The Beginning is the End...

 

AN: *bows* I hope you all enjoy this new chapter! To everyone who had the misfortune of seeing my rant... yeah, I decided to see if I could uploaded it via the "Edit Chapter" after I did that. So from now on if you see a rant for a chapter, that's just me bitching about something not letting me upload a chapter... come back in 30min and it should be the actual chapter... yeay!

Ratings, Disclaimer, and iWarning! are still the same.

Stay with Me (Unlikely)

(By: Celldweller)

Ch 12

*Midgar*

Repetitive mornings, pollution filled clouds, fake synthetics substituting the beauty of organics... it was what Reeve constantly woke up to while he felt his optimism being replaced by pessimism a little more with each passing day. Why? Because this was Shinra: the company that feed off of the laziness of the people, and how could he preach when, just like them, he was using the comforts that he helped create?

A decade ago he was the youngest and brightest in his field, a student of engineering, technology, and programming. He was once nicknamed Inspire, given to him by the elders for his seemingly magical ability to breathe life into inanimate objects. Yet he was young and cocky. He made the mistake of redesigning the Mako reactors because he could, and what a horrible mess that created. Alone, there was no way he could stop what the company was doing. He was no leader; he couldn’t command respect like the Generals could.

Maybe someday… someone would stand up and say “this is enough!”

But until that day came, he would continue to get out of bed, put on his clothes, eat breakfast, and go to work for the most powerful and corrupt company in the world. All he had to do was let them think he was contained in their little birdcage, only capable of voicing his anger and not able to do anything about it.

“Ah, shit!” Reeve cursed after he grabbed the hot ceramic of the coffee cup from the microwave. “Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!” He quickly moved the cup from hand to hand, trying not to burn himself and yet not spill its steamy contents until he found a holder.

With his reheated black coffee, Reeve navigated his way around the towers of paper cluttering his room and exited out into the hallway. He wouldn’t call the place he lived in a pigsty. His clothes were either folded into drawers or thrown in the laundry basket, and there wasn’t any food or dishes in random places. The room was just… a bit unkempt because of work.

It was great, in a way, living in the quarters Shinra built for their employees. There wasn’t an excessive amount of smog and the way to work was just down the street and up an elevator. Of course, one would have to be ignorant of the fact that Shinra did this just for the purpose of being able to keep an eye on its workers at all times. Living near the place of work meant there weren’t many excuses to give on account of being late or why someone couldn’t stay during afterhours if they were falling behind.

… It was also a little disconcerting that someone was living right underneath you. Not in the -it’s an apartment, my floor is your ceiling- kind of way, but in the –you’re city is my garbage dumb, the sky you look up to is the graveled stone that I walk on. Yes, if you got passed those minor disturbing details, the Shinra Electric Company was one of the best places to work.

Reeve took a few more sips of the strong brew, wondering how long he let the pot set this time. Maybe he should’ve thrown it out and made another… he was never really good at this type of thing.

A man already inside the elevator held the door open for him, and Reeve nodded his thanks. In passing he couldn’t help but read the simple white lettering on the black shirt. –I’m a bomb technician.

“First floor too?” the man asked and he nodded in confirmation, not having enough energy yet to voice anything. Reeve made his way to the back to lean against the wall. There he took in the rest of the writing that was on the back of the man’s shirt.

–If you see me running… try to keep up.

He hopped he didn’t swallow too loudly when read that. Images of the man running with only a few seconds left on an explosive device entered his mind and gave him mixed feelings about the grim message of the shirt. It was supposed to be for humor and he would have found it as such on any other person, but the man really was Shinra’s bomb technician, and… there was this Turk…

With a ding, the doors opened and they both left to go to their respective jobs.

Reeve had been stuck as being the head of the agricultural committee for years now, most likely because Shinra knew he’d cause problems if he were sent anywhere else. He would even bet that, without bumping into anything that was screwed down, he could find his office blindfolded if he wanted to. He just chose not to test this because of one particular person he tried to avoid on a daily basis, a woman named Charlene.

…who just wheeled out in her chair to cross his path. Hurray.

“Hello, Reeve!” Charlene was pretty, lovely really… with her clear complexion and thin frame, but there were just a few things about her that he didn’t quite get along with. “How are you doing this morning?”

“Swell, Sharly,” he greeted back and attempted to go around her, yet the escape was blocked.

 “It’s Susan.”

“Whatever.” During his life he found that most people were intimidated by intelligence. He didn’t find himself unattractive by any means. In fact, he’d been complemented on his looks by the women who flirted with him. Their time together went smooth until they found out how high his intellect went. Their conversations usually lead up to where he worked, to what he did, and ended with “Oh, so you’re a… geek?” and after that they’d part ways. But Karin… Karin was different.

 “Can I get you anything?”

“No thanks.” Reeve swerved, this time lucky enough to get passed Karin to the break room and dump out his coffee to get a better cup. When he turned around, she was there. Surprise, surprise.

Karin was very snide to him upon their first meeting, but all that changed when she heard that he was Shinra’s genius programmer. Now he couldn’t go anywhere without spotting her.

There wasn’t anything wrong with wanting to date someone of the more cerebral developed variety, but she was what people called a ‘geek-freak’… a person that latched onto intelligent people and hopped that they could get their name out by just being there. And no matter how rude he was to her, she wouldn’t give up!

“It’s my birthday today. Some friends and I are going out to the city to celebrate, maybe go to the new restaurant. I heard it’s nice, very elegant. Do you want to come along?” Another thing, the most important thing… was her lip. He loved full lips on a woman, but her top one was fuller than the bottom in an odd-looking sort of way, indicating that there was a good chance she had it filled. Even with his genius IQ, he was no exception to the power of the brain-lull that caused a human’s eyes to stare at oddities.

It had the slightest curve to it that went over the bottom lip. “I’m sorry, but… with the new software developing I don’t think I can make it.”

“Oh, come on. You need to get out of that cramped office. It’ll be my treat!”

“I’m sorry, Karin, but I’ll be really busy this entire week.” Reeve succeeded in completing another dodge around her and made it to his office.

“It’s Susan!”

He mumbled a ‘whatever’ under his breath and unlocked the door in record time.

It was a repetitive morning, pollution continued to fill the clouds, and fake synthetics replaced the real beauty of what was nature a little more each day. He didn’t have to be a psychic to know it was going to be a horrible day. The only thing that he didn’t know was what new plan Shinra created to screw their employees over…

Until he opened his door, his office was a catastrophe.

The desk was ripped apart, drawers and papers were scattered on the ground. The charts and diagrams that once hung on the wall were now shredded on the floor, and the contents from the filing cabinets were thrown in a chaotic mess.

Reeve felt dread build in the pit of his stomach as he spotted the only important drawer to the cabinet that was missing. Not caring about the state of the rest of his work, he dropped to the safe he’d secretly put behind the cabinet years ago. The door was ajar and the program for his secret new AI was missing.

“Shit...”

--

*Junon*

The General and Lieutenant were accompanied by Tseng and his subordinate to Lazard’s office. Sephiroth recognized the redhead as being the new Turk that Tseng had taken under his wing. Reno, he believed the kid’s name was, fidgeted in his seat as his eyes roamed over the new settings. The rest of them took a seat around the table.

“I’m sure you’re wondering why the mission is constantly being postponed,” the Director commented as he flipped through the files. The information that was deemed sufficient enough to give was laughable.

Angeal folded his hands and mimicked the reclined position that Sephiroth was so accustomed to. “I’m only aware of the threat of a monster heading towards a town. It does make me wonder what the reasoning is as to why my team hasn’t been sent out yet.”

Lazard nodded, figuring as much. “What Shinra has put on the record is that all transports are currently assigned for other use, and there are no current ships to take you to your destination.”

“Ask him what’s off the record,” the redhead cut in, somehow ignoring the threatening glance his leader sent his way in favor of doing a sort of drum beat on the table. He looked back and forth to Sephiroth and Angeal. “Go ahead; ask him what’s off the record, yo!”

“And what’s off the record?” the General asked, deciding to entertain the new Turk for the moment. Lazard motioned for Tseng to start.

“There are currently three ships and five copters positioned in a town north of here. None of them are in use and have been there for quite some time. The President is planning to let the town be destroyed and claim that Shinra had no part in the destruction.”

“He’s hoping that it’ll just blow over?” Angeal was appalled.

“Yes,” Tseng answered.

“Then why are we here?” Sephiroth looked to the Director for more explanation. If the President was trying to cover up any involvement, then why give out information?

“You were given the mission by one of the department heads,” Lazard replied, “but there were some issues among the board members about sending a Third so early in his promotion.  Then it was changed to you, Lieutenant, and a stronger team. The President had gotten a hold of the news and stopped the mission. Rufus was against the action.”

“We’ve confiscated three helicopters,” Tseng informed. “They’ll be here in two day’s time and we’ll signal you when they’re ready for another takeoff. Please be prepared and ready to go on short notice.”

Sephiroth wondered why they would need three copters for a mission. “How many teams will be needed?”

“There will be three out this time.”

“This time?” Sephiroth asked, unaware that anyone had been sent out before.

“Yes, the first one we sent out was… unsuccessful, which is why Shinra was so quick to want to forget about it.” Lazard said.

Angeal was shocked. Something jogged his memory, remembering the last team that was sent to the area around Nibelheim. “Trent.”

“The team is currently stated as M.I.A. The only information given is that a SOLDIER First Class was leading a team of foot soldiers. It was meant to give them a way to get some field experience.”

“Dude, tell them about the monster!” Reno was moving around in the seat again, looking like he wanted to add onto the information. Again, he ignored Tseng’s glare in favor of speaking openly. “Guys, this thing is wicked badass. Plane crash, fires, this bitch survived it all! -OW!” Reno was given a smack to the back of his head by Tseng.

Lazard also sent a glare to the younger Turk. He wanted to get to that part a bit more delicately, though now there was no way around it. “The monster is an experiment, combining certain elements of mako into a species. It was uncontrollable and became too strong. It was ordered to be put down and taken to a research lab off base to be completely destroyed.”

 “What off base lab?” Sephiroth knew of the lab in Midgar and the smaller one in Banora Village, but where was a lab in the Western Continent?

“There’s a research lab in Nibelheim that’s used for some of the more… illegal experimentations.”

“How long have you known about this?!” Angeal demanded, fuming that things of such nature were being done by the company.

“That’s classified, and as far as the President knows, I’m not aware of anything going on down there. If I did, I doubt I would be sitting here speaking with you.”

“How did the monster escape?” Sephiroth asked.

“During its air transportation, it regained consciousness and broke free from its bars, killing the guards and crewmen. When the airship crash-landed, we assumed the explosion killed it. Then we got reports coming in about a trail of slaughtered farm animals leading in the direction of the mountains. Though the mission is dangerous, we still can’t allow the public to find out about the company’s involvement in this.”

“The media… you’re still worried about the media after all of this?!”

“Lieutenant, if the public finds out about this then it’s on Rufus’ head. It’s because of him that a team is being put together at all. Any sort of failure jeopardizes his succession to the company.”

“What’s the plan?” Sephiroth cut in.

“We’re sending out you, Lieutenant, as the first group. You’ll be accompanied by a couple of Firsts and a group of newly promoted Thirds. The mission will be rumored as a group of foot soldiers taking the SOLDIER exam. The mission is to find any survivors from the first team and bring the monster to the research lab to have it properly neutralized. Sephiroth’s team will be brought in as backup.”

Sephiroth looked at Lazard as if he’d grown two heads. “Backup?”

“Yes, you and Third Class Cloud Strife will be put on as backup should anything go wrong.”

“Cloud isn’t ready!” Angeal exclaimed. They’d been in training for a couple weeks now and he admitted that Cloud was decent with a weapon, but the boy had only been given the booster shot. That strength wasn’t enough to prepare for what was to come.

“He’s the only SOLDIER here that comes from Nibelheim. He should know the area well and would be the best to help the search if something goes wrong. Sephiroth will be there to protect him should they run into any monsters.”

Sephiroth scoffed. “What do you expect me to do when he gets tired… carry him?”

Lazard smiled at him and gave a simple, “Yes.”

Tseng stood up and rolled out a map onto the table. “Nibelheim is located right at the base of the mountains and the majority around is flatlands. My subordinates will spread out with the copters on the flats to create a wider, faster search. The SOLDIERs will need to climb the mountains. We’ll give you a lift, but don’t expect to get very high.”

“What do you mean?” Sephiroth looked at the scales on the map. The Nibel Mountains contained some of the highest peaks in the world. It was going to be a bitch to climb.

“Mount Nibel has the worst magnetic field I’ve ever seen. Our equipment might malfunction and cause us to crash.”

“Oh.”

“I still don’t see why we’re taking a fresh batch of SOLDIERs,” Angeal complained. “I know that the people in the office could have thought of a cover for a bunch of Firsts going if they wanted to.”

“I know, right?” Reno exclaimed and began speaking animatedly. “I bet they’re just sitting in their offices all day thinking ‘hey, how can we better screw our employees over today?’”

“Reno, quiet,” Tseng warned.

“‘Oh, I have an idea! Let’s have them drop their pants while a six foot monster baby is right behind them.’”

“Reno!”

“‘Better yet… let’s have them all be fresh out of the batch! That’ll teach them to work for us, yo!’ Man, it would be just like giving some pretty boy a cell and watching him get-”

“Reno, do you want to be grouped with Cissnei again?” For a moment the youth had the appearance of a fish out of water. Then he immediately closed his mouth and shook his head, seemingly to comply with the leader’s demands, but when Tseng turned away the redhead immediately mouthed the words ‘Prison Fucked’.

“I think learning about the monster’s weaknesses is now up for discussion.” Sephiroth decided and Lazard frowned at the papers, clearly they were useless.

“From the info given to me; we’re looking at a monster in its adolescence, has the heads of three different animals, and its abilities and weaknesses are unknown.”

“Shinra captured a chimera?” Angeal groaned… he hated chimeras. He’d take a cave-dwelling adamantaimai over those three-headed creatures any day.

“Or created one.”

“Can we burn him out of the forests?” Reno asked, seeming a bit more spirited. “You know, if he’s spotted going into them?”

“No.” Tseng immediately shot down the idea.

“But I got some napalm and some C4 back in my room! It’ll be a quick explosion, in and out,” Reno clapped his hands together for effect. “Done just like that, yo!”

“Reno, we’re trying to do this operation discretely.”

“Then I’ll set it to blow the shit out of the trees ‘discretely’.” Tseng sent the redhead another glare that had the younger man shrink back in his chair.

“That is all we know, gentlemen.” Lazard stood up in his chair and picked up the documents. “I wish you luck for when you get sent out on your mission.”

Sephiroth exited with Angeal, Tseng, and Reno following him.

“Tseng,” Angeal looked at the redhead speedily walking on ahead. “What’s up with him?”

“Reno is what we like to call a… ‘special case’,” Tseng replied.

“And what does that mean?”

The Turk paused for a moment in thought. “Three months ago, Shinra requested that one of the bomb technicians be moved to a new apartment. Four days later the man made a personal request that he be moved back to his previous place. He was denied.”

Tseng followed Reno as they walked away from the Generals. The Lieutenant didn’t want to imagine what could have happened.

--

Angeal invited Sephiroth over for dinner. He figured it would be good since Cloud had been a bit on edge ever since the mission was given. It seemed to get worse with every update stating that the assignment was being postponed. Now the three of them could discuss it together, and because Sephiroth would be leading Cloud’s team the two of them could talk about the details amongst themselves.

He found it odd that whoever created the teams had put a boy in a group other than the mentor’s, but it was justifiable… barely. It was good to have someone native to the area be in the search party, but how could someone have thought that a young man such as Cloud already have the vast, dangerous mountain range explored and memorized?

Angeal didn’t bring up the flaw in that logic because… really, what could go wrong? The new teams consisted of SOLDIERs that would be on constant alert. They were going to bring that monster down.

 He sent out a silent prayer, hoping that the other team was fine. Trent was a good warrior, brave and strong. The kid wouldn’t sacrifice anyone to save himself, but it was possible that the monster was stronger this time. There was also something about Trent’s mission that buzzed in the back of his memory, and yet he couldn’t place what.

 “Cloud?” Angeal called out, closing the door after his friend. The Lieutenant checked the living room, the undeclared favorite of the blond. Usually he’d find his new protégé obsessing over something in this room, even though the wood was damaged over the years by traffic and stained with the occasional spilt drink.

Sometimes Cloud would be polishing the new broadsword, but most of the time he’d be looking out the window. Blue eyes would be glazed over, staring off into space, and when asked what he was doing Angeal would only get “just thinking” as the reply. The blond was the oddest kid that he ever came across. Their conversations, or sometimes lack thereof, made it seem like Cloud was older than he appeared. What made this ironic was Cloud’s appearance seemed younger than his age. ‘An old soul’ his mother used to call it. Angeal never fully understood the meaning until now.

“I’ll go check his room,” Sephiroth called over to him and hiked up the stairs.

--

When the General made it to Cloud’s room he was surprised to see that the blond warrior was already packing. Either news about the mission got leaked or something else was happening, and as tightlipped as Shinra was… he voted the later. “What’s going on?”

The slight bodily jolt Cloud gave didn’t go unnoticed. Sephiroth knew it was a conditioned response to him, and yet it seemed that the few days in which they hadn’t attacked each other gave the blond enough incentive to turn back around. “I’m packing… I’m leaving Shinra.”

“Why? Isn’t Shinra giving you what you want?”

Cloud’s facial expression turned into an even more pronounced frown than before and Sephiroth could hear the frustration in the blonds’ voice. “They’ve set the mission back multiple times. I’m pretty sure that they’ve decided to terminate it, yet they’ve never set a date to give me mako… so why am I still here? The reason why I stayed is because I wanted to get stronger, and the only reason for that is because I was preparing to fight you… but I don’t need to fight you again, and I don’t need the strength of mako to stop Jenova.”

Cloud didn’t stop moving his cloths from the dresser into the bag. Sephiroth didn’t know if Cloud’s guard was dropped or the other just didn’t care anymore.

What he did know was that the idea of Cloud leaving was unsatisfactory. With Jenova still alive there was always a chance that she could gain control over him again, and he probably wouldn’t realize it until it was too late. He went over what had happened in Nibelheim again and again in his head, he still wasn’t completely sure about how she did it. What he remembered was that neither Genesis nor Angeal had stopped him… they probably didn’t have it in them to try, and that wasn’t likely to change if history repeated itself.

To him, Cloud was like the backup plan, but to declare that there was going to be a secret mission to Nibelheim would just prove the assumption about Shinra trying to terminate the mission correct. Sephiroth doubted that other would stay if he found out that Shinra was directly responsible for the new threat to his hometown.

Yet there was something ingrained in the General that said to never give information to someone that could use it against you. Sephiroth didn’t fully trust Cloud, and he knew the feeling was mutual. He just had to find a way to keep the other here without sharing in those details. “And you fully believe that I’m not going to fight for her? Even if I don’t, she’s inside the reactor and that’s still Shinra property. I’ll be ordered to stop you.”

The General didn’t think it was possible, but Cloud tensed further and fisted the side of the bag, whispering to make sure anyone downstairs couldn’t hear. “Would you kill me?” The words almost sounded like an accusation. “Would you finish what you started in Nibelheim?”

“There’s other ways of stopping you, Cloud,” he whispered back, and both looked away from each other.

Sephiroth was ignored as the blond continued packing. What else could he say to get the other to stay? Would it even believable to confess that Jenova had done it all?

The sun reached low in the horizon as the two fell into silence. Light appeared in through the blinds, and the glint of Cloud’s broadsword leaning against the wall caught Sephiroth’s eye. It wasn’t anything like the cheap ones that were issued to the new Thirds. This one was new. Angeal must have bought it to replace the old one.

“Don’t touch that!”

Sephiroth immediately retracted his hand as it were burned while Cloud watched him like a hawk. He was wrong; Cloud never dropped his guard around him.

“What do you plan to do after you leave the company?” Sephiroth asked as he stepped away from the weapon.

“Why do you wanna know?” Cloud looked at him in suspicion, but when there was no answer the blond looked forward and sighed. “I’m going back to my friends. They’ve been worried about the condition of the planet long before our group was formed. This time we’ll just get started a bit earlier.”

Sephiroth frowned, confused. Cloud’s group was made to stop him, wasn’t it? Jenova was a secret of the company. That wasn’t right, not even the company knew about it. It was just Hojo, but did Cloud really think that people would believe a story about a crazed alien whose goal was to destroy the planet? If so, then Cloud really did put too much faith in people. “Your friends may still alive, but you need to realize that they’re not going to be the same. They saw her with their own eyes last time, and they’ll need proof again.”

“I’m already aware of that. I wasn’t planning on using them to help get rid of that thing.”

So Cloud didn’t need anyone to help destroy Jenova, but why was he going to put the group back together? Sephiroth felt like there was something very important that he was missing. “Why are you so obstinate about stopping her on your own?”

It was Cloud’s turn to look uncertain, and there was a long pause as if he wasn’t sure of his own thoughts. “I’ve been thinking… about a lot of things recently. What if we’re not the only ones who came back?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, do you remember actually holding the Materia, wrapping it in your hands, and activating it?”

Sephiroth opened his mouth to say yes, but then he only remembered the warm glow and the winds. He didn’t remember getting a hold of it. The reason why he thought he did at first was because he assumed that he’d been the only one sent back, but now it was not so likely. “No.”

“I don’t either, but if we’ve been sent back in time without touching it then maybe others got sent back too.”

Sephiroth glowered at how idealistic that sounded. If other’s got sent back, things would be so much easier. He could talk to Genesis and Angeal, asked them what they knew, and how things had happened. “Maybe that’s just wishful thinking.”

“Yeah,” Cloud laughed inwardly at his own hopefulness and opened the last drawer of clothes. “Maybe you’re right.”

Sephiroth stepped up and halted the action. He had to choose his words carefully. Cloud had to stay. “The mission is guaranteed to begin in two days. Angeal is going to lead the first team. I would… appreciate it if you stayed.”

Cloud looked ready to say something but stopped. That was a positive sign, it seemed like the decision wasn’t fully made. “Afterwards I’ll make sure you get your mako. Whatever it is you’re planning, a little extra strength wouldn’t hurt, right?”

 “Why?” Cloud asked, turning a distrustful glare to the General.

“I’m in need of a new sparring partner. Fighting the same two for years has started to become repetitious,” he said. It wasn’t that far from some truth, and Cloud looked like he seemed to be considering it.

“I still think that there’s a chance you could be insane. How do I know you’re not lying?” Cloud asked skeptically, but there was something hidden in the voice that sounded desperate. Sephiroth knew that whatever he could possibly say would never make the blond believe in him completely, but it seemed important that he should answer anyways.

“You have my word, and if by chance I do go out of control… you know how to stop me.” Sephiroth said in assurance, and then he turned and left the room.

Cloud stared after him, confused. The blond knew that something strange was said just now. Whatever Sephiroth was talking about, Cloud felt as if he’d just been given information equivalent to a piece of string dangling in front of his face.

He’d stay… only to get what he needed, even if it’s just to learn the truth about the infamous General.

To be continued…

AN:As for the cave-dwelling adamantaimai, I’m thinking of the one in the hidden cave of FF10. That one was a bitch to kill at low strength, and I’m aware that Trent’s mission was told differently in a previous chapter. The question is: was he just boasting in front of some friends or is Shinra covering up more than even the Turks know?

Have any questions? I might have matching answers!

Please Review! (Criticism accepted as long as it'sconstructive...)

**Guess what! I’m stuck in writer’s block! If anyone has any good ideas on what they’d like to see in my story (between this point and the mission to Nibelheim) then go ahead and give me a holler! I have future chapters thought out pretty well… I just feel like what I want in them will seem kinda fast. I need to slow it down.