Monday, July 19, 2004

Chapter twelve.
(This chapter is Rated T for teen, due to violence, blood and gore...)

X staggered down the hallway and into his office, apparently oblivious to the apprehension on the faces of the co-workers who crossed paths with him along the way. Once there, he picked up the phone, dialing Wesley’s number.

“Yes?” Wesley responded.

“I just had a meeting with the president, and he requests that you quarantine the specimens until further notice,” X spoke gruffly. “Furthermore, he will send the order for all research laboratories to be shut down.”

“What? But-”

At this point, X hung up the phone. His gaze shifted down to his bleeding midsection, and he unbuttoned his bloody shirt and observed the wound absent-mindedly. The burning sensation had subsided, and it had already begun to heal. However, many other unfamiliar scars zigzagged across his chest, weaving a tale of a battle fought and lost many years ago. The intricate fragments of his shattered memory were falling back into place.

He glanced up on the wall, where a sheathed masamune was on display. As he grasped the hilt firmly in his hands, more memories of his previous life as the great Sephiroth were triggered off in his mind. His thoughts shifted to the innocent men, women, and children who had fallen to this deadly blade. He remembered the countless lives he destroyed single-handedly.

Above all, he remembered the insane thrill of watching them die.

A sharp rap on the door interrupted his swarming train of thought. His secretary, a petite woman by the name of Paula, marched into his office with a male paramedic at her heels.

“Are you alright, sir?” she asked shakily. “What happened?”

“Go away, Paula,” he said grimly.

But Paula continued to press on. “Sir, you’re hurt. If you don’t let the paramedic take care of you, you could bleed to death.”

X unsheathed his masamune and swiveled around, approaching them slowly. Once within feet of the paramedic, he swung his sword with effortless precision. Paula gasped and closed her eyes. When she reopened them, she found herself staring in horror at a void where the paramedic’s head used to be. Blood was splattered on the wall behind him, and his severed head landed at her feet, his eyes still fixed in a glazed stare. She shrieked and backed away, as X admired his blood-drenched blade.

“Isn’t it amazing that it’s still sharp?” X asked, apparently unfazed. “Perhaps its undying thirst for blood has kept it sharp for all these years…”

“You’re a monster…” Paula said shakily.

She tried to make a run for the door, but he caught up with her easily, bringing himself between her and the only exit. She may have been fast, but he was much faster. She screamed and backed away, her widened eyes brimming with tears. As he moved toward her, her frantic screams became disconsolate sobs.

“Please, don’t hurt me!” she pleaded desperately.

But such pleas did not matter to him at this point. As far as he was concerned, her fate had already been decided.

“I’m sorry, Paula,” he said impassively. “You were always too stubborn for your own good. You’re fired.”

With those final words, he brought his sword down on her, and her lifeless body tumbled to the floor. Without another glance at her dead body, he sheathed his masamune and moved on.

+++++++

Sakura’s eyes fluttered open, and she found herself sprawled on the cold floor, facedown. She eased onto her feet, dazed and flustered, and glanced around the room, trying to regain her sense of place. She could remember the loud, blaring alarms that awoke her, and that sickly sweet odor…and then she passed out. It was obvious that, if they had any hopes of escape, their time was now.

The door was locked. She pressed her ears to the wall, and she could hear two sets of footsteps patrolling the corridor. Guards, no doubt. She grasped her staff firmly in one hand, and a Clow card in the other. Muttering a few words of encouragement to herself under her breath, she tossed her chosen Clow card a few feet ahead of her and twirled her staff above her head, bringing it down on the suspended card.

“The Windy! Release and Dispel!”

Her chant broke the still silence of the room, alerting the guards. She stared at the card in wonder as waves spread out around the point at which her staff had struck, like ripples in a still pond. A blast of air with the strength of a cyclone struck the door, tearing it off its aged hinges. The guards outside her room were taken by surprise, and were sent airborne before they hit the floor, a few meters away. Sakura relieved them of their keycards, and hurried to Ryudo’s room. He was seated on the bed, obviously awakened by the ruckus Sakura had made on the corridor.

“Ryudo, get the others!” Sakura instructed hastily, tossing him the keycards. He hurried down the corridor, and returned with only Tidus and Darksoul.

“Cloud and the others are gone,” he said, somewhat distressed.

His words were cut short when an alarm began to resound deafeningly overhead. “Code Nine alert. Prepare for evacuation. Total lockdown shall commence in five minutes,” the intercom blared lethargically.

A frail figure appeared at the end of the hallway, and began staggering toward them until her face finally came into view. Although her uniform was torn and bloodied, and her body broken and ridden with bleeding gashes, those emerald green eyes and that head of ginger hair were a dead giveaway.

She had reached halfway down the corridor when she collapsed, and Ryudo immediately rushed to her side. “Lucia? What happened?” he asked urgently.

“It’s Xenos, Agent X," she explained. "He’s lost his mind. We tried our best to stop him, but I was the only one who escaped. All I remember was the flash of his blade, and those glowing eyes." She paused for a moment, resting her head against him. "I’m so sorry, Ryudo. I lied to you about everything. I’m not who I said I was, and-”

“-I know, Lucia,” Ryudo interjected impatiently, pulling away slightly. “There’s no time for than now. How do you stop the lockdown sequence?”

Lucia pulled a keycard out of her shirt pocket and handed it to him. “You have to get to the control panel on the fourth floor. Use this keycard to gain access. Once there, go to the central computer and type the password ‘Greene’. That should stop the lockdown sequence.”

“I see,” Ryudo muttered musingly, rising to his feet. “Okay, here’s the plan. Tidus and I will take create a diversion for Xenos. Sakura, take this keycard and get to the control room to stop the lockdown. Darksoul, lend me your sword, and get Lucia out of here. Agreed?”

“Agreed,” the others said, in affirmative unanimity.

“All right. We have four minutes.”

Arming themselves and preparing for the worst, the group hastened to the stairway, with the exception of Darksoul, who helped Lucia to get back on her feet. She went over to Ryudo, resting her hand on his shoulder gently.

“Good luck Ryudo, and please be careful,” she muttered genuinely.

Ryudo brushed her hand off his shoulder. Without turning to meet her gaze, he walked away, unmindful of the tears that had welled up in her melancholy eyes, glistening like diamonds in the light as she cried silently.



(Well, that's all for now. The next chapter should be coming soon...)

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Friday, July 16, 2004

Chapter eleven...
(I couldn't decide on a rating for this chapter, so if you hate vampires or blood, please refrain from reading this.)

Surely enough, the drunkards that were previously seated at the table were driven out, and the tavern was closed for the night. The only two people who remained in the bar were Eva and Malkav. The counter was crowded with empty glasses, as Eva had sneaked them some Bloody Marys, and now both were heavily intoxicated.

“You know,” Eva said, half-drunkenly, “Even though you got the whole caped crusader thing going on, you’re cute.”

Malkav grinned slyly. “You too. Do you plan to stay here in Junon?”

“Hell no! As soon as I earn enough money, I’ll get out of this hellhole and travel the world. On my paycheck, I don’t know how I’m going to get out of here, unless I marry rich.”

Malkav moved toward her. “There is one alternative. Come with me, and I promise I will show you the world if you so desire.”

He was now so close that he could feel her heart as it beat a furious rhythm against her chest. She was not afraid, nor did she try to run away, but welcomed his approach, somehow mystified by his presence.

“What would you ask of me for such a reward?” she asked, with mild uncertainty.

“I only ask that you would be brave, my dear,” he said evenly. “Now, close your eyes.”

She did as she was told. He could hear her heart thumping more loudly now, pumping her delicious blood about her body. He was starved, craving fresh blood, but greater than his urge for blood was his urge for companionship. He knew that he could not survive alone forever, and, then and there, he made his choice.

His sharpened teeth found her neck and tore it open with ease, and he drank of her in long, greedy draughts. She whimpered in pain, like a wounded animal, but she did not make any attempts to struggle against him. Instead, she held him more tightly, as though urging him on. He finally released his grip on her neck, after draining her of most of her blood, and she leaned against him, as her legs were too weak for her to stand on her own.

Supporting her body against his own, he placed his hand below her chin and tilted her head up, locking his lips against hers. She could taste her own blood in his mouth now, a taste that she felt a sudden craving for. She knew very well that to allow him to defile her in his way was a sin. No, it was so much more. It was the end of one life, and the promise of another. This was her ticket out of Junon, away from the drunks, the slums the conformities of the world, and towards eternal freedom and an endless horizon of possibilities. Better yet was the fact that she was not alone.

She returned his kiss most passionately, and, resting her head against his chest, she remained utterly still, finding sanctuary in her sire’s amorous embrace.

+++++++

On the third floor of the E.S.O. were the extensive laboratory facilities. There were five cylindrical containment chambers, with a specimen in each. X observed specimen number two, Tifa, more closely. She was still unconscious, sleeping peacefully. Her hair was loose, and fanned out around her, giving her a faintly regal heir. She seemed vaguely familiar, as though he had met her before. His gaze darted over to Cloud. He, too, was strangely familiar, and his face brought back unfamiliar memories, and feelings of pure hatred.

“Sir, we have the results for the tests,” a lab technician by the name of Wesley called out to him, disrupting his thoughts. “They have all been found negative for the Jenova virus.”

“But then, if their purpose is not to spread the virus, why are they here?” X muttered to himself. To Wesley he asked, “What information did you get from the laboratory in Neo-Midgar?”

Wesley straightened his glasses on the bridge of his nose. “Well, they say that two weeks ago, the first reported victim of the Jenova virus escaped from their laboratory. Within a matter of hours, victims appeared worldwide, inflicting innocent civilians with the virus. About twenty percent of diagnosed victims have shown no significant changes, except for the presence of Jenova cells everywhere in the body. Many other victims have gone into a comatose state. No one can say for sure how the virus is spread.”

“…Very well,” X said, somewhat forlornly, “Release the specimens, and let me know if you get any more information from Neo-Midgar.”

At that moment Lucia interrupted their conversation. “President Shinra wishes to meet with you in private, X. He’s in the conference room on the fourth floor.”

X hastened up a flight of stairs and into the conference room. Surely enough, President Shinra was seated on the far end of the table, glaring regally.

“Good evening, President Shinra,” X said politely. “I trust you have gotten the news from Neo-Midgar?”

“Yes, I have,” President Shinra said evenly. “And I plan on doing nothing to control the virus. In fact, I’m shutting down the research facility in Neo-Midgar.”

“What?”

President Shinra rose from where he was seated and a strange transformation occurred. X looked on in horror as deformed limbs sprouted randomly about the President’s body, and his skin became a ghastly blue. At last, the transformation was complete, and before X stood the hideous creature known as Jenova.

“…You…” X muttered shakily.

Jenova laughed. Her laughter, like her voice, was a cacophony of a high-pitched, childlike voice, and a deep, booming voice. “Don’t sound so surprised, my child,” she said, as she approached him. “Ah, you are just as handsome as your predecessor, Sephiroth. But yet, I sense that something has changed. But what is it?”

Jenova ran a frigid hand across X’s cheek, and her beady eyes darted about his face as though she was searching for something. He tore her away from him and backed away, until he was just out of her reach.

“I’m not your child!” he said, in a rush of fury.

Jenova laughed again. “Well, the prospect is not so far-fetched, now is it? Haven’t you ever wondered why you can remember nothing of the first twenty years of your life? Or why you look so identical to the late Sephiroth? It is because you are my child. You, like so many of your brothers and sisters on this planet, have my blood coursing in your veins. But you are different from all of them, because you are the sole heir to this planet.”

Sensing his reluctance, she continued, “Don’t you see, Xenos? This virus will weed out the spineless individuals among us, leaving only those worthy of my blood to participate in the Reunion. I’m asking you to join me. Together, we-”

“-I’ve heard enough!” he interjected. “I refuse to stand by and watch you ruin entire lives with this virus!”

Jenova’s glowering eyes were now fixated on him. “I’m afraid I was right,” she said, her discordant voice now thundering with fury. “Something has changed about you. You, unlike your predecessor, are tolerant of weakness! That is one flaw that I cannot permit.”

As she spoke, one of her forelimbs shot out, striking him full in the chest. The limb pierced through skin and flesh, and an intense burning sensation developed instantly. Winded and overcome by the excruciating pain, X was unable to utter a single cry of help, or even make an attempt to struggle against Jenova’s iron grip. At long last she released him, and he fell to the floor, choking and sputtering blood onto the carpet.

“The choice is no longer yours to make, Xenos,” she said smugly. “It is your duty to rise to the occasion, and finish what your predecessor begun years ago. You know what must be done.”

X wiped the trail of blood trickling from his lips and looked up at Jenova, his steel gray eyes now glowing with intense ferocity. An unquenchable thirst for revenge rose within him, as though a glowering flame within him had been rekindled into a wildfire. Jenova could see it in his eyes, and it brought a look of sheer satisfaction to her grotesque face.

He rose to his feet slowly, and his lips curved into a vicious grin.

“Yes…mother.”



(I forgot to mention...the name Xenos is Latin, meaning strange, or bizzare.)

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