Sephiroth's soul redemption

Aggrivating Hojo

He drifted off and on off to sleep over the next few days. His body was recuperating at its own pace, healing his injuries. Over the days that followed, He would find Zach or Cloud at his bedside holding his hand, and talking to him, but his head was too foggy to make out what they were saying. The General drifted in and out once too. Leisa, Ian and Enak laying their hands on him easing the pain in his head and mind, telling him that it would be alright, to stop running away as they didn’t blame him for anything. Leisa kissing his eyes, telling him not to cry as it would only increase his headaches.

He woke up one morning, finally being able to focus, but unable to remember anything. Leisa came in the room, and he could see she was worried, her energy chaotic and fluttering.
“What happened to me? How long have I been here for?” he asked.

“You have a concussion, three broken ribs and a dislocated shoulder.” Ian said, who also entered, carrying a large bottle of water, which he handed to him.
“How did that happen?” He asked, still not being able to remember anything. He took a deep breath, noticing the broken ribs had already knitted. The shoulder still felt strange, as the tendons had been stretched, but a couple of days of exercise should cure that. As he drank more the headache subsided nicely, also the food in the infirmary was better than in the canteen.
Erik! Suddenly most of it came back to him, the fight, how he had been thrown against the wall, and the battle between Erik and Sephiroth.
“Oh good Gaia, Erik is in jail again, isn’t he?” He asked.

Leisa nodded gravely. “He has been in there for about four days now.”

“His injury had healed the next day, and we gave him some Nutria. But he is refusing food. Everything he eats, just comes straight back up.”

“Enak is with him as much as he can, talking to him, you know.” Leisa said, tapping her forehead with her finger. “But he is slipping.”

At that moment Zach came into the room too, looking concerned.

“How are you feeling?” he asked.

“Ok, I think, a bit fuzzy, but I’ll live.”

“You all need to come with me. Something is happening to Erik.” He said.

Leisa got some clothes from their room for Jeh-ri to wear, then they all followed Zach to an area where they were joined by guards. They walked through a maze of long corridors made of metal instead of concrete, and the air smelled heavily of chemicals and Mako. they were led them into another room, which was quite dark, and had dozens of monitors all along the walls. Several people in lab coats were observing in booths, making notes on clipboards, changing from image to image. Jeh-ri stood looking at one of the screens, but one of the guards grabbed him by the arm, and led him after Zach, who walked into a large lab, filled with equipment.

The General was there, standing in the middle of the space, looking at a monitor with a smaller man, who was standing at a desk facing the monitor, typing furiously. The other man was quite disturbing to look at. Being tall, but not as tall as Sephiroth. His black greasy hair pulled back into a ponytail, a thin goatee beard barely clinging to existence at his pointy chin. He seemed to antagonise the silver haired man terribly as their energies collided and fought eachother. And yet there were similarities between the two men. Suddenly Sephiroth noticed them, and motioned to come closer.

“I see you have managed to wake up at last.” He said, a slight smile pulling at one of the corners of his mouth. “Nice to see you up and around again.”

“Good morning, General, good to see you to.” He said.

“Graduate Jeh-ri Sung, meet professor Hojo, my father” He said formally, but with barely disquzed hostility. The two had obviously been arguing before.

The fact that the black haired man didn’t even bother to look up as they were introduced made him frown at him. Now he could see where the General had gotten his social skills, or lack thereof.

“So he is the one cleaning up the mess you made, Sephiroth.” He sneered, “You know this man.” Not a question, an affirmation. The older man’s voice was low, but had cutting sadistic quality to it. “These are surveillance feeds of the last four days. What is going on with him?” He asked. He had a certain commanding edge to his voice, obviously not to being refused or having someone to answer to.

He could see Erik being brought in, and was carefully laid down on his mattress. A large thick wad of bandages around his waist covered up the wounds he had received. At first he was on the bed. Then the bed frame was put up and he was on the floor. Then they could see him take the bandages off and look at the holes in his abdomen. He cleaned the blood of his skin, and stripped naked. Leisa briefly appeared, giving him clean clothes and two vials of Nutria. He opened one of the vials, and poured some of the liquid directly on the wound. The rest he drank down. Now Hojo froze the image, and zoomed in on the spot where Erik had poured the Nutria. He let the image proceed frame by frame, first backward and then forward again.

“What is that?” the professor asked.

“Food supplements, vitamins, minerals, that kind of stuff.” He answered truthfully.

“Vitamins don’t heal wounds, Graduate. I have seen him rub it on the wounds Sephiroth left on him” He snapped. A lot of things clicked into place suddenly, and he felt he had be very careful with what information he chose to divulge.
“Sung, I asked you a question.”

“You have your secrets, we have ours.” He simply said. The professor snapped his head around, glaring at the redhead.
He caught a glimmer of amusement in the eye of the General as he saw how the professor frowned furiously.

“You were brought into the infirmary four days ago, with broken bones, a severe concussion and a dislocated shoulder. Yet you seem to be fine again.” He got up suddenly and reached out for Jeh-ri, who backed away from him, not liking the idea of this man touching him at all. He pulled his arm anyway, as the man could move remarkably fast, and prodded at the tendons with hard long fingers.
“Hm, almost back to normal” then he pulled a penlight out of his pockets and shone it into his eyes. “You have been exposed to Mako.” He said with a gasp.
I have? When? Then he knew, Zach would have passed on some when they slept together. The general didn’t look surprised at all, but continues to smile slightly, his amusement rising. Zach had been telling tales.
He moved around him, pushing against the newly healed bones.

“You are not a regular human. Seng, what are you.”

“I am very special, and I am not one of your test subjects. I am only on loan here, as are my fellow officers, and our contract stipulates that we under no circumstance are allowed to provide tissue samples, or that you are allowed to perform tests on us.”

He stared hard at him.

“You are allowed to answer questions of any kind?” he asked, still trying to find a way around the barriers he had just reminded of. “Maybe you care to explain this?” he said, and now he turned back to the monitor, and the image went into time-lapse mode, showing only one frame per minute.

Jeh-ri saw how Erik curled up into a foetal position, eat some of the food he was offered, but shortly after he would hang over the toilet in his cell, after which he collapsed again. He saw how he was lying on his back, the heels of his hands pressed against his head and eyes, then he would get up again, pacing back and forth, and sitting down, banging his head against the walls.
“He has severe claustrophobia, professor. If you leave him in there any longer, he will go ferile.”
“Ferile? Care to explain?” he said, his interest peaked.
“I need to see him now, do you have a live link to his cell here?” he asked.

He looked at him over his glasses, then punched a number of buttons. There he was, on his hands and knees, having taken off his clothes, they could see the sweat glisten on his bare skin, the pattern of blotches and spots on his back and shoulders standing out very clearly. He could see his chest heaving and his arms and hands shake, then Leisa joined them as she stared at the monitor.

“Zoom in on his hands, professor.” Leisa asked. He did, and now they could all see the tips of his fingers had grown claws. “Oh great Creator! He has gotten to phase three already! That usually takes months to happen!” She said, breathing hard.

“It must be his fear, it is accelerating the syndromes development.”
Leisa nodded in agreement. “What can we do? We need to sedate him, to stop the syndrome from reaching level four, but how?

“Can’t you do it the way you did when we came back from Midgar?” Zach asked.

“No, that will only work once on a person, he will have defences in place.”
“We could fill the cell with sleeping gas.” The professor offered.

“No good either. He had an affair with a woman from the Burning Earth Tribe once. His body has the capability of breathing toxic fumes.”

“He did what?” Leisa asked, “Is there actually one woman on the whole planet he hasn’t slept with?” and she looked at Jeh-ri with a new kind of understanding why he had kept refusing.

“Where do you think the spots on his back and shoulders came from? When he gets too close to fire he goes all scaly.” Jeh-ri said.

He shot a sideways glance at the professor, who just looked at them and Erik with undisguised lust. The greasy thin professor really scared him then. He could only speculate what he had done to Sephiroth in the time he had been at his mercy for all those years.

“How about a large dose of morphine?” The professor tried.

“No good, he is immune to all forms of narcotic sedatives. His body will neutralize it in seconds.”

“Oh what I wouldn’t give for a couple of stunner rounds and a Desert Eagle right now.” Ian said. “That is how we knock out feriles on Althea.”
“I can get you a Desert Eagle, but I don’t have a clue what stunner rounds are.” Zach said.

“I can help you with that.” Sephiroth said, and gestured with his head to follow him, and walked out of the lab, the others in his wake.
“Hey! I have not finished questioning you yet!” The professor called after them.

“Troops, dismissed!” The General simply ordered. “They are under my command, Hojo, not yours.”

About ten minutes later they were all in his office, where he opened the safe that was hidden in on of the filing cabinets. He took out a case about the size of a shoebox. On the lid there was the Chimaera, Nathan’s family weapon, and a small glass oval on the lid, about the size of a fingertip. He pulled a key from his pocked and turned it in the lock, but nothing happened. Ian stepped forward, and pressed his thumb on the small oval. Then the top popped open. In the foam rubber interior laid two very large handheld fire arms, and two clips with ammunition.

“Nathan gave that to you.” Jeh-ri said, his eyes wide with surprise.

“At the time, I had no idea what it was, he just gave me the box, saying that if any of you people ever needed to be incapacitated this would be the best way to go about it.”

“Then why didn’t you say you had these when we came home from Midgar last week?” He asked.

“You already had a plan formulated. I was just curious to see how you where going to pull it off.”

Ian took it out and took the gun belt out of the lid. He fastened it around his waist, took out the gun and took out the magazine. He carefully pressed one of the rounds into the palm of his hand, showing the tip was hollow and transparent.
“Do you see those two little balls in the tip? He said, holding the bullet up to the light. They are now separated by a spring. On impact the two touch, creating a charge that disrupts all nerve impulses. You go down like a ton of bricks.” He explained to Zach and Sephiroth. “With this we can put him out long enough to get him where he needs to go.”

“And where will that be?” the General asked.

“We’ll need to submerge him, place him under water.” Leisa said.
“Do you have a swimming pool here, or a large bath tub big enough to hold about three adults?” She asked Zach.

“There is the pool in the sauna on the officers level. You can fit about eight in there.” He said.

“And we need someone very big and very strong to hold the two of us under.” Enak said.

“Nathan will never get here in time, at this rate we have less than twelve hours to do this. All of us in the tub at the same time won’t do, hell just knock us away one at a time.
Zach looked at the General.

“It looks like you are the only one that will fit the description, Seph.” He said.

“What do you exactly have in mind?” the General asked, frowning.

“We have to reset him, taking him back to the place where he felt save. The womb. Enak and him will have to be totally submerged in cold water for maybe a couple of hours. Leisa explained, having led a rebirthing ceremony before.

“I realize this is way beyond appropriate, and we have no right to ask this of you, especially after all the trouble he has given you.. but if we wait too long, he will go to stage four.”

“which means?” he asked.

“Stage four is when he will lose all humanity, and his basic survival instinct will take over. He will become a predator, killing for food, killing every thing that invades his territory. With all the genes he has collected, all the survival skills he has, he will be impossible to catch.”

“He will become an animal, then?” Zach concluded, quietly.

Leisa closed her eyes tightly, fighting the stinging in her eyes, knowing that the General would see her tears as weakness. “If he goes stage four, the kindest thing for us to do .. is to terminate his life.”

Jeh-ri had been watching the General’s reaction to his father, when they were still in the lab, his irritation and revulsion building. He had seen something in his father’s reaction to Erik’s changes, which seemed to have escaped them. Then he turned toward them. “I’ll do it. What do you need from me.”

“I’ll get the suits.” Enak said, and he left the office.

“Suits?” the General asked.

“The pressure suits we wear when going into space are easily convertible into wet suits, we will all have to wear one, and you will fit Erik’s suit easily.”

“What makes you think I’ll need a wetsuit.” He asked, his face slightly amused.

“I know you are a lot tougher than anyone here, but if you stand in cold water for a couple of hours, even you will go hypothermic.” He said. “And there are some other safety precautions to take. Erik’s talons contain a neural toxine. We are all immune to it, but if you get scratched, you could go into toxic shock.”

“What is it with you people and getting me to wear your clothes anyway?” He said, his voice vaguely amused.

“We just hope to adopt you one day, to become one of our sweet little touchy feely family.” Ian said, crooning, resisting the urge to walk up to him and pinch his cheeks.

“Fantastic, just what I always wanted.” He said dryly.

“You brought your medicine box, right?” Leisa asked.

He nodded. “I never leave home without it. It is in my trunk” she took off like a rocket, Zach in her wake, so they could get the pool ready.

Suddenly an alarm tore through the office. Sephiroth jumped behind his desk as the phone rang.
“Yes, what is going on.” He asked, then his gaze slowly met the redhead’s.
“Erik has torn a hole in the in the plexy glass front of his cell, and is now loose in the cell block.” He said, and to his surprise he looked amused, rather than disturbed. “I see, well, Hojo, apparently it isn’t impossible.” He said and they could hear the strangled voice of the professor as he held the receiver some distance from his ear. All struggled stop from laughing, as the situation was in no way funny, but as they heard the creepy man totally lose his mind felt like comic relief.
“I will do no such thing. His own people will take care of him.” Than he hang up.

“Sounds like daddy dearest isn’t very happy, General.” Ian said dryly.

“He never is.” Sephiroth snorted.

“General, I suggest you pull your guards out, if they try to shoot him, he’ll only get angry, and tare them to pieces.” Ian said.
Sephiroth picked the phone back up and punched in a number. Then he ordered all troops to stand down and lock themselves in to one of the adjoined cell bays.

“Care to go hunting, General?” Ian asked, handing him the second gun. “The bullets only have a small amount of gunpowder in them, just enough to propel them. The velocity will be too slow for a long distance shot. We will have to get close. We need bait, Jehr.”

They all moved down to the detention level. The alarm still wailed low and steady. The sound cut out suddenly as the General turned the alarm off after inserting a key into a slot in the wall. The other prisoners trying to see what was going on.
“Where is he, Jehr?” Ian asked. The three of them walking slowly down the main corridor.
“He is in this space, somewhere higher, in the shadows, on top of the cells.”

“Can you take the lights down too? He will avoid the light.” Sephiroth walked up to another control panel on the wall, and the lights dimmed in the cells and the corridor beyond.
“Get up there, and try to flush him out.” The General said. Ian crouched down and leapt up, disappearing in the darkened corners of the higher levels of the detention block.

Jeh-ri knelt down as Sephiroth disappeared in a lowly lit corner of a stairwell. He pulled the sweater off, and tied it around his waist. Then drew the small blade from the holster at his thigh, and made a cut in the vein at his shoulder. Nutria and blood flowed down his skin into the hand he had cupped at his chest. He flung it off him, spattering the floor with it, then closing the wound again by pressing his fingers to it.

“Erik!” He heard Ian call him, and running steps on the cells to his left, and the cluck of metal as the two were racing along the walls and metal rafters against the high ceiling. He heard several shots being fired, one of the rounds landing right beside his leg. Suddenly there was a thud behind him, judging by the sound of boots it was Ian. Slowly he walked around the kneeling man. He briefly ran his hand across his chest, getting some of the blood on his glove. “Here, kitty, kitty.” He crooned. Then he leapt up again.

He could feel something taking hold of him, pushing at his mind, sliding in like tongue, wet and slick. Coaxing, shutting down his common sense. Erik was taking him over from where he was hiding, letting him feel what he felt, the wildness in him he mostly managed to keep tame, now unrestrained. How good it felt to him to be out, to be powerful again, free from his fear. He closed his eyes and let Erik take him, Jehrica inside shuddering at the waves of hunger he sent at her. He felt his hand on the side his head, drawing him down on one side. His astral body in all its glory over and in him, and moving against him as if he were actually there.


Sephiroth could see the smaller man cut himself without flinching, and throw the blood on the floor, putting a feint organic and metallic scent in the air. He heard gunshots in the rafters, and Ian dropped down again, getting his bearings, and taking off again.

A strange feeling of recognition went through him as he saw what was happening to Jeh-ri. He started to shiver as if he was cold, then his breath became irregular, strained, moved as if he were being touched and lay down on his side before rolling on his back, arching his back and lifting his hips off the ground. Then suddenly there Erik was, right beside him next to the stairwell he had taken up position under. He walked upright in slow deliberate steps.

Physically he was very alike to Nathan, the same stocky build, but slimmer, and almost no body hair. Now fuelled with adrenaline, his every muscle defined, the spots on his back now covering him from shoulders to his elbows, down his back and trailing across his buttocks to his thighs. He could feel and see what the man was doing to the much smaller red head now rubbing and rolling himself across the floor like a cat in heat.


~~~~
It took him back to that night with Nathan, when he had just overtaken him, but he had willed it to happen. Him having been carried off to his own bed. Having the large hard bodied man trapped between his legs had been maddening. It had been the first and only time he had surrendered to another, instead of always having others surrender to him. Nathan's large rough hands explored his opening, their gazes locked as he tried to fathom what was going on inside the younger man's ghost.

"No none has ever done this to you, haven't they?" He asked, as he pushed a second finger in.

"No one ever dared.. I wouldn't let them" Sephiroth closed his eyes briefly and arched his back, as Nathan reached what he was looking for.

"You had no idea what you were missing.." Nathan murmured, as the thumb of his free hand circled the eye of the silverhead's tip, spreading the fluids that rose rapidly.

“Is it really that hard for you, to surrender control?” The rugged blond man had asked.

Sephiroth had not answered, being delirious at the sensation of Nathan’s large calloused hands between his legs, cracking him like a nutshell, demanding entry. He had lubricated his fingers with the pre-fluid that copiously flowed from his own erection. Several times he had been convinced the commander had already found his release, but realized that that would have not happened so unnoticeable. The moment his fingertip had touched his portal he had flinched violently, but Nathan had pinned him down, draping one large arm across his chest and whispered soothingly into his ear, the soft unintelligible syllables of Nay-ta-uut bringing his mind to rest again.

Nathan prepared him with patience and care, all the while kissing him, caressing his earlobes and the tender skin of his neck and throat with a gentle but demanding mouth. The commander kept raining his fluids until his whole groin was saturated with the other’s essence, and he didn’t take the younger man until he was able to easily add his fourth finger into his entrance. He never penetrated very deeply, only insisting on relaxing and stretching the muscles. Now Sephiroth was quite desperate to be filled, to be stretched to bursting, which was just what Nathan had been aiming for.

“I hope you are ready, my child. I am going to take you now..” Nathan murmured as he knelt between Sephiroth’s knees and lifted his hips, to align their bodies.

“Fuck me, Nathan.. “ The silver head panted, “fuck me deep.. I know you wanted to for a long time” he looked at the older man, who’s eyes still displayed such control, even though his flushed skin and face told a very different story. Nathan pushed in, an immersed himself in ever deepening slow thrusts.
"Nathan, stop teasing me.. I'm yours.." Sephiroth said, propping himself up on one elbow, and grabbed hold of the back of Nathan's head, pulling him up.

As Nathan penetrated him, he twisted and contorted under the older man and it had been good, even enjoying the sensation of his long thin fingers slide through the soft hair on the man’s chest and arms. The thought at first not appealing to him much, but as he had allowed the blue of Nathan’s eyes sink into his, he had realized how deprived he had been.

He had creaked and groaned with emotions he always had thought to have hidden away. It had been the strangest thing, being asked, instead of forced, having always thought of dominance and force to go hand in hand, and he had allowed Nathan to be dominant that night, being drawn into the collective he carried within him, of his love for his godsons and his own children, even memories of other lovers that he had, but none had the prestige, the perfection. Nathan fully committed himself, drinking in the essence of the man one third his age and experience, but with a ghost as old as the world.

He had bit hard into the side of the hand Nathan had pressed against this mouth as he had moved inside him, holding his length with the other hand. He had dug his fingers in the thick curly hair at the base of his skull, pressing his face into his neck, and Nathan had bit him there seeking something, but not finding as they climbed toward climax. He had not been able to hold the barriers in place anymore at that split second, and had only heard Nathan’s voice in his head. Asking him to let go, to feel.

Please don’t make me go there.. it hurts so bad..

I know, child.. don’t be afraid, I’m with you..

It would be alright, he would be safe with him, as Nathan’s ghost had gently made him turn, and face his inner hell.

I ‘ll keep you safe, face it, it will make you stronger…im here…. Im here.. don’t be afraid…

He could see himself as if he were looking into a mirror, Nathan’s broad hand on his shoulder, the other under his chin, keeping his head up.

“You cannot go there.. I wont let you..

“That was never my intention.. I just want you to realize, you don’t deserve what is in there, child.. it isn’t your fault.. it never was,

“Please stop… calling me that..”

Then he had allowed him to turn away, closing his inner eye, letting his head fall back.

They had fallen down hard, knocking the breath out of his lungs, but the older man’s large arms had held him tight, shielding him from the horrors within. He had felt one single tear run down his cheek, but it hadn’t been his, as Nathan had held his mouth against his ear, whispering something in Nay-ta-uut, which he for some weird reason understood perfectly.

He felt the weight of the older man’s hands on his heart and just below his ribs, he could feel heat building in there, as all the energy of their exchange was being concentrated there.

I am leaving you a gift.. when you most need it, it will be revealed to you. You might not understand at the time.. but it will be alright..

He had woken up alone the next morning, feeling so out of sorts and confused. It left him feeling he must have dreamt the whole evening. As he looked into the mirror after he had taken a shower, seen the slight bruising along his shoulder and under his ribs.

The feeling that Nathan had left in him, had unnerved him at first, making him irritable and jumpy. But after a couple of days the sensation had faded, becoming condensed to a small corner of his mind, giving him the impression he was in control again, but able to look back at the moment and regaining the peace he had felt with the man.

The control he had surrendered was returned to him two days later as Nathan had knelt before him, yielding at the final battle, in acknowledgement of his superiority, and he had accepted the compliment with respect, knowing the feeling to be mutual.

Now he saw a younger, more vibrant version of the man, and wandered briefly, but caught himself as he had another job to do now. He shifted his foot ever so slightly so he could move out of the shadows, but Erik moved his head to the sound. He had heard! Sephiroth leapt up, bounding from wall to wall of the stairwell, gaining height and taking aim. The man looked up at him and snarled, seeing the threat, and dodged the four shots he took, one grazing his shoulder, but not making enough contact to knock him out, but Ian took care of that as the naked man got caught in a cross fire between the two gunmen who pummelled him with the stunner rounds, and he fell as his body convulsed under the charges that disabled his nervous system. Ian walked up to him and clapped his hand in his. “Nice shooting, General,” He said, inclining his head and smiling in acknowledgement.

“You ok Jehr? Need anything? A cigarette and a brandy perhaps?” Ian chortled, as he saw his flushed face.
“He mind-fucked me!” He said, his breath still laboured. “I should have know that that was what he was going to do to me, damn it!”

“It worked though, he was so focused on you that he didn’t see the General. We set the perfect trap.” Ian said, still laughing.

“I feel so violated, yuck!” He shook al over, trying to shed the spirit fingers still trailing along his spine.

“Oh come on, you enjoyed that, Jehr!” Ian giggled.

“It wasn’t like it was consensual, Ian, I am not turning him down all the time because I am playing hard to get.” He said, getting defensive.

“It cant have been that bad, you could have thrown up a barrier anytime you wanted.” Ian said quietly, putting a hand around his shoulder and pulling him into a hug. “

"Good Gaia, you shaking all over.” He said against his cheek as he held the smaller man.

“You’d better get a litter, so he can be moved.” Sephiroth said, having listened in on their little exchange.

Continued in ‘The rebirth’

a/n sorry it took so long to put the scene between Seph and Nathan in, it was just an event that deserved my full attention and the right mood. hope you liked it.
please pretty please review!!!