MONSTERS (A Final Fantasy 7 Fanfic)

XI: Mother

Sephiroth's mind delved back into the lifestream. He did not feel as satisfied as he thought he would upon torturing Hojo until his very final moments, but it was enough for him to feel pleasantly cleansed. Perhaps it would be hubris to wish for anything more than that.

He had all he wanted, exactly where he needed. Every day, the meteor crept closer and closer. Whatever remained of Hojo was rotting away, where none would remember him. The fools who were out to stop him were fighting a battle of futility. He had very few things left to do before he'd go to wait, in the centre of the planet, for the meteor to impact and give him everything.

In fact, there was only one.

He now knew where to find Lucrecia. He'd been a fool not to recognise it before, but... that strange warmth from before, when he'd been travelling the lifestream. The one he'd rejected.

It had been her.

Neither of them had realised it, but mother had attempted to reach out to son– and the son had cast her aside. He had no use, nor need, for this maternal love. He'd seek her out as a vengeful creation would against their arrogant creator. He was the consequences of her foolish decisions.

If only Doctor Gast was alive to face such a fate.

It did not take long for Sephiroth to uncover the truth of his mother in the lifestream's threads of distant memories. She'd sealed herself away in a desolate cavern where none would find her. Unable to take her own life after what she'd done, she instead chose eternal slumber encased in delicate crystals that sprouted from the rocks. She was in stasis, but she was alive. She'd had but one visitor, a man clad in red who'd softly spoken to inform her that her son was dead, believing it too cruel to confirm the visions of flame and death that had plagued her. For all those years, she'd clung to the idea of her son being alive despite what happened five years ago, but those thin strings of hope had been snapped by the man clad in red. When Sephiroth would find her, she'd wish his words had been true.

He crept out of the shadows as if he was formed by their very hands. Standing tall at the mouth of the cave, his eyes flickering with green light. How many years he'd spent, yearning for a real family– a real mother. How many years he'd spent, mulling over the word Jenova, and the fact that he was the reason that she'd– supposedly– died.

So much of his life had been a lie. But all of that was over. Shinra no longer had ties to their puppet. Sephiroth was free, and he knew he was going to do great things.

No more wasting time.

Sephiroth stepped into the cavern. As he made his way down the chamber, he glanced at the crystals sprouting along the path, like splinters of colour guiding him to she who considered herself his mother. The deeper he went, the more of them would appear, growing larger and larger. Some crunched beneath his boots like shards of glass, and he wondered if she would be able to hear his impending approach.

His pupils expanded slightly as they picked up on a glow at the end of the cave. Right in the centre, stretching tall above the others, was a huge crystal shimmering in blue light. He could see a feminine figure trapped within; her expression melancholic. The scene was almost serene, but Sephiroth would not let it remain so.

He glared at the face of the woman, heart filling with inconsolable hatred. Doctor Gast and Professor Hojo were a big part of why he existed– but why it had been him specifically , was because of her. Memories of the library and its torment filled his mind, the agony of why he existed at all drove him as he stretched out his hand and curled his fingers around the long blade he summoned.

"I am here now, mother."

Her eyes snapped open.

Behind the hardened glass, her mouth seemed to drop. Sephiroth could not tell if the look in her wide, soft brown eyes were frightful, shocked, heartbroken, or somewhere in between. Her heartbeat, initially faint and slow, was beginning to speed up. There was no smell of fear, but Sephiroth assumed it to be suppressed by the crystal encasing her.