The mighty have fallen

“The mighty have fallen”
Part 2

“So I was right…this is Sephiroth.” Cloud stood beside the hospital bed, where the unconscious, silver-haired man lay. In his hands were the project reports written by Hojo. As they suspected, the scientist had retrieved Sephiroth from the crater before leaving. The catatonic General had been alive and hooked up to some bizarre machinery for all these years.

Reeve nodded. “Yeah. The tubes that connect him to this machine have been sustaining him, while at the same time keeping him from waking up. Our science team described it to me as a sort of man-made stasis. Hojo did it to preserve him until the Jenova cells could finish repairing all the damage. I thought it was for the best for us to leave him the way we found him until I could get you here.”

“I don’t understand,” Tifa pondered, “Hojo couldn’t have been motivated by fatherly love and he had hundreds of other subjects he could have used. What drove him to take such extreme measures for Sephiroth?”

“Sephiroth was Hojo’s greatest accomplishment and he was obsessed with him. As you can see in the reports, he tried to rebuild a new Sephiroth while the real one was in stasis. That way if the original never recovered, Hojo wouldn’t lose him. Not exactly a normal or healthy Father/Son dynamic, is it?”

“No,” Cloud agreed, his lapis eyes flicking from Sephiroth to the documents in his hands. “It’s fucking twisted.”

Tifa moved to stand beside Reeve, her hands clasped tightly before her hips. She looked like she could scream or cry or both. “Then this is the real Sephiroth,” she said in a low voice. “Cloud is the only one of us who ever really fought him. How could we have been so stupid?? All that time, we were just fighting copies!”

“Hey, none of us could have known,” Reeve said immediately, putting a comforting hand on the young woman’s shoulder, “If you think about it, Sephiroth’s life is kind of sad.”

“Sad?” Echoed Tifa. “Oh yeah, it’s sad, alright! All that effort to save the Planet, and the threat is still here! I say we kill him while he’s out. He won’t feel anything, and the world would be better off.”

Cloud went to her and took her in his arms. “Tifa, could you really do that? Look at him.” He turned her towards the patient.

She stared at Sephiroth. Asleep, he seemed so innocent of the crimes he had committed. He was deceptively beautiful…angelic looking, in fact. It was difficult to see him as the same man that had committed so much destruction in Nibelheim. “That isn’t fair, Cloud.”

He smiled at her, though his blue eyes tender and sad. “I know. How do you think I feel? I used to worship this guy, and now I’m standing here deciding whether he can be allowed to live. All I know is, despite what he’s done, I can’t be the one to kill him. Not this time, Tifa. I just can’t do it again.” His voice cracked and for a horrifying moment, he thought he was going to start crying. He swallowed and brought himself under control quickly.

“I’m sorry I had to drag you both into this,” Reeve said sincerely, “I know how painful it’s got to be. Even if he didn’t kill Aeris, summon Meteor and generally try to destroy all life as we know it, this guy is a ticking time bomb. You know I’m against the death penalty, but there’s a way we can have him executed while he’s still comatose. I wanted to hear from you that it’s the only way, first. Rufus made it clear that if I can’t get your cooperation, Sephiroth will be executed.”

“Cloud, he’s still guilty of killing my Father and several other townsfolk,” Tifa reminded him passionately, “and he nearly killed you, me and Zack! If you hadn’t hurt him so bad, he probably would have moved on to do all those other things.”

“We don’t know that, Tifa,” Cloud said in a raw voice as his emotions rose again. He was shaking, struggling for the right answer. “We don’t have any idea whether he could have been helped or not! Nobody got the chance to try. He lost his mind when he found out how he was made, and even then, he only got it half right! He had scraps of information to go by and Jenova herself influencing him. If someone could have shown him the truth, maybe he never would have gone on his rampage. He wanted revenge on everyone for hurting his ‘Mother’ and her people.”

“That’s the thing, folks…” Reeve interjected, “We DON’T know. We don’t know what was going through his head or how strong Jenova’s influence was on him. All we have are theories, because nobody was ever close enough to Sephiroth to understand him. The only person here who even comes close is Cloud. That’s why I wanted you here. I’m hoping that you can help me come up with a solution.”

Cloud still held Tifa in his arms, and he was no longer sure whether he was doing it for her comfort or his own. He stared at the sleeping figure on the bed and swallowed. “If we had to…kill him…how would it be done? He’s not easy to kill, you know. The Jenova cells regenerate fast.”

“I know. The science team ran some tests and they found that the same treatment that kills cancer cells can kill Jenova cells as well.” Reeve sighed. “If it comes to it, we’ll basically be giving him lethal injection. I’ll leave him hooked up to the machines so that he won’t wake up and feel anything. An overdose of cancer medication will break down the Jenova cells and kill them off, and another injection will be administrated to stop his heart. It’s the most humane way I can think of to do it, if we have to.”

Cloud closed his eyes and rested his cheek against Tifa’s. He was coming closer and closer to tears. “I just don’t know, Reeve…I don’t know if I can do it! I hate him for what he did but I also pity him. His own Father used him as a lab rat and basically kept him as a slave his whole life.”

Tifa bit her lip. She didn’t want to hear about how bad Sephiroth had it…she didn’t want to feel pity for the man. She wanted the threat removed! However, a little part of her mind wondered what it must have been like for Sephiroth as a child. He probably never knew human affection, never laughed or played as she did when she was little. Could anyone grow up to be stable and compassionate after living a life like that?

She shuddered as she recalled how she had found Cloud at the train station that day. Hojo had done terrible things to him while he had him in his clutches. The blond boy could barely even speak when she first found him, and he was so traumatized that it took weeks for him to regain control of himself. Sephiroth had endured treatment like that for most of his life. Would his execution be justice, or simply revenge?

Reeve watched his friends carefully for a few moments, reading their reactions. After a while, he said; “There’s another way. I just wanted to see how you felt, before proposing it.”

Cloud looked at Tifa, and Tifa looked at Cloud. They were both wary. “What’s the other way?” Cloud asked.

“First, I want you both to come to my office. I have to show you one of the surviving video recordings we found. This guy never had a childhood.”

Stunned by the pity in Reeve’s eyes and his words, Tifa could only stare at the president for a moment. She considered refusing to view the video, not wanting to hop onto the pity wagon with Cloud and Reeve. Looking at Cloud’s dear, miserable face, she gave in if for no other reason than to give her friend the support he so clearly needed from her.

~***************************~

“This is an early surveillance tape,” Reeve explained as Cloud and Tifa seated themselves on a leather couch in his office. He held up the tape with a frown. “Most of them were too corroded to use, but we found a box that had some stored in it that would still play. This is a recording of one of the tests that Hojo did on his ‘son’, when Sephiroth was still a small child.” He hesitated before putting the tape in the player that sat on top of his television set. “I’ve gotta warn you both, it’s pretty upsetting. I never hated Hojo so much before I watched this.”

“Put it in,” Cloud said firmly.

Reeve nodded and pushed the tape into the machine. He then walked back to his desk, sat down in the chair, and picked up a remote. He pushed a button and set the remote aside, threading his fingers together and resting his hands on the desk.

At first there was only static on the monitor. Then it abruptly changed to a black and white picture of a tiled room. The camera was focused down on the room from another area that was behind a pane of glass. Hojo’s distracted voice spoke from an unseen direction. “Yesterday marked Sephiroth’s ninth birthday. I believe he is old enough to test his abilities against something stronger than previously. Security measures have been taken, of course. I can’t risk losing my prized experiment, after all.”

Cloud clenched his jaw and curled his hands into fists at that hated, dispassionate voice and Tifa laid one hand over his and squeezed reassuringly. As they watched, a door in the far wall of the enclosed room slid open and men in white ushered a child in. The color of the child’s hair was impossible to tell on a black and white screen, but it was pale. There was little doubt that the boy was Sephiroth. He was staring around the room with frightened, slit-pupiled eyes as he was brought into the room. “No more…” the little boy’s faint voice moaned.

The white robed men left him then and when he tried to follow them back out, he suddenly clutched his head and cried out as if in pain. “Stay in there, Sephiroth,” Hojo’s voice spoke through a speaker, “do as you’re told, and the pain will stop.”

The child had fallen to his knees, weeping raggedly and tearing at his collar-length hair. After a moment, he stopped clutching his head as if whatever was effecting him had faded. A light came on above another door and Sephiroth backed against the wall. “Let me out!” He cried.

“You can come out after you’ve preformed,” Hojo promised in his unfeeling voice. “Now be a good boy and I’ll reward you with some play time today.”

Cloud shuddered impulsively. “Where the hell was his real mother when this was going on?” he asked. He knew that Sephiroth grew up thinking his mother’s name was Jenova and that she died in childbirth, but the only thing he knew about Lucrecia were little bits and pieces he’d gotten out of Vincent.

“As far as I know, she wasn’t allowed to interact with him,” Reeve answered, “She may have even been dead when this tape was recorded…there’s not much I can tell you about Lucrecia’s fate.”

Their attention was riveted back to the television when a child’s scream of fear pierced the air. The door with the light over it had opened and a creature of nightmares lurched out. It was all fangs and tentacles and eyeballs and it left a trail of slime as it slowly moved into the room. Sephiroth ran to the door that he had come in from and began to pummel it with his small fists. Tifa bit her lip, and tears of horror and pity filled her eyes and blurred her vision as the little boy on the screen begged to be let out.

“Kill it, Sephiroth. Kill it for me and we’ll be finished for the day,” Hojo’s voice coaxed. “If you don’t, it’s going to get you.”

“Mommy,” the child cried in a voice near hysteria, “Mommmy!”

“You killed your mother on the way into the world, Sephiroth,” Hojo’s voice snapped impatiently. “She can’t help you. Only you can put a stop to this.”

Tifa’s breath hitched and she glanced at Cloud from the corner of his eye to see that his face was tense and beaded with sweat. “Bastard,” the blond snarled.

The creature dragged itself forward, having sensed its prey with whatever perceptions it used. The fangs glistened with slime and the horrible eyes seemed eager.

“Kill it, Sephiroth! Obey me!” Hojo said angrily.

Sephiroth backed away from the horror that was coming for him but for all his obvious terror, his eyes were calculating. Even as a child, he was brilliant. Cloud could see that the little boy was doing his best to control his fear and think. Anyone else his age in that situation would probably have been helpless with terror.

Sephiroth began to clutch his head again, clenching his teeth. Hojo was using whatever device he had at his disposal to compel the little boy. Sephiroth sank to the floor again, sobbing in fear and pain, and Cloud found himself muttering, “Fight!” as the creature came closer.

An appendage shot out and wrapped around his arm and Sephiroth screamed as he was dragged towards the monstrosity. Kicking and scrabbling at the tiles, the kid was drawn inexorably towards those gnashing, razor sharp teeth.

Tifa completely forgot that the boy on the screen was Sephiroth, in her distress at what she was seeing. She stood up without even realizing it, her instincts telling her to charge in and protect the child. There was nothing she could do for him, though. She stood trembling as Cloud got up and put his arms around her. It was a small comfort to know that Sephiroth obviously survived this ordeal.

Just when it seemed that the monster was going to drag the screaming child to it’s many, waiting mouths, something snapped within Sephiroth. The little boy’s eyes began to glow and a nimbus of light surrounded his slight frame. With a scream of agony and fury, Sephiroth opened his free hand and pointed it in the direction of the creature. Bright light shot from his open palm and struck the monster. The beam burned a hole into its flesh, and a gurgling, unearthly cry emerged from its many throats.

“Again, Sephiroth.” Hojo’s voice prompted. There was emotion in it this time…excitement.

One of the mouths bit into Sephiroth’s captured arm and he screamed. The light flared again and again, until the creature’s flesh began to fall from it in charred chunks. The smoke and light began to obscure the camera view and all that could be heard were the screams of both the child and the monster, underscored by a sizzling sound.

“Get those fans turned on!” Hojo ordered, “I can’t see!”

The noise died down, to be replaced by the electrical buzz of the air conditioning fans in the room. Ragged, low sobs could be heard from the interior and when the smoke cleared, Sephiroth was revealed sitting with his knees pulled up to his chest. Before him was the charred carcass of the creature, twitching in its death throes.

“Excellent, Sephiroth.” Hojo whispered in glee, “You are becoming more powerful than I had dreamed.”

The child looked up, straight at the camera. His eyes were still glowing, but his face was streaked with tears and black blood. “Let me out now! You promised!” He cradled his bleeding arm to his chest as he glared up at the camera.

“Indeed I did,” Hojo agreed, and the door that Sephiroth had first entered from opened again. “First, you need medical attention.”

The screen went black suddenly, then lit up with snow.

“That’s all there is,” Reeve said heavily, turning the power off and standing up. He wiped his eyes and finished, “You see? After looking at that, I couldn’t give the order to execute him.”

~ No, you absolved your guilt by putting the burden on my shoulders, instead, ~ Cloud thought with anger. ~ But, Hojo had some kind of device to control him. What are you up to, Reeve? ~

When he looked back at the president, he saw the sorrow etched in the lines of his face. In a soft voice, Reeve said, “We have three choices. One—execute him. Two—leave him hooked up to that machine and lock him away, and pray he never wakes up. Or, we can try the third option.” He opened a drawer in his desk and produced a metal case. Opening it up, he motioned for them to come closer.

Both of them complied and upon inspection, they saw what looked like a tiny computer chip lying in the bottom of the little case. The chip was about the size of a pinky nail. “What’s that?” Cloud asked, though the sinking feeling in his stomach told him he already had an idea.

“It’s the ‘leash’ that Hojo used to control Sephiroth,” Reeve explained. “It has to be implanted into the brain. Whoever has it grafted to them will have the ability to affect certain nerve receptors in Sephiroth’s body.”

Cloud felt a chill go up his spine. “And who did you have in mind for this?”

Both Tifa and Reeve looked at him and he groaned. “Look, I’m not sure I want that kind of power over him…I’ve got too many conflicting feelings.”

“But you’d never use him as a weapon,” Reeve argued, “The other candidates are too ambitious to be trusted. You’ve got a connection to him, Cloud. You might hate him sometimes, but you’re not cruel.”

“So you want me to be his keeper, is that it? You’re telling me this thing is supposed to make the great Sephiroth my slave?”

Reeve blinked and then he flushed. “Well, I guess you could put it that way. Let’s just say you’re the only man I’d trust to take on this responsibility. He’s too damned dangerous to be left alone, Cloud. This will ensure that he can’t cause any trouble, without us having to kill him.”

“But Hojo didn’t seem to have control of him that day that he burned Nibelheim,” Tifa reminded them both darkly.

“Hojo got cocky,” Reeve said easily, “He believed he had Sephiroth subdued and we’ve found evidence that he removed his own control chip because he was convinced that Sephiroth was his…body, mind and soul. Of course, our General here played along for a while, biding his time. He lost his marbles before he could exact the revenge he had planned, though.”

Cloud rubbed his temples. “So, if I don’t agree to this, what would happen?”

Reeve grimaced. “I might have to have him executed.”

“Fuck…it figures.” Cloud thought of the tall, silver-haired man and shook his head. “No matter what he’s done, I can’t let him be killed. Not when he’s helpless like that, and when there’s a chance that his actions were brought on by the things that sick bastard did to him.”

Ignoring Tifa’s soft protest, Cloud straightened up and looked into Reeve’s eyes. “I’ve got conditions, though. If that thing can be altered so that I don’t have to cause pain to stop him, I want it done.”

Reeve looked intrigued and doubtful at the same time. “What did you have in mind?”

Cloud shrugged. “I don’t know…maybe fix it so that I can make him pass out or something. I don’t want to give him a migraine every time he annoys me, I just want to keep him from hurting anybody.”

Reeve cracked a smile. “You’re a nice kid, Cloud.”

“Yeah,” Cloud echoed uncomfortably, feeling his cheeks warm. “I’m a saint, taking on Hojo’s job as his master.”

“You’re saving his life,” Reeve reminded him.

“Whatever,” Cloud muttered. “My other condition is that I get to keep my hair. If I wake up bald, someone’s getting their ass kicked.”

~*************************~

-To be continued