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Damaged Doll: Chapter 15

Masamune appeared with a puff of purple magic, Sephiroth’s chin lifting just slightly at the rose blade. It didn’t matter whose weapon was ready. In such close quarters, a single swipe from Masamune would force the Crimson Soldier and thieving Turk to the wall.

“Give me the book, Genesis,” He made his tone cold and stone to prevent raging fire. The Turk never once looked up from the pages.

Chapter 15: The Book

True to his word, Sephiroth waited in his apartment. Cloud never stirred from the place on the coach.

There was a problem he had forgotten in the wake of Cloud's trauma: both Angeal and Zack were busy on a mission originally assigned to him. Even at his call, they could not leave the mission without a critical replacement objective, like an attack on HQ or a meteor threatening the city. He didn't want Cloud to join him when he confronted the Turks, but Cloud had begged him not to leave him here alone.

Obviously Cissnei was not an option.

Every moment spent sparing Cloud handed more time to the Turks. There was no doubt in his mind the Turks knew Cloud murdered Hojo by now. It didn't matter if there was no actual proof behind Cloud’s story. Cloud would be far from the first problem the Turks made disappear.

Sephiroth would fight to the death to protect Cloud for said accomplishment from anyone who dared look at Cloud the wrong way.

“My Prince?” Came the soft, waking call.

“...Let me see your leg.”

Cloud simply gestured to the exposed limb straightened on the sofa.

Sephiroth brushed through the air and gently touched the mosaic scarring with the tips of his gloves, but his eyes remained on Cloud.

Cloud winced almost imperceptibly, but enough.

Sephiroth didn't like it but he didn't have a choice. He stood up and exhaled a breath he didn't know he was holding. “We can't wait any longer. I’ll carry you to the sixtieth floor to wait in the break area. It will be harder for the Turks to move you without notice from such a public space.”

Blond hair rapidly shook side to side, eyes straight to the ground and a hand tightly gripping an open wrist. “Forgive me. Please. Don't leave me alone. I can walk with you. Let me test if-”

“Cloud.”

“Sephiroth, please-”

“Cloud.”

Now the odd man silenced.

“This is for your protection, and my peace of mind.” Masamune appeared in his hand, and a swift click of the hilt ejected a single materia into Cloud’s lap, tiny rivulets sparking along the surface.

“Materia in my hand is nothing more than a distraction. They’ll take me away- they’ll put me back-” Cloud dreaded, fingers clawing through perfect yellow palms.

Sephiroth held the hands still with leather gloves. “I won’t let them.”

Cloud’s body trembled, slit eyes shaking against silver.

Sephiroth found himself almost missing the absolute obedience of the man that kneeled before him at first sight. For a moment, he needed the obsession to overpower logical thought. “You are here. You are safe. Let me take care of this.”

“...If that is your wish, my prince, I will follow.” The locked, tightly wound voice in order to sound neutral strangled against Cloud’s true feelings.

“Rest. Sleep on the couches. Eat anything from the snack bar and tell them to put it on my card. The use code is eight-two-seven-zero. But if you are in danger, I need you to scream as loud as you can. I’ll be by your side immediately.”

“Understood.” Cloud stared straight ahead. “I’ll remain with the crowd until you return.”

But there was something else. Something nagging at Sephiroth as he stood and paced through the room. Something he needed to remove from the situation. He scanned Cloud again and again. What was he missing?

Cloud wore the clothes Zack and Angeal found him in back on the Northern Continent: the long leather jacket with all its wear and tear, the dark V neck shirt, and the black pants with the new perfect slice used to access and repair his leg. The degrading quality of the fabric would keep the public’s attention on Cloud, but if someone believed Cloud to be homeless, removal could easily be the Turk’s tool to capture him.

Cloud needed to keep everyone’s attention if something went wrong, not an easy thought of ‘good riddance’ if he was taken away.

Sephiroth caught a glimpse of his reflection in the main window of the apartment, his uniform draping like a cape around him. He disliked the thought as soon as it came, but there was no denying it as his best option.

He rushed to his bedroom, pretending not to notice Cloud’s confused tilt and adjustment to see inside as he opened his closet. He grabbed the singular garment bag and carried it to the kitchen table.

Cloud watched without a word as Sephiroth unzipped the gray bag.

The silver soldier unceremoniously tossed the coat to Cloud.

Slit mako eyes scanned in absolute confusion through the leafed patterns of gold and the red shoulder drapes decorating the thick black cloth.

“Wear that. I’ll help you if you need it.”

“My prince, what is this?” The curiosity in Cloud’s voice returned and Sephiroth felt a spark of relief. But within the curiosity hid the slightest recognition.

“My Golds.”

Cloud’s eyes shot open and he dropped the clothing immediately. “Your formal uniform? My prince, forgive me, I can’t-”

“You will. This is for your protection.”

At nearly a whisper, Sephiroth met even more protest, “It’s one of a kind, my prince-”

Sephiroth deflected, “Correct. It will be recognized on sight. If anyone questions why you have it or what you’re doing on that floor, answer truthfully.”

Cloud’s eyes hesitantly fell back to the ornate uniform, hands tentatively brushing the material. “‘Sephiroth requested it’.”

“Correct.”

* * *

Fluorescent light shone pristinely in one of the most well paid departments of Shinra. The cubicles and meeting rooms displayed the employees as the average low class worker trying to make it through the week, hiding the simple fact this area housed the most dangerous and secretive weapon in Shinra’s arsenal: the Turks. Spies, informants, investigators. Very little involving the company escaped their gaze.

SOLDIER was a bomb, incinerating everything in its path. The Turks were a precise dagger, stabbing through the weak points of Shinra’s enemies without hesitation or casualty.

Including a suffering man tortured under stone for more than a millennium.

Masamune hummed in his grip. He felt the constant shift of onlookers terrified as he approached and calming as he walked past. A crowd formed behind him as they realized his first target:

The director of the Turks; a tired man with brown hair and a scar on his cheek that he never spoke about.

Masamune disappeared from Sephiroth’s hand. “Where is Cissnei?”

Brown eyes glared at the Silver Soldier. “That’s classified.”

“Breaking into my apartment is not a mission parameter. Neither is stealing my property or attacking my guest.”

“If Cissnei, of all people, broke into your apartment, then she had good reason to.”

Sephiroth tried to read the man’s eyes, to see a mistaken glance in her direction, but the Turks were trained to never give up such information intentionally or by accident. “I can have all of SOLDIER march in here and hold up operations until you tell me what I want to know.”

“You’re not the director,” the Turk countered.

“You’re right. I'm worse.” Sephiroth stepped close, hands placed on the desk as he glared daggers into the director. “I’m their hero.”

When his own words reached his ears, Sephiroth wanted to cringe. Why did he say that? Why did he even think that? He hated the unearned title of ‘hero’. He didn’t want to use men loyal to him as his personal weapons.

He forced himself to throw away the emotion until Cloud and the book were safe.

The Turk Director glared, reaching slowly and flipping open his phone.

Sephiroth waited for the call and the ring. A risk, of course, considering his threat, but he’ll know for sure when someone answers the call.

The phone rang three times before disconnecting, not even giving the option for a voice mail.

“No answer.” The director snapped the phone closed. “I apologize for the inconvenience. She’s under strict order to answer my calls unless she’s on a mission."

Sephiroth nearly growled. “You’re telling me the invasion of my home was a sanctioned mission?”

The turk hardened his glare. “I believe it was a necessary piece of her mission. And I will not demand her presence until I know why she did it.”

Rage built in the back of his throat.

Are you prepared to start a war with SOLDIER?

The silver soldier flinched at his own thought. He took a step back. An internal battle wasn’t worth it. He knew that. It wasn’t an option at all. Finding Cissnei would mean nothing if he left this room in chains, trapped in Hollander’s lab as punishment.

As much as he hated Hojo, he understood Hojo. He didn’t know what Hollander would do to him or the reasoning behind it.

Sehiroth swallowed hard. He didn’t attempt another word as he turned and walked back the way he came, afraid his threat would leave his lips with or without his intent.

But he wanted Cloud safe. He needed Cloud safe. Where could Cissnei have gone? If Cloud wrote anything about even tangential involvement in Hojo death…

He glanced at his phone, checking the time. One hour. He’d give himself one hour to find her. If unsuccessful- Sephiroth hoped it wouldn’t come to this- if unsuccessful, he would take Cloud somewhere safe. Away from the Turks.

Which meant away from Midgar if it came down to it.

But distance required time.

What time did Cissnei arrive in his apartment?

He stopped in his tracks. Cissnei arrived an hour into his outing with Genesis according to Cloud.

He wanted to be wrong. He knew his crimson friend did not like the man, but this was too far. He opened his phone, tapped Genesis’s icon, and held the device to his ear.

It rang once before he cancelled the call and shoved his phone in his pocket. If he incorrectly assumed involvement, he risked losing his friend. But if he was correct, he didn’t want to give his friend more time to plot against him.

Sephiroth walked straight to the elevators, deliberately clicking the desired floor.

* * *

The SOLDIER department was shifting and murmuring in the soft morning light. Cadets and officers wandered the halls, but no one of higher rank presented themselves.

Sephiroth searched every inch of the floor, from the basic closets to the possibly large enough to fit a small person vents. But no one was there. Every stone he turned both disappointed him and somehow frustrated him. By the end of SOLDIER’s search, Sephiroth nearly dented walls with how he haphazardly tossed desks and shelves and other potential hiding places.

Neither Genesis nor Cissnei were here.

Where would those two go? He thought he knew Genesis, but the Turk presented a wild factor he wasn't prepared for.

Maybe he was asking the wrong question. Where wouldn’t he look? Where would he assume they already vacated?

…Genesis’s apartment, right next to his own. Right next to the crime scene he returned to.

Sephiroth ordered an officer to inform him if Rhapsodos was next seen on the floor. The officer stood in a painful salute. The only words of affirmation reaching the air were ‘yes’ and ‘sir’.

As the reflection of the terrified officer reflected off reptilian eyes, Sephiroth realized he needed to calm down. He was supposed to have absolute control over his emotions. To be Shinra’s weapon, he had to, no matter the order he was given to follow.

Today, now, with his friend likely betraying him and a Turk invading his home as well as attacking a man under his protection, a man who had done nothing but support him since arrival at HQ, Sephiroth did not care. But the greater time spent searching for them, the more likely Sephiroth would do something he’d regret.

Returning to the First Class apartment hall, the silver soldier deliberately walked past his door.

Genesis enjoyed decoration, and even the door of his apartment that could easily be stolen or damaged by a First or a guest was no exception. A red and black mat with curly font displayed the word ‘welcome’. … …

Sephiroth waited, listening deeply for any movement: a door opening, a chair sliding, a single breath, an untameable heart beat.

No one was in the apartment.

Felt the growl in his throat but made no effort to silence it.

Where were they? Where would he never check?

The Turk used Cloud’s trauma against him; the table to simulate the boulders, the darkness to simulate the cave, all for the sake of preventing Cloud from going after her.

Where would he never check?

Sephiroth held a fist against the door as he ran through all possibilities. He hated the public, but Genesis would encounter the same ambush of paparazzi as he did. Not exactly acceptable in a stealth operation. He wouldn’t search the office floors, but he was sure Genesis would still be caught by some fan and his friend’s location would be visible within the hours he spent with Cloud.

Where would he never check where no one would spot them?

High security clearance floors were an option, everything 60 and above. He already checked the Turks’ main office. He had no desire to go back, but the director’s call to Cissnei should keep her away from her own department for a while. The President’s office is highly secure, but there’s no doubt in his mind they didn’t have the time to pull something like that off. They’d need something that directly impacts the president, and they would need to prove the executive conference room was unreliable.

Where would he never check with the security they need?

The lab.

It had to be the lab.

His heart stirred with dread as he made his way through the tower, ready to face any dragon in the way between him and Cloud’s book.

* * *

Despite the recent massacre, the cleaning crew restored that awful sterile smell Sephiroth despised. Unlike the SOLDIER floor, scientists buzzed through the halls, barely looking up from clipboards as they discussed some new experiment.

Every instinct told him they were here.

Any room a scientist opened, be it an observation room or cell, he ignored. He marched through the winding caverns of the lab, opening and scanning every unused door with a quick clicking of his PIN. A nagging feeling told him one specific room was their hideout, but he hoped with the tiniest thread of care that his friend would not force him to enter, regardless of the Turk’s ideas.

He was wrong, because this was the door to his childhood room. He remembered the storage crates left behind when Hojo had his bed removed as punishment for some pointless, defiant act. He knew the plane walls. He knew the light in the back left corner never worked quite right, flickering every five minutes.

His former friend had the crimson Rapier poised against his throat the moment the door opened. That was new, as was the red haired girl in the corner who took photos of Cloud’s pages with each flash from her smart phone.

“Give me the book, Genesis,” He made his tone cold and stone to prevent raging fire. The Turk never once looked up from the pages.

“Will you put your weapon away?”

“Says the man who drew first.”

Genesis scoffed. “I had to keep you here somehow. I’m not letting you kill the Turk for this.” Blue eyes stared at slit eyes before glancing away, the smallest strained inhale scarcely audible. “I apologize for the setting and the tactic.”

“Give me the book. Now.”

It took two more flashes from the small devixe before the cover snapped closed, the Turk holding it up in one gloved hand.

“One condition,” His friend dared to speak, “read it here. Without Cloud. Right now. All of it.”

“Accepted,” Sephiroth felt the venom leave his mouth as the red blade lowered.

Genesis stepped aside and closed the door behind him. The Turk held out the book as an offering.

Sephiroth’s leather gloves wrapped around the cover as he leaned in and spoke lowly, “If you or any of your coworkers dare break my apartment again, I will dangle you over the president’s helipad.”

The Turk’s eyes twitched, but that single tell was more than enough to feel her fear.

“Sephiroth?!” The question bled with confusion and surprise.

He nearly growled as he glanced back. “I never said I’d let her fall.” From there, Sephiroth wasted no more time as he sat on the old crate and opened the first page.

* * *

My prince, for my delay in answering your questions, I will explain all my past. Please note that everything, absolutely everything I did was to protect my queen. Your mother. I can only hope you’ll understand.

I will accept any result you deem fitting.

My first memory is the Northern Crater, mere days after my queen- now Jenova- landed on the Planet. I remember shining light from brilliant silver hair and great walls of materia blending into the sky. I remember the pool of Lifestream below her feet rippling as Lifestream dripped from my hair.

My queen gave me a purpose that day: to protect her from all harm and suspicion. The creatures of this Planet would destroy it with no chance of life renewing.

I'm ashamed to admit I was too distracted by my very existence first. I asked about my body, my mind, my abilities gifted by Her.

She answered all my questions without judgement.

Why I’m hollow: I already have structure.

Why I thought I needed a skeleton: my soul comes from the planet. Mammals of this planet have skeletons.

What is beating and breathing within me: my own soul of Lifestream is the fluid my body needs to mimic biological functions.

Her words were gifts from a goddess.

She explained the details of my task: to distract the Cetra- the ones you call ‘the Ancients’- from Her presence in the crater. That I must pretend to be the creature that created the Northern Crater. I was to stop anyone who dared discover Her by any means necessary.

Due to my tempered Lifestream, my presence interfered with the Cetra’s ability to commune with The Planet directly. I simply needed to exist.

I alone walked out of the Northern Crater and met the Cetra scouts. At first, they aimed magic at me and questioned my past. I told them I was a traveller of the stars, and I simply wanted to research the Planet’s life before continuing. That comment alone calmed them, not enough to trust me, but enough to allow me near their city.

Their scholars took an interest in me immediately. Warriors remained on my tail, much to the dismay of the scholars. They seemed more relieved when the warriors stepped down than I did.

I didn’t mind. The more eyes on me, the safer My Queen.

Thus I befriended the Cetra. The children were easy to enthrall with my copied materia creatures. I spent days observing the creatures of this Planet to increase the detail. Chocobos, dragons, wolves, et cetera. The elderly were more complicated, but simply being there to aid them softened their resolve.

They treated me kindly. Their curiosity of my existence drove this. No other reason made sense. I was new. I was different. I was interesting to them. I taught them of My Queen’s vision for the planet, but I never mentioned her. They taught me of their Planet’s functions in return.

They taught me the ways of the Lifestream, how anything born on the Planet returns to the Planet. It seemed more like a fun fact than the torture it became.

For a while, it was peaceful, my presence more than enough to fulfill my task. Over the course of a few months, even the guards no longer tailed me.

Everything changed when Cetra travellers bore news about the Northern Crater and The Planet. The Planet’s cries tortured them from the very day the meteor struck the north.

With the entire city hearing nothing of this previously, they prayed for an answer. As expected, they were met with the calm smoothness of my existence rather than healing cries. Did they not realize My Queen’s surgery was the only thing protecting this Planet? To heal such a massive wound regardless of knowledge of course caused pain.

The travellers believed they were wrong. If every Cetra in their sacred city deemed the Planet safe, how could they deny it?

But as more months came by, and more travellers returned with the same message, my presence no longer protected Her. Then came the warnings of monsters. They claimed the two were related, but My Queen would not find use in such creatures. Fiends weren’t worth the energy and focus she could use for healing the Planet.

My own emotions and feelings towards the Cetra did not matter. I would do anything for My Queen. She never asked me to do what I did. But She never warned me to stop either.

Three travelers attempted to convince others, to encourage those who rarely left the city to hear the choking cries. Yes, choking was their word, but the exaggerated metaphor convinced two to join them.

I waited until dark the night before they were to re-enter the city and spread the news. I approached silently. With a butterfly of ice, I led each member of their party to their own death. Not even their blood reached the city.

I knew immediately this was not sustainable, but the Cetra were so easy to convince, I grew arrogant. Like every city, there lived a population known for trouble. All I needed was reasonable doubt.

At least one group snuck through my defenses.

I don’t know when they discovered my task. The night of my capture, I followed a lone sixteen year old girl who wanted to prove her father’s words true. The man was not mentally well, shouting about copies of everyone in the village leading him to monster dens and his slim chance of escape. She was barely outside the city limits, just beyond the lights of the main gate.

Everything I did, I did for My Queen.

With her blood on my hands, everything went black. Every attempt to open my eyes left my sight barely blurry before my head fell again. The Cetra dragged me through the city on the cobblestone roads. My body hurt more and more with every attempt to wake.

By the time I realized it was binding materia- constant sleep spells- I couldn’t stop them.

The screams and pain of the Cetra. They didn’t understand. I had to. They never understood that by protecting My Queen, I was saving their planet.

That didn’t make the lives easier to take. Perhaps if I wasn’t trapped in darkness for so long, I would be haunted by their faces rather than the cries of betrayal and anger that day.

We thought you were different! What are you?!

Even a people as kind as the Cetra threw stones as they pulled me through the streets.

How many others did you kill!? How many more!?

I didn’t want to take any. I hoped My Queen would finish soon enough. I grabbed them from behind and slit their throats with daggers because I didn’t have the strength to watch them die.

Maybe that’s how they found me. Maybe one mistake, one cut just shallow enough, led to everything falling apart.

You’ll destroy this world! Both of you! We won’t let you!

But below every individual shouting their thoughts was the mother of the girl.

I knew that girl. I knew that mother. They were both so kind.

It doesn’t matter what I want. All that matters is my duty. I had to. I should have waited, but I would only delay the inevitable.

The mother softly whispered in my ear through the northern mountains, repeating for hours.

Your punishment is forever. Your punishment is forever.

The newly opened cave only echoed her words until they tossed me down the pit.

I wondered why they didn’t just kill me or torture me in the town.

The Cetra priest spoke as cloaked mages stood at his side.

You will never escape.

No one will save you.

You deserve this.

Suffer, you failed puppet.

The magical staves began to glow. The first of the boulders formed in the last light I saw for centuries.

Your punishment is forever.

The first boulder crashed into my chest. The sleep spell shattered with the pain. The second struck my right leg. I felt the crack. I remember how it ricocheted through my body. How my scream crackled. How my body tried to flex and flee.

Another.

The mages continued with every word from the priest.

Another.

It hurt.

Another.

I could barely form thoughts.

Another!

I couldn’t ask for forgiveness.

Another!

I couldn’t speak.

ANOTHER!

It must’ve gone on for hours, filling the cave all the way to the entrance from what my savior- Zack Fair- told me.

I screeched as the last of the boulders struck.

I wanted to be crushed that day. I wanted to die.

No soul not of this planet can enter the planet. No soul not of this Planet can die. But by all technicality, I am of this Planet. I have Lifestream in my veins. I am stone and glass of the north. I had the option to die.

My Queen did not.

I had to contact My Queen. I had to warn her they were coming. But against my pounding heart, rapid breaths, and failing body, not a single word went through.

I forced myself to stay alive for Her.

I felt Her commands. I felt her tearing my heart to pieces to pull me to her side to protect her. I felt her panic as more and more Cetra closed in.

Then my heart drowned. I never thought I’d hear another word.

The endless darkness tricked my eyes. Reality and nightmare became impossible to separate.

…

I apologize, Sephiroth. I don’t have the heart to recite the details.

I truly had no idea how long I was there.

I begged for help every moment- awake or asleep, conscious or unconscious, I’m not even sure.

It was a defense, not being able to communicate with My Queen when panicked to prevent giving any information about Her away. But since I never truly calmed, I never reached Her.

Only once did I feel Her without broken attempts to reach Her first.

Only once did I feel joy in that prison. Relief. A change. A beautiful change.

I didn’t know details. I only knew the word prince, projected into my mind as clear as the sky.

For a single moment, I smiled. Her goal to protect planets across the cosmos would not be done alone. She had you. But no sooner was I struck with the darkness around me and the weight crushing my every limb.

Then the boulders lightened. Ever so slightly at first. I heard calls and prayed they weren’t monsters. The weight kept lessening, yet I never ceased my calls for help.

Zack Fair saved me. Angeal Hewley aided him. And the next thing I remember is waking here.

The rest you know.

I acknowledge my thoughts are scattered throughout these pages. I know no matter how many details I add, you will have questions. Please do not hesitate to ask. I’ll be here, Sephiroth. Whether you’re ready. Whether you’re not.

I’m here.

To be continued…

Thanks for reading!

Chapter List

#damaged doll #Damaged Doll #final fantasy vii #ffvii #ff7 #final fantasy 7 #sephiroth #cloud strife #jenova #genesis rhapsodos #cissnei ff7

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