quite sure what he was saying. She leaned in so that her ears were level with his.

In a husky voice, "eenie, meanie, minie, moe�" could be heard as he let his fingers shuffle through the documents in front of him.

Vincent finally pulled out a piece of paper, after much deliberation. The loss of one of the gold chocobos was still bothering him. The scorched paper was gripped tightly in his right hand. It contained a list of names. The order of the names was not in alphabetical order but by some other order. Almost all the pertinent information had burn marks through it...and black marker? "Strife, Cloud...experiment C, Zack" Many of the names were unreadable and incomplete because of the aging of the papers, "experiment Z," he continued, "...Neidlictzech, Norelliies...Klefmon, Timal..." Vincent read the names aloud.

Leira gasped at the last name. Suddenly memories of her former friend from SOLDIER came rushing to her. The other names bothered her as well. Was that the same �Norelliies� Sephiroth had been talking about earlier?

Vincent had paused in his reading to make sure she was all right.

"It's okay...I'll be fine." Leira prompted. She was half expecting to hear her name next.

Vincent continued. "Thompson, Lieandra J..." He looked up from his paper at her.

The Elite was in total shock. Her skin had gone completely white. "What is that list?! What did you just read?!"

"There are other names on that paper�I'm sure it's a rather old document." Vincent and Leira gawked at Sephiroth as he spoke. His arms were crossed conceitedly and his eyes shut. It almost looked like he was overtaken with boredom.

"I can't read them!" shot Vincent.

"Yes. Yes. I figured as much. That's fine. I can recite them all by heart, anyway."

Leira could not tolerate the general's cockiness. She jumped to her feet and stood before him. Her fingers clenched tightly at her sides. Her elbows and knees were bent. She leaned in and spread her ankles. She tried to keep herself from attacking the white haired man.

"What did he read?! If you know everyone on that paper, why didn't you tell me in the first place?!" The Elite's voice was ridden with anger. "How many more secrets do you have?!"

Time seemed to stand still. Sephiroth's eyes fluttered for an instant as he tried to come up with an appropriate answer. With lightning reflexes, he extended a hand and grabbed her by the upper arm, pulling her body closer to his. She tried not to show how frightened she was by glancing down at the brownness of the earth beneath her feet. "I wanted you to hear�no�SEE things for YOURSELF. You fit into this grand design of Hojo's perfectly, along with several others! These subjects all had numbers�even you! In some shape or form they were all related to SOLDIER as well."

Vincent straightened and tore her from his grasp with his claw. "Give her a break! How would you feel after finding your name on a mad man's list?"

"How would I feel? That's a strange question?" Sephiroth snatched the page out of the ex-Turk�s hand. "There is a title to this page. My name happens to be in it. 'Plausible Sephiroth Clones,' I believe, is the name for this particular document." His fingers tapped madly against the paper causing it to ripple with each strike.

A chord struck the dead man. Flashes of memories bombarded him all at the same time. Black cloaked figures in the town of his death, Nanaki being known as RED XIII, Cloud having a hidden number�

"�numbers�" Vincent mumbled to himself. "What do numbers have to do with anything?"

Clones? Sephiroth clones? Were all those names just clones? Was Leira herself a Sephiroth clone? The room began to spin as she tried to understand everything. She collapsed against Vincent. "They can't be clones�I can't be a clone�" she whispered as Vincent laid her out on the nearest bed.

Sephiroth's eyes closed as he turned his head away from the others. "What makes you say that?" His tone was filled with disinterest. "You really have no idea how far Hojo's cloning projects went do you?" The general's menacing green eyes fell upon Vincent. "Mr. Valentine, did you know that you were the spear head for certain aspects of my father's research?"

Several thoughts and emotions enveloped Vincent Valentine. Sephiroth was aware that Hojo was his father. So, he also knew about Hojo's experiments on the ex-Turk. He fought hard to play it off as calmly as he could. "What experiments would those be?"

Leira curled into a fetal position. The words of her childhood friend, if he were indeed that, would not stop echoing.

Sephiroth crossed his legs and swung his head back to gaze at the ceiling. "I might have said too much." He uncrossed his legs and leaned forward with an evil grin. "Your arm for instance. Hojo was quite an expert on DNA and cloning. He used the cutting off of your arm as an example to collect tissue from corpses. There are several bodies that underwent this treatment. You'll find a map in the cabinet as well as another draft of names."

Vincent stood in front of Sephiroth and glanced behind at the file cabinet. His blood red eyes came back to rest on him again. "Does this have anything to do with the Nibelheim creatures?"

"Huh?" The Turk Elite found herself at a lack for words. "Nibelheim creatures?"

The men stared into each other's eyes. The hatred they both felt for one another was even more evident than before. "She wasn't briefed on that topic was she?"

Leira sat up and looked at Vincent. The former Turk seemed to be hiding his anger. "Reeve still kept it a secret�?" Vincent could not bear to look at her.

"Small wonder!" chided Sephiroth. "Imagine learning that everything you lived for was someone else's dream!"

Leira was beginning to break down. "That can't be right�"

The two men ignored her as they continued with their squabbling.

"Hojo had planned to use some of your DNA as a stepping stone. He decided that because you were also interested in my mother, it would be more fun to mess with you and damn you for the rest of your unnatural life, later on." Sephiroth was on his feet.

Vincent's lips curled back revealing his teeth. His anger was beginning to overtake him. "I don't believe this!" he growled.

"Okay, I've had enough!"

Before either man could utter another word, Vincent was pushed onto the bed Leira had been occupying. The ex-Turk struggled hard to maintain a sitting position as a pointer finger poked into the soft spot beneath his chin. Sephiroth had also been pushed backwards into his chair. Leira was the only one that stood tall. She drew her hands into fists. "I am nobody's clone!" she hissed. "I'm sure there's another reason why my name is on there!"

Vincent put his hands to his throat in shock. In the brief time that her finger had been there, Leira managed to draw a tiny amount of blood from him.

"There is." Sephiroth smiled. "I just wanted to make sure you were awake."

Irate was not the right word to describe her attitude. "You've got my attention! Now what?!"

The bare chested man stood up only to lean against the nearest wall. "There's more to that file cabinet than just that one page. I'm sure if you look hard enough you'll find another list with a map stapled to it. You need only look as far as that same folder." His head lowered allowing his long hair to slide over his shoulders and hide his face.

Before Leira could say anything, Vincent was on his knees and searching for the folder. "I've got it,� he said as he lifted it out of the bottom drawer. He gently set it down on the ground and opened it.

The beaten off white folder contained several old photographs of people and monsters. Each picture had a number stenciled on it. There were no names. The majority of the faces were unrecognizable because of water damage, mold, sunlight, and time. There were at least sixty pictures in all.

Leira grabbed up the photographs as Vincent continued to flip though the papers. She wondered if she would be able to recognize any of them. Her memory was definitely on the mend.

The dead man found the document that Sephiroth had described. He instantly noticed red dots located next to certain places on the map. Each bright marker led to several different locations throughout the world. The highest concentration seemed to be in the doomed city itself, Midgar. "I take it that each point is a burial ground."

"I take it you're right." huffed Sephiroth.

Leira heard Vincent's burial ground comment and suddenly flipped through the pictures faster. They were all dead?! She looked back at both men. "Wait a minute�" her eyes fell on a familiar face. The large blue eyes and short black hair took her by surprise. "Ecka�" she murmured.

The picture was clenched tightly in her hands. It was obvious that it was old. The girl appeared as she did the last time Leira had seen her almost ten years ago. When the two had first met, Shinra officers were escorting the girl to a detention center. The transformation that the child made upon her release twenty days later was incredible. The former wild child with red tangled hair and hazel eyes had been replaced by the figure that stared out at her. It was amazing to see how the girl's new look reminded her of the little ninja Yuffie.

"I had a dream about her. I was cradling her in my arms�" Leira put a finger between her lips.

Vincent stood up with the map still in his hands. His concern was growing.

"The building was burning around us�why am I suddenly remembering her? Have I met her before?" Her confusion was making her feel silly. She walked to a far corner of the room and continued to stare at the picture.

"That wouldn't happen to be of a girl from Norelliies' unit would it? What was her name�?" Sephiroth wandered over to her. "SOLDIER First Class�she was one of the youngest. I believe her name was Trabian Ecklarkaj. Everyone called her Ecka during those days."

"She was in SOLDIER." Leira had tried to keep the thought to herself but was too caught up in this strange history lesson.

"She was. Only sixteen, too, I might add. Tough as nails for a little girl. She was part of Norelliies' unit until her transfer to my command."

Vincent listened to the talk between the two. He looked at the list and than at Sephiroth. "SOLDIER First Class Ecka�number seventeen. According to the map, she's not buried to far from here. She's actually one of several."

"She's dead! Did she die in that building?"

Sephiroth parted his lips in a toothy white smile. "No. She died at a later time." He was so close to the confused Leira. He leaned his face over her shoulder and whispered into her ear. "I killed her myself."

The Elite spun to look at him. Her eyebrows twitched with uncertainty as she looked into his cold eyes. His voice seemed to be without remorse. She could not believe that this was the same man she believed to be her childhood friend.

The former general spoke softly into her ear. "I'll take you to her resting place. I'll show all of them to you."

"How do you know all this?!" asked Vincent.

"I have my resources,� said Sephiroth as if he were spelling each word out to him.

"Wait a minute! I'm hearing another name besides this Ecka�Who is Norelliies?" Leira had meant to ask but Vincent had beaten her to it.

"I'll show you tomorrow." Sephiroth waved a hand at them and lie down on a bed. He reached behind him and stroked the long sword behind him. "Resurrection takes a lot out of you, if you haven't slept for days. Good night." With that, his eyes closed and he let out a long yawn.

"Is it me or has his attitude changed drastically since we got here." Vincent was lying on the bed across from the one Sephiroth was occupying. "He seems to have gotten colder�if that's possible."

The room was dark now. As they rested, Leira shared the bed with Vincent. She found it hard to look at him so her back was facing him. The ex-Turk�s revelation was something that she had noticed as well.

She felt a hand on her shoulder. "What's it like to relive all these memories you never knew you had?" Vincent was genuinely curious. Sections of his long black hair rolled down his shoulders and covered his neck.

"It hurts." Leira whispered. "I still don't recognize any of them�but I feel like I can trust them. I feel guilty too�"

"Guilty?" The dead man questioned.

She sighed before she rolled over to look at him. "Yeah. When you read those names, I only remembered a couple of them. Nevertheless, I knew who they were. To know that they're all dead�I didn't even know�"

"Does it have anything to do with that Ecka girl?"

"From what I remember she was only sixteen. I remembered how she looked. As soon as I saw the picture, I knew who she was. How could he kill someone that young?" her voice grew softer as it started to break.

"He's still the same man that slaughtered a whole village of innocents. You do remember Nibelheim don't you?" Vincent's tone was harsh but Leira did pick up a hint of understanding in his words.

She folded her arms over her chest as she continued to lie on her side. "You're right." She muttered.

"Were you close to the girl?" he asked.

Leira suddenly caught a flash of a person flying at her and knocking her to the ground. "YOU STUPID BITCH!� was being shouted at her. This person was short and dressed in a battle scarred SOLDIER uniform. The person ripped off their helmet and threw it at her. It just missed her head by an inch. The SOLDIER was ranting something and began to slap her around with a bloody, shrapnel encrusted arm. That same SOLDIER had short black hair and large angry blue eyes. A black spiky haired man was trying to pull this belligerent girl off her. "Ecka, Ecka, it's okay! Everyone's alive! I'm okay! Ecka, Ecka, DOWN GIRL!�

Leira managed to force a grin as she peered into her bedmates red eyes. "I somehow doubt that we were the best of friends."

The dead man began to relax under her smile. It was soothing to know that she was still capable of that expression.

"Do you�"

"Huh?"

Leira tried to think of a way to phrase her next question. "Do you remember everything? What are your memories like?"

Vincent found himself smiling too. "They're nothing. They're just pictures from a long ago past."

"What about her�What about Lucrecia?" Leira's eyes moved down to her naked toes. She was not sure how this curiously peaceful man would react.

The ex-Turk put his hand beneath her chin and gently pulled her face to his. "I think it's time we both rested." He kissed her forehead and rolled onto his other side.

"I guess you're right." The Elite thought to herself before she too finally fell asleep.
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Final Fantasy VII: Awakening