Life Finds a Way

Chapter 67

When Sephiroth walked out of the room he noticed all the other cells were already emptied. He pulled Shelke closer to his chest to try and keep her from seeing the grisly bodies that still scattered the hallway. The three firsts made it out to find Tseng finally standing. Sephiroth had never seen the Turk with any expression besides maybe humor, but that was not the case tonight. The fact that his face showed open disgust and possibly even anger was nearly as shocking as the rest of what they had found.

When they stepped up to him his expression cleared beyond a raised brow at the little girl. Sephiroth finally spoke up. "Tseng, meet Shelke Rui." The little girl stirred at her name, but she didn't bother trying to see who she was being introduced to. Instead she curled in closer to Sephiroth's chest.

Tseng's gaze hardened again momentarily before he spoke. "I believe Veld may be in a position to let Shalua know her sister is here." He paused and looked to the others before speaking again. "I can have her put in the care of the doctors until her sister arrives."

Shelke whimpered at the mention of doctors and tried to curl even closer to Sephiroth. He felt his rage flare again at her obvious fear. He managed to keep his voice even when he spoke. "That won't be necessary. I am sure we can take care of her until then. Please let us know as soon as you have confirmed when she will be here."

Tseng gave him a nod before he grabbed the stack of disks next to the monitor he had been working on. "This is everything. I will get a team assigned to sorting it out. The computers are bare. I erased and formatted everything. No one will be able to use these labs for this type of thing again."

Sephiroth was surprised that the Turk had taken such drastic measures, but he was glad to hear it. What he didn't know was that Tseng had found Hojo's plans for Aerith among the rest. Despite how calm he looked, his own rage at the madman was nearly as hot as the rest of theirs. He thought it was a pity the man was less than ash now. He could think of several things that he would have liked to introduce the man to. He didn't give the Firsts a chance to add anything else before he moved to leave. He could feel his mask cracking and he didn't want to be near anyone else when it happened.

Sephiroth watched as Tseng left. Despite how calm the Turk had seemed, Sephiroth knew it was a mask. He could feel the man's rage. He was satisfied that this night's events were finally taken care of. He glanced briefly at the girl in his arms and wondered what he was going to do. Again, it was Genesis that spoke up. He spoke directly to the girl in Sephiroth's arms. "Shelke, until your sister comes for you, would you like to stay with the woman that told us about you? She is a very special person and I am sure she would be willing to help in any way she could."

The girl finally looked over to him, but her gaze was still frightened. She looked up to Sephiroth as well. When he caught her gaze, he spoke up as well. "Genesis is correct. Clarissa is unique. I believe she could help you if you would be willing to let her."

He paused when he remembered that Clarissa was going through issues of her own at the moment, but that thought was pushed back when Shelke spoke. "I... if you think it would be okay." He gave her a nod and an encouraging smile before he started back toward the Soldier floor.

He could hear Genesis trying to explain Clarissa's wing to Angeal as they walked. He was only grateful that he was keeping his voice low enough that Shelke wasn't likely to hear. He realized she probably needed to be warned before she was shocked by it, but Genesis was being less than clinical about it. He hoped Angeal wasn't taking his words to heart. He could tell that the red-head was angry enough that his words could cause despair in someone that wasn't prepared for such a harsh truth.

He pushed the thought aside for now. They needed to focus on one thing at a time and this was the least of the things the three Firsts had to worry about. He looked down to the tiny child in his hands and had to push back his anger once again before he spoke up. "Shelke, there is something you need to know about Clarissa. She was experimented on by Hojo as well. Because of that, she now has a wing. I wanted to let you know so you wouldn't be surprised by it."