Mad Hatter

See My Bad Side

On the 69th Floor...Sephiroth POV

I narrow my eyes at the glowing trail on the floor and look back at my lover and his family and Chadley. "Stay close behind me. Something about this, just doesn't feel right." I say to them and they nod, though Chadley is the only one who isn't reluctant about it.

As we follow the trail, I hear the voice of the gun-armed man, who I had briefly heard yelling at Cloud before, yelling at President Shinra and I hurry along with the others following me to see Cloud and his friends catch up to the dark-skinned man who's having a gun pointed at him by my former employer, who doesn't even know how to fire a gun and is just bluffing.

My eyes widen in shock as I see the evil man get stabbed through the chest from behind with Masamune by me and I'm immediately confused before being further alarmed as the Whispers attempt to stop the man apparently named Barret as Tifa yells his name from attacking the fake me.

The fake then stabs Barret in the chest and I run over to try to help Elfe's subordinate and deal with the fake. The Whispers seem torn between hindering me and saving Barret as the rest of Cloud's group also goes after the fake.

The fake begins to ripple as its appearance flickers before turning into some grotesque creature. Cloud and his friends prepare to fight it and I run in to help. "Genesis, you and your siblings cover our backs got it?" I ask him with a pleading look and he nods reluctantly, clearly wanting to fight by my side.

"Sephiroth?" Aerith asks in confusion when I stand next to her.

"You're Zack's friend, right? He's still alive. I want you to be careful, Aerith Faremis." I say to her as she looks at me in surprise.

"Why are you helping us?" Tifa asks me warily while still keeping most of her focus on the monstrosity before us.

"For one, that thing was impersonating me to kill people. Also, don't expect me to apologize to you for anything other than burning down Nibelheim, Tifa. Everything else I directly did to you that you're mad about was done in self-defense." I say to her.

"You killed my father-" She starts saying and I cut in, "Who was trying to kill me." She quickly shut up at my words.

"We can discuss this later! We have bigger problems!" Aerith yells at Tifa.

"I don't trust you." Cloud bluntly says to me while lifting his sword.

"Says the one who literally stabbed me in the back with my dead best friend's sword." I snarl back at him and he immediately looks mortified by the information I had just told him before focusing on our opponent.

"Ugh, this thing is hideous." I hear the canine with a flame-tipped tail say to us all in disgust.

"It's Jenova, what else were you expecting?" I ask him rhetorically with a raised brow and Cloud seems confused by my reaction.

We scatter when a bunch of tentacles appear and I begin hacking through them as Cloud's group attacks the main body. "Be careful, this thing uses illusions." I warn them and they nod.

I slice a tentacle apart that nearly hit Aerith who looks at me gratefully before she casts a healing spell on Cloud who was being as reckless as Zack would normally be. It's not long before we finish off the monstrosity and I look in surprise to see one of the failed clones of me and the Jenova corpse laying on the ground before another fake of me carries both of them away without uttering a single word.

I frown darkly at that before turning back towards Genesis as Barret wakes back up and walk towards the people who care about me so we can finally leave. "Thanks for helping us!" Aerith calls after me and I look back briefly before giving her a small smile and nodding to acknowledge her words.

We then head back towards the elevator to leave, and I tell Cissnei we're on our way and she lets me know she's already waiting in the helicopter outside of Midgar.

"Nero, the building's going to be on high alert. You think your darkness can get us past their perimeter?" Genesis asks his youngest brother who nods in response to his question.

"Sephiroth, when you step into the darkness, close your eyes and cover your ears until I tap you on your shoulder, alright?" Genesis says to me and I look at him in confusion as Nero forms what looks big enough to be a door out of darkness. Weiss runs straight through it with Chadley and Shelke without faltering.

"I'll bring up the rear." Nero says to us as Genesis leads me forward before motioning for me to do as he told me to. I follow his instructions and let him guide me through until I feel him tap me on the shoulder. I lower my hands and open my eyes to find us almost outside of Midgar.

"I overshot a little." Nero admits to us.

"It's fine, but could you guys go on ahead and then wait for me? Cissnei should be waiting outside in a helicopter. There's something I need to do first. I'll be along soon, I promise." I say to them and Genesis looks like he wants to protest my request.

"Please, Gen?" I ask him softly in a pleading tone and he reluctantly nods.

"But you better come back to me, Seph! Or I'll come after you myself!" He threatens me, meaning every word of that threat.

"I'd expect no less from you." I tell him before gently kissing his cheek and then pulling away from him before they hurry on ahead. Once they're far enough away, I leap into the air and wait for Cloud and his friends. It's time to prepare to fight Destiny itself.

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To be continued...