Reintegration

Reintegration 4

Reintegration

Sephiroth's Point of View

Step 24: Monster

Cloud's hair is white; it's a very dull and boring white. He tried to bleach off the pink, which he stills believes was Reno's fault alone, and failed to recover his blond. I think he plans to dye his hair again, I wish him he worse of luck.

That voice I heard in my head hasn't come back, maybe I just imagined it. Things are relatively calm at Shinra, which is a welcomed change. Then again, maybe nothing changed at headquarters, maybe I was the one who changed, becoming more tolerant of Rufus being spoiled, Tseng being a workaholic, Elena being too talkative, Reno being more insane than I ever was and Rude being... well... rude.

"Seph, look what I have!" I should say that Reno can be very rude at times, but it sounds like an ironic contradiction given the sharp contrast between Reno and Rude.

"Reno, do not shove things in people's faces," I scold as firmly, but at the same time, as gently as I can, I don't want him to throw a tantrum.

"Things?!" Great, he's throwing a tantrum anyway. "My baby is not a thing."

This catches my attention, though I'm certain the blur of red I saw was not a human child, perhaps a sort of pet. Summoning all my patience I take a deep breath, maybe I'm not used to Reno's insanity after all. "I apologize to your... baby."

"He forgives you," Reno merrily declares.

I identify the creature he's holding as a little red bird, "is that a chicobo?"

"The best chicobo in the world, he's the same color as my hair," though I'm certain Reno knows nothing about chocobos and chicobos, he sounds very much convinced that this little one is the best. "Isn't he cute?"

I stare at the little red blob, tiny enough to fit in the palm of Reno's hand. This one is quite puny, even for a new born. It stares back at me and chirps in a high pitched voice. It's very loud for such a miniature creature. "Yes, cute..." I have little knowledge of what cute is, but in general terms, I think a brightly colored, microscopic, squeaky, baby animal should fit the profile.

"I need to name him, I've been asking around for ideas, but no one has come up with a name I like and I have name block right now," Reno rambles, he does that often. "I want to name him soon; I wouldn't want the little guy to have an identity crisis."

I freeze; an identity crisis? It's not like the chicobo will grow up to be a very strange, mutant chocobo who thinks he's a monster. It's not like he'll question his existence wondering if he was created in a laboratory and mutated by mako. It's not like he'll believe he's the child of a fossil, it's not like he'll try to take over the world, it's not like he'll summon meteor. That chicobo is not a monster, but what am I? Who am I?

There's fire, there's fire everywhere, in the town and even in the reactor. There isn't supposed to be fire there. There are capsules with monsters, they're breaking out, is this truly a memory from Nibelheim? Those monsters, they look like me, they're coming towards me, but there's fire, they're catching aflame, but they keep walking towards me. No, don't come any closer, don't come, they're burning, I'm burning! "Fire! Flames! Blaze!"

These images, why now? I was fine a second ago. There's something wrong, there's something here, in this building. I can feel it, something bad is here. The president is in danger, I'm a Turk; I need to protect the president. I'm Sephiroth of the Turks, that's all I need to know, I'll focus on that. I grip my sword and run.

"Seph, come back!"

I need to get to the president, why is Reno trying to stop me? He's a Turk too; he's my ally, isn't he? Unless he's someone else in disguise; I raise my sword and the little chicobo chirps curiously, there's not a single hint of fright in his tiny feathery face. I can't hurt him.