Chaos Cursed

Author's Note: Woohoo! Another chapter up already! Yippie!! Fair warning, don't get too used to it. ^-^; I have finals coming up, and this weekend will be -really- crazy for me, since both of my chosen groups are doing something huge this weekend, and I have a paper due Monday. But I'll probably slack off and write this instead. Ehehe. Enjoy~!


“Are you ready?” Sephiroth knew he hardly had to ask, from the excited look on Sanura’s face. As she nodded, he shook his head with a small smile. “Good, that girl is downstairs waiting.”

“Tifa!” The delighted squeal was heard even as his sister disappeared down the stairs, leaving him to follow at a much more sedate pace. As she chattered happily with her newfound friend, he had to turn away to hide the smile, again assuming his mask of indifference, which remained even in the picture that was taken. “I’m so excited! I’ve never seen a reactor up close before!”

“I’ve never seen the inside, but one of the workers told my father that below is the purest mako, untouched by any contaminants of any kind. It’s why Mt. Nibel’s reactor is so important to ShinRa, I think…”

“Completely pure mako?” Sanura’s eyes widened, as she turned to Sephiroth. “Is that true? It must be beautiful! …Seraphina would have loved it…”

“…Seraphina?” Tifa suddenly looked confused, never having heard the name in her time spent with Sanura, and as she saw the pain in her friend’s eyes, she reached out to take her hand. “Sanura, are you okay?”

“I’m sorry…Seraphina is my sister…she…disappeared…a short while ago…she was sick even before that…we’re afraid she might not be…might not be…” Unable to continue, Sanura broke off in tears, turning away from the group. “That’s…part of why I came with Sephiroth…we keep hoping maybe she’ll be somewhere he goes…the Turks are putting as much of their resources as they can into finding her, but…nothing yet…”

“Sanura…” Tifa reached out to grab her hand, squeezing softly, before giving her a reassuring smile and starting to walk. “Come on, let’s get moving. It’ll help you keep your mind off things.”

By the time they reached the reactor, Sanura had become her usually happy self, though Tifa now knew why there was that shadow of sadness lurking in her eyes. However, while Tifa moved off to one side of the room with Cloud and Zack, Sanura, eager to get a closer look at the life stream, clambered down the ladder to the catwalk under the catwalk, gasping as she looked to one side and found a capsule of that pure makou, unconnected to anything but the life stream below.

Standalone as it was, the monitors displayed everything needed to know as far as the vital signs of the occupant went, but this was not what caught her attention. No, what drew her eye was the woman that lay sleeping within it. Drawing in a breath to scream out for her brother, she was quiet long enough to hear a voice above. Genesis. Snapping her mouth shut, she realized who had brought Seraphina to this place, and from one look at the monitors displaying her sister’s vital signs, she knew Seraphina was surfacing from complete unconsciousness to the sound of his voice.

The words, however, were disturbing ones, and as her sister’s eyes snapped open, they were filled with fear, though merely a deep brown, protected as she was from her two halves by the makou surrounding her. Sanura moved quietly to the panel to release her sister, letting out a relieved breath as Genesis left the reactor, shortly before the panel slid open and her sister fell forward, pushing herself back to her feet with no care for the fact that her nightgown was only slightly opaque at the moment. The makou crystal at her throat gave off a vibrant glow that was mirrored by her eyes, though within moments of her exiting the capsule the glow of the crystal dimmed slightly. With help from her twin, she made it up the catwalk to stand waiting for her brother to turn. When he did, he could only stare for a few moments, blinking as she stepped forward wincing.

“You’re barefoot…” He realized, moving forward to pick her up as he had once done with her sister. “…where have you been?! What happened to you?”

“…I’m sorry…I told Genesis, before he left…how to save me…and he did. I’ve been here, ever since the night I disappeared…” A small smile, before closing her eyes to keep the tears in. “…can I find somewhere to lay down, please? It’s really draining, adjusting to the world outside…”

“Is this Seraphina?” Tifa’s question drew said woman’s attention to her, blinking as she tried to remember if she knew her or not. “I’m Tifa…a friend of Sanura’s, from here in Nibelheim.”

“…she’s known you less than a week, more than likely, yet you’re already best friends. Am I right?” Seraphina questioned. When Tifa nodded slowly, unsure of what was expected, she had to laugh, glancing over to her sister. “Some things never change…It’s nice to meet you, Tifa…I’m Seraphina. Thank you for being Sanura’s friend…I’m sure she needed that more than ever when we were separated…she’s very easily frightened.”

“Shut up!” Sanura grumbled, stalking out of the reactor with Tifa running after, laughing. Sephiroth, however, remained silent, taking his sister to the inn, before disappearing completely. He simply left Seraphina in the care of his underlings - and though Cloud was a frequent target for her sarcasm and teasing, he grew to like her despite that. He was the one who helped her recover the most, though whenever Tifa showed up, Cloud disappeared.

However, while Sanura was only too happy to spend more time with her newfound friend, Seraphina knew something was terribly wrong with their brother, but she just couldn’t figure out quite what it was. That feeling would not go away, which made her more agitated by the day. The worst part was, she knew she was right. They were all in very grave danger.