Late, As Always

Late, As Always

Revised Chapter 6

A/N: OMG guys I am soo sorry! I thought I finished this a while ago. I had some issues with this chapter which had involved a COMPLETE overhaul and, well, here it is!

I realize that some completely dumbfounding things may happen in this chapter that might make you say "wtf?" but um, it sounded good to me at the time! :)

You may also be wondering why some things happen the way they do (ie, thought Seph didn't know about Jenova!) but I promise, it will all be explained later.



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Sephiroth sat motionless for a few moments as the shock of Cloud’s apparent death sank in. Suddenly the event hit him harder than a train careening out of control. He ran to his window and hit it as hard as he could, shattering the delicate glass immediately upon impact. A chilling breeze swept in, passing over Sephiroth and stealing over Cloud’s motionless form, barely rustling the blonde’s gravity-defying spikes. The General quickly pulled the curtains shut and fumed silently.



How could this happen? How is that when someone treats me humanely, they suffer from a premature death? Sephiroth mused. I should have known not to get involved.



But dear Sephiroth, this isn’t your fault, a feminine voice whispered. Sephiroth growled viciously at the voice of Jenova. She continued, sounding smug. We are all aware that this is Hojo’s fault.



Sephiroth wondered if this assumption was correct. When he found Cloud bloody and beaten, he wanted desperately to seek out the bastard who inflicted the condition on the beautiful blonde and kill him. The thought was quickly shoved from his mind, however, when the blonde appeared to be fine and began to act as if HE were Sephiroth. Now, however, the enraged desperation had returned with a vengeance.



Hojo could not be responsible, Sephiroth concluded. Cloud was bound to collapse and perhaps even die from the injuries he had sustained. The absence of Jenova cells probably had an adverse effect that worsened Cloud’s condition, causing eventual death.



That left only one solution: someone was out to get Cloud, and Sephiroth was determined to find out exactly who it was. When he found the sick bastard, blood would spill, he would be sure.



Sephiroth was unsure of what to do about Cloud’s body. He did know, however, that his own blood contained massive amounts of Jenova cells, which Hojo had once said would keep him alive under almost any condition. This in mind, he decided to test a theory that had been slowly forming in his mind. Perhaps if he gave some of his blood to Cloud, the boy’s body would not decay, giving Sephiroth enough time to conduct an investigation, find the attacker, and determine a way to revive the fallen cadet.



Sephiroth flew quickly to the lab to grab some medical equipment, returning with IV equipment. After setting up the stand and tubing, Sephiroth slashed his wrist with one of his nails and let some blood flow into one of the bags he grabbed. The General attached the bag of his blood to the top of the stand and attached the tube to the bottom of the bag. Carefully, he then reached for Cloud’s forearm and inserted the needle into a vein on the back of the blonde’s hand, finally taping it so that it would stay in place. Sighing, the General turned a valve and watched as the bright red liquid made its way down the tube and through the needle in Cloud’s hand.



Snapping out of his dream world, Sephiroth knew he had to act quickly. The small amount of blood that he supplied would only sustain Cloud for a short time. The General nodded and prepared mentally for the task he was about to perform.



Sephiroth went to his desk and grabbed a pad of paper and his favorite pen and exited the room. He would investigate every single cadet and SOLDIER alike, if need be, as long as revenge was exacted.



Perhaps there is evidence to be found in the lab, Sephiroth mused. Hojo would certainly keep records of SOLDIERs and cadets.



Sephiroth frowned and quickly headed for the remains of the lab. He had visited the ruins momentarily while Cloud was unconscious, searching the wreckage for the clones Hojo spoke of. Just as he thought he was close, his instincts demanded that he return to his lover. Sure enough, it was at that time that Cloud’s condition began to worsen.



During the two weeks, Sephiroth’s life was hellish and frantic. He left a ShinRa nurse with Cloud whenever duty called (which was far too often). She asked no questions and the General offered no answers. When he was sent to check on the status in Wutai, Sephiroth thought he would die of panic. Cloud, however, had been fine. The silver-haired man believed it would then be time for him to be cared for by the nurse, such was his distress over Cloud’s situation.



The General’s thoughts had taken him to the lab. It was still in ruins and Hojo had been missing since the “accident.” Sephiroth did not care, yet was curious about the journals, which Hojo claimed he did not keep in Midgar’s ShinRa HQ. He assured Sephiroth that they were in a familiar area, if not to him, then someone very close to him. Poking through the wreckage, Sephiroth wondered if he could find a clue as to their whereabouts. Of course, he also hoped to find evidence of the attacker, which held top priority.



Nothing but blackened debris remained, however. Sephiroth had done the job, yet now regretted it. He wondered what could have been lost.



Sephiroth wandered to the back of the lab’s ground floor. Still, nothing was left that wasn’t charred, except for a single door made from a heavy alloy. It was unmarked and apparently held fast through the explosions. The key, however, was nowhere in sight. Grunting in frustration, Sephiroth searched frantically for the key that he knew must be somewhere in the lab.



Sephiroth kicked aside any piece of wreckage that stood in his way. His sharp eyes scanned the floor quickly for any type of key. While searching, the General found a stack of papers hiding under a pile of debris that was, amazingly, not charred. He bent to retrieve it and shoved it in his pocket for later examination. It was not the time for reading reports; he needed to find the key, and fast.



After a few minutes of searching, Sephiroth finally spotted a small, charred key hiding skillfully under a large chunk of what used to be the ceiling. The General smiled, scooped the key up, and flew quickly for the heavy door. Anxiously, he shoved the charred key into the lock and turned.



The door opened easily and Sephiroth made his way into the cool area beyond the door. It was fairly dark, although there was enough of a faint glow to determine that there were many objects lining the walls. Even he could not see, however, and began searching for a light switch. He soon found it on the wall to his left and, reaching for it, Sephiroth turned on the many fluorescent lights with a flick.



Not long after, a loud thud echoed throughout the room as the silver-haired man dropped to his knees.



“No…no… What is all of this?” he whispered to himself.



The objects along the wall were in fact tall glass tubes. In them, floating in Mako and hooked up to various wires and machines, were humans. They weren’t just any humans…they were exact replicas of Sephiroth. The silver-haired man felt as if he had walked into a house of mirrors. He wandered around, examining each clone individually. It appeared that they were not, in fact, exact replicas, for each clone had very small flaws that distinguished them from the real man who stood outside of the containers, examining them.



There was movement in the last tube. Dreading the being inside, Sephiroth steeled himself and stepped forward to examine the final tube.



A strangled scream escaped Sephiroth’s throat. Zack struggled weakly inside the glass container, seemingly fighting for his life. Within seconds, Sephiroth broke the glass and Zack poured out, riding a sickly Mako wave. He stared up at Sephiroth briefly before losing consciousness.



In an intense fit of rage, Sephiroth ran to the center of the room, wings extended, and leapt up on a desk, focusing intently on the glass tubes. Immediately, they exploded in a flurry of glass and Mako. Clones tumbled awkwardly out of them, gasping for air as they hit the floor.



Sephiroth gasped. He hadn’t known that they were alive. As the sound reached their ears, all clones focused on the General.



“Master…” one whispered. He bore a tattoo on his bicep: IX.



One by one, the clones stood and approached the desk. Sephiroth panicked. They grabbed for his legs, pulling him toward the edge of his perch and beginning a low, eerie chant.



“Master… Master…”



“No!” he shouted, kicking them off. His wings beat quickly, angrily. “Get off! I am not your master!”



The clones suddenly became furious and attacked. Their enraged screeches mingled with his own as his struggled uselessly. He was quite powerful, yet against twenty or more copies of himself… The clones were suffocating Sephiroth.



Don’t give up… whispered a voice. If you give up, what will become of us?



The voice was distinctly Cloud’s. Frowning deeply, Sephiroth took a deep breath and focused his entire being on shoving the clones off of him before he lost consciousness. The group struggled for many long minutes as Sephiroth clung desperately to his fleeting consciousness and Cloud’s faint voice. He had to hang on, if not for himself, then for his (technically) dead lover.



Relax, my son, all you need is to call upon me, Jenova whispered. I alone can give you the strength you need.



Grudgingly, Sephiroth gave into the pull of the evil within him. With the aid of Jenova’s unsurpassable strength, Sephiroth was able to fling the clones off of himself. They scattered, disbelieving the fact that their master had prevailed through their attempt to make him see reason. Many of them lined the back wall, chattering amongst themselves, plotting a second assault.



Sephiroth knew it was his only chance to escape alive. He cast evil glances around the room, making sure the clones were out of reach, before grabbing Zack and fleeing the room. Screeching their chant, the clones followed, but they were not quick enough to best the General. Snarling, he whipped around and slammed the door on the desperate clones, locking the door and twisting the key until it split into many tiny shards of metal. The clones would never be free again, and Sephiroth did not care if they rotted, alone, in the chamber. The world did not need evil clones destroying all in their path.



The silver-haired man stood Zack up beside him and leaned against the door momentarily. Struggling with the clones had taken a lot out of him; even Jenova seemed to settle down groggily. Taking a deep breath, Sephiroth pushed himself away from the door, hoisted his black-haired friend over his shoulder, and rose slowly into the air. Expending energy to fly back to his quarters would be tiring, no doubt, yet less tiring than walking or running the entire way, leaving him no other choice. Sighing, he flew off in the direction of his quarters.



Zack started coming to about halfway to the General’s quarters. He gasped, looking down at the ground as it sailed past him. A gigantic white wing beat very closely to his head but…Zack didn’t believe in things such as angels. When long silver hair attacked his face, however, he knew that an angel was not carrying him.



“Seph…iroth…” he choked out. The General did not hear him, however, and continued on his merry way back to his room.



When they arrived, Sephiroth unlocked and opened his door and settled himself on the ground. He carried Zack into his room, setting the black-haired man gently in a comfortable chair in the corner, away from the bed where Cloud lay. He then exited, looking for some Restore materia that he knew was lurking somewhere in the office area. Zack breathed a sigh of relief and sank into the chair, grateful to be out of a Mako suspension.



Sephiroth returned, wings flowing gently in the faint breeze from the broken window. Zack stared, his trance unbroken even by the bouncing lights from the mastered Restore materia’s spell.



“What is it?” Sephiroth asked, frowning.



Zack shook his head and pointed to the General’s shoulders. “What’s with the wings, man?”



“You have heard of limit breaks, have you not?” Sephiroth replied, sighing.



“Yeah, but…I thought limit breaks involved…”



“Something more manly than a pair of feathery wings?” the General finished, smirking a little. “I thought so as well. Of course, the toughest man in this facility ends up stuck with a pair of wings.”



Zack chuckled lightly. “So, why is one black?”



Sephiroth raised an eyebrow. “I am unsure. It may be symbolic. I am... not quite a saint, which is something you know well, SOLDIER.”



Zack nodded, then turned, eyed the bed. “I see a cadet over there, and it looks like my roommate. What’s going on?”



Sephiroth cursed under his breath. “He is…dead. Killed by a combination of Jenova eradication and, mainly, an attack that was carried out while I was visiting my favorite researcher.”



“WHAT?”



“I shall explain later,” Sephiroth said hurriedly. When Zack went on rants, they never seemed to end. “I must quickly find the attacker and bring him to justice.”



Zack was in shock for many moments, unable to believe that his roommate was dead. He stared at the bed, finally realizing that his best friend was not going to rise up and laugh, claiming that the event was staged. A single tear formed in the corner of his eye.



“Well,” he said, quickly wiping it away. “I’ve been out for two weeks. I should go check up on my work.”



Sephiroth nodded, escorting Zack to the door once the black-haired man rose from the chair. They walked silently side-by-side to the elevator and took it down to the main floor.



There was much chatter amongst a gaggle of cadets in the middle of the hallway ahead of them. Curious, the two men headed over, pushing roughly through the crowd. Absolute silence fell as the General and his right hand SOLDIER reached the center of the group. A curious sight met the men: a cadet lay, badly beaten, on the ground in a pool of his own blood. Whispers broke out among the gathered crowd as Sephiroth bent to examine the unfortunate cadet.



“Don’t worry, the General will fix everything,” Zack was saying to a stricken cadet.



“He is still alive,” Sephiroth said suddenly. Within seconds, colored lights bounced around the hallway as the General healed the cadet.



“Who did this?” he asked as the cadet’s eyes opened slowly.



The boy coughed lightly and shook his head.



“I…don’t know, sir,” he said. His voice was weak. “He was covered from head to toe in black clothes. He mentioned Cloud Strife. Why would I know about Cloud? We’ve only spoken a few times.”



Sephiroth frowned. “Thank-you, cadet. Shall we escort you to the nurse?”



The boy shook his head again. “No thank-you, sir. I think I’ll be fine.”



“For the record,” Zack began. “What’s your name?”



“Yuki, sir, Yuki Azami.”



Zack nodded and helped Yuki up as the General stood. The cadet wobbled off uncertainly toward the infirmary.



“Move along, then, gentlemen,” Sephiroth ordered.



Sephiroth contemplated his next move. The attacker was clearly out to get all persons who were in contact with Cloud, meaning that many cadets could be in grave danger. He wondered briefly how to best track down the attacker and protect his cadets at the same time.



Zack was also thinking about the situation. Who would do such a thing to practically defenseless cadets?



“Zack!” Sephiroth said suddenly. “I need you to forget about your duties. Cadets are in danger, especially those who have spoken to Cloud recently. I need you to find a way to get all cadets rounded up and put in a safe place, but you MAY NOT speak to other SOLDIERS. I believe a high-ranking SOLDIER may be responsible for these acts.”



Zack looked like he wished he had stayed in bed.



“Alright,” he said. “What if I don’t get them to safety in time? I’d feel awful.”



“I trust that you will be able to find a way,” Sephiroth replied.



“Bah, you’re a slave driver sometimes, General,” Zack joked. “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of them all.”



The men nodded to each other and Zack ran off to find a way to gather the cadets as quickly as possible. He didn’t yet have a plan, but he needed to act anyway. A plan would likely form as he ran around to the cadet quarters.



Meanwhile, Sephiroth was flying top-speed to the records department. There was very little time for him to find the anonymous attacker and save Cloud. Once there, he burst through the door, startling the resident secretary, and went directly to the archives.



“Uh, General, sir!” the secretary called after him, “Do you require any assistance?”



“Not at all,” Sephiroth called back. “I shall only be a moment.”



The General went immediately over to the section with information on current 3rd class SOLDIERs and above. There weren’t too many; few men were skilled enough to belong in ranks of such high prestige. Sephiroth pulled every single file and attempted to shove them into an inner pocket in his trenchcoat, yet some files already occupied the space. Confused, he pulled the files out of the large pocket.



The files were obviously the ones that he found in the lab. Covering the many pages were photographs of various SOLDIERs who had come in for scheduled Mako treatments, complete with backgrounds. Scribbled in the margins were notes in Hojo’s handwriting about each of the men pictured. Some of them had much handwriting, which included notes about their behavior after injections. A few of them in particular stood out, as there were novel-length notes regarding them stating that they had become violent in nature after receiving Mako treatments. Sephiroth nodded, hoping that the information was corroborated by what he was about to discover from the normal ShinRa files.



Shoving all of the files together, Sephiroth packed them tightly into his pocket and headed out of the room. The secretary looked curiously at Sephiroth as he walked calmly out of the records storage, smiling jovially as he neared the door. She shook her head as the General slipped out the door and snapped it shut behind him.



Sephiroth’s mind was racing as he made his way to his and Zack’s office. So many possibilities swirled around his thoughts that he felt as if his head would burst. Such was his preoccupation that he did not hear footsteps nearly matching his own. The footsteps continued for many long minutes, almost up until Sephiroth reached the office. However, the fact that they stopped abruptly finally caught the silver-haired man’s attention and he whipped around in time to see a broadsword swinging directly at his face.



Within a split second, Sephiroth pulled Masamune out of nowhere, or so it seemed, and parried the sneak attack easily. A sharp metallic clang echoed throughout the hallway as the General stared into the hazel eyes of his attacker. A sudden realization hit him as he realized that the man was completely clothed in black. A thick black mask, exposing only his eyes, covered his face.



This must be the man who is attacking cadets… Sephiroth concluded.



Finally, the mysterious man attempted to shove Sephiroth backwards and launch a second offensive. Once again, however, the General easily parried the attack and quickly shoved Masamune into the man’s shoulder. After all, he did not wish to kill the man until he knew his identity, so that vengeance would be much sweeter.



The black-clothed man grunted very lightly and backed away. Sephiroth, thinking that he had won, was unprepared for the next attack. The man slashed at his chest, not to harm, but to tear apart the documents he knew to be in the inside pocket.



Sephiroth heard ripping paper and knew that the assailant had accomplished his goal. The man cackled and disappeared in a flash.



Cursing, the General knew it would be pointless to attempt a search. He muttered angrily under his breath as he turned the doorknob, flicked the light switch, and stepped into the spacious office. Not only did the attacker ruin his best, and favorite, trenchcoat, but he managed to slash up the files that Sephiroth had borrowed as well. That meant two things: there was less of a chance that he would discover the attacker’s identity, and more paperwork to replace the damaged files. Sephiroth sighed heavily. As if he didn’t have enough paperwork as it was.



About a half an hour later, as Sephiroth sat at a circular table piecing files together and examining them slowly, the office door burst open and Zack ran into the room. He collapsed into a squishy red chair next to the General and took a few moments to catch his breath before speaking.



“General, sir, I’ve rounded up all the cadets, cancelled their duties, and ordered them to stay in a safe area if they want to live to see tomorrow,” Zack coughed. “I’ll not tell you where that is, since I don’t know if this crazed man is stalking us.”



Sephiroth nodded. “Good job, SOLDIER. I knew I could trust you to get them to safety.”



“Thank-you, sir,” the black-haired man wheezed, saluting briefly. “What’ve you got there?”



“SOLDIER files, rather, what is left of them,” Sephiroth replied. “I had a run-in with, presumably, the man that has been attacking our cadets. He apparently does not wish for me to discover who he really is.”



Zack stared. He glanced briefly at the General’s chest before replying.



“I see he slashed up your coat. You had the files in your pocket, of all places?”



“Well, how else am I to smuggle them from the archives?” Sephiroth growled. “And I did not expect to be attacked outside of our office.”



Zack laughed. “Sephiroth, sir, you’re the General. I’m pretty sure they would let you take whichever files you please.”



The silver-haired General chose not to reply to Zack’s comment. The younger man was correct, but he wasn’t about to know that.



The men sat together in silence for many moments, carefully examining file after file. After ten files, Zack leaned back, stretched, and rubbed his tired eyes. He sat forward again, stifling a yawn as he peered around Sephiroth’s pale hand to examine the latest picture of a 1st class SOLDIER. The man was tan with wild brown hair and hazel eyes. Frowning, Zack felt as if he knew the man in the picture. He knew he had at least run into him somewhere recently.



“What’s it say about that one?” he asked, curious.



Sephiroth pulled out another packet of files, pulling one out of the fray and matching it up with the one they were currently looking at. Both files concerned the same man, whose name was Blair Vendictus. Another commonality between the files was that they both mentioned that Blair had a penchant for abusing young cadets, both mentally and physically.



Suddenly it hit Zack. He shoved his seat backwards and gasped, glancing at the General briefly before jumping up out of his seat.



“General, sir,” he practically shouted, “I’ve seen that man before!”



Sephiroth looked up expectantly. “Where?”



“…He was heading up to your quarters, mumbling something about checking up on Cloud!”



The General blanched. “Zack, are you positive?”



“Absolutely!” Zack replied. “Sir, you have to make it up there before he does!”



Without another word, the silver-haired man flung the table and files away from him as his wings opened with a loud snap. Zack jumped away, vaguely frightened, as the General roared furiously and literally flew from the room, kicking the door off of its hinges as he exited violently.



Zack ran out into the hallway and caught a brief glimpse of feathers rocketing down toward the elevators. His breath caught as he spied Sephiroth’s gigantic white wing fading slightly to black and back to white again as he waited impatiently for the elevator to reach their floor.



It may be symbolic. I am... not exactly a saint, which is something you know well, SOLDIER, the General had told him. So what did the sudden color change mean? Surely, Sephiroth wasn’t becoming…totally evil…



Was he?



Very soon, the elevators slid open, and the enraged General disappeared into it. The fate of Blair Vendictus then rested solely with a man whose Jenova-induced psychotic tendencies had a quirky habit of severely injuring people at the worst of times.



Meanwhile, Sephiroth was fighting the wave of boiling rage that was sweeping over him as the elevator rose too slowly. It was considerably difficult between a feeling of fierce possessiveness of Cloud and the persistent voice of Jenova. She gradually poisoned his mind, suggesting malicious ways to execute Blair. Breathing heavily, Sephiroth leaned against the cool metallic wall behind him, eyes squeezed tightly shut, gripping his temples. Try as he might though, he could not fight the pull of evil embedded deep within his soul.



Finally, the elevator reached the officer’s floor. Silver doors slid open to reveal blood red irises and an expression of pure rage. The slight breeze blew Sephiroth’s knee-length silver hair back, dancing around two jet-black wings. Jenova cackled inwardly, for she had won. The proof lay in the color of Sephiroth’s previously white wing; his succumb to evil had turned it black.



Sephiroth, alongside Jenova, stole quietly out of the elevator into the eerie darkness of the corridor. He willed himself to tone down the fierce glow of his eyes, narrowing them to reduce the chance of being spied before it was time. Sephiroth tread lightly to muffle his footsteps and stalked down the corridor, as a lion stealthily hunting a sickly antelope.



As he neared his quarters, the General heard extremely faint footsteps coming from the opposite direction, those of someone who was attempting to be as stealthy as he was. Sephiroth pressed himself up against the wall, shadowed completely by darkness, and waited for his prey to approach. The prey in question was Blair, who was oblivious to Sephiroth’s presence as he glanced around before pushing open the door to the General’s quarters. Quickly, Sephiroth followed and hid quietly in a nearby shadow as Blair shut the door behind them.



Blair, though trained in the art of stealth, did not notice that the black-winged evil was following him, crouched slightly and timing his silent steps so that they matched exactly with Blair’s. Sephiroth waited as Blair paused before the doorway into Sephiroth’s room, planning his assault carefully.



Sephiroth straightened, intensified the glow of his eyes, and drew Masamune silently. Blair began to move forward toward Cloud’s defenseless body, and Sephiroth acted immediately afterward. A razor sharp blade at his neck and a tremendously strong arm gripping his torso very tightly suddenly trapped the brunette, who let out a shriek of fear.



Without warning, Blair was tossed backwards across the office. As he landed very hard on his back, a being with blood red eyes and gigantic black wings descended upon him, holding the longest blade he had laid eyes on.



“I hope you realize that you are trespassing,” it growled.



Blair didn’t recognize the voice, but knew that the only man that could wield the Masamune was Sephiroth. He gulped and backed away slowly.



Sephiroth was not about to let the man who killed his lover escape. Roaring, he slashed Blair across the chest, a mark that he had seen on Cloud. Blair screamed in pain and bled profusely from the wound.



“I do no take lightly to trespassing,” Sephiroth said. “Nor do I take lightly to SOLDIERs attacking defenseless cadets.”



Masamune came down upon Blair once again, this time slicing into his stomach.



“Is this what you did to him?!” Sephiroth shouted, slicing Blair’s right arm next, eliciting a scream from the other man. “Did you watch Cloud cower on the ground, whimpering in pain, as you slashed mercilessly at him with your weapon?!”



Suddenly all lights in the office flickered to life. Electricity buzzed angrily around them, getting progressively louder.



“Answer me!”



Blair was in no condition to speak. The pain wracking his lithe frame was so great that he could not spare any energy to speak, for he needed it to stay conscious. The lights began to crackle and the buzzing became so loud that Blair felt as though his eardrums would burst at any moment. Abruptly, glass shattered with a crack in all areas of the room as the light bulbs burst, sending small bolts of electricity in all directions. They were swiftly plunged into darkness, and the only trace of light left emanated from Sephiroth’s glowing red eyes.



Sephiroth held Masamune to Blair’s throat once more, pressing hard enough to make an incision just deep enough to draw blood. Blair flinched.



“Please, please don’t kill me,” he begged.



Sephiroth glared and the red glow intensified considerably.



“Why should I spare you?” he asked.



Blair thought quickly. Before he could control his thoughts, they burst out of him.



“The little whore deserved it!” he shouted. “He got his just desserts! Running around with you, when he should have been with me! I should have taken him in the showers when I had the chance, but the little prick had to go and fight back!”



Long, pale fingers wrapped around his throat in a matter of seconds. Blair knew he had gone too far, yet he was powerless to control himself. As he stared, frightened, into the blood red orbs that were giving him a piercing glare, he knew that he would not live to see his family again. Sephiroth squeezed his neck, and Blair instantly felt as if he were drowning.



The General squeezed tighter and began a slow walk to his room. He kept Masamune gripped in his dominant right hand and approached his shattered window.



“Cloud died a painful death thanks to you,” Sephiroth stated. He brought Masamune up to Blair’s neck for the last time and began to saw gently into the man’s flesh. It didn’t take much pressure, as the blade was always kept razor sharp.



Blair couldn’t scream in pain with Sephiroth gripping his neck so tightly. Blood poured out his veins as Sephiroth continued to squeeze and slice the life out of him. The General only made an incision that was nearly and inch deep. He threw Blair to the ground and ripped his curtain aside, revealing an open expanse of darkness beyond the shattered glass.



“The fright of falling may kill you before you bleed to death, or die upon impact,” Sephiroth growled as he picked Blair up once more and held him out the window. They were many stories above the ground, enough of a fall that would kill most anyone that wasn’t a member of SOLDIER.



“I beg you…please…”



Sephiroth smiled evilly as he began to loosen his grip on Blair’s neck. Terrified, the brunette panicked and gripped Sephiroth’s pale arms. The General quirked an eyebrow and pried Blair’s fingers away from his arm before throwing the other man out into the darkness of night.



No screams preceded the sickening crunch that Sephiroth’s ears barely registered. Blood red eyes faded to green as Sephiroth stared at the body that lay crumpled on the ground far below.



Satisfied with his revenge, Sephiroth rushed over to his bed. It had been mere hours since he gave Cloud the transfusion, but even the short amount of time may have been too long. The silver-haired man quickly examined Cloud’s body and came to the conclusion that he had roughly ten minutes left to determine how to save his lover.



In moments, two plans formed in Sephiroth’s mind, though neither seemed entirely satisfactory. The first plan was to let Cloud officially die in peace. Upon consideration, Sephiroth ruled it out, knowing that the pain of being without the one person he truly loved would be far too much for him.



The second plan was for Sephiroth to drain Cloud’s blood and replace it with his own. It was not foolproof and could kill off Cloud completely, yet the glimmer of succeeding spurred Sephiroth to attempt it. Even if Sephiroth should die in the process, Cloud would be able to live a long, joyous life.



Quickly, Sephiroth sliced his veins open, grabbed the equipment from earlier and began filling blood bags with his Jenova-laced blood. When that task was finished, he wobbled over to Cloud, feeling dizzy from loss of blood, made a small incision in Cloud’s jugular, and watched a mixture of his and Cloud’s blood drain out quickly. Very soon after, he began filling Cloud’s empty veins with his own blood and prayed that his plan would work.



Once the entire plan was carried out, Sephiroth collapsed beside his bed, fighting to stay awake. He gripped the edge of his bed tightly, willing the dizziness to subside so that he could care for Cloud. However, the impact of giving so much blood was huge, and Sephiroth knew he would not be conscious for much longer. Not long after, the silver-haired man fell backwards, landing awkwardly onto his black wings. His vision became cloudy and his stomach lurched unpleasantly. Darkness grabbed at him just as he saw the blonde stir on the bed above him.



“Sephiroth!” Cloud whispered weakly, slowly leaning over the edge of his bed with the little strength he was alotted.



The General sat up and attempted to hug Cloud. However, as their bodies met, darkness claimed Sephiroth at last and he went limp, knowing he was safe in his lover's arms.



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More notes:

Wow, I revised it again as I was writing.

Anyway, the whole blood thing? Well, I must've been thinking of vampires, but it works out.

What about the clones? And Zack? Why was he a part of this so soon?

Well, maybe Hojo meant to put his plan into action sooner... XD

Will update again with the final chapter tonight!