Kingdom Hearts Advent: The New Universe

Chapter 10

"You saw... a body?" Sora asked in shock. Cloud nodded.

"I flinched and took a few steps back upon seeing it. I was shocked. I asked Sephiroth what it was. Sephiroth answered by explaining that normal members of SOLDIER are humans that have been showered with Mako. When this happens, you become different from others... but you're still human none the less. The body thing I saw... it had been exposed to a high degree of Mako. More than even me." Cloud explained. No one spoke... no one said a word... in awe by this shocking revelation.

"When I asked if it was some sort of monster, Sephiroth said that it was. Hojo produced those monsters. These were mutated organisms produced by Mako energy... and they were made possible by Hojo. But then I realized something... he called me a normal member of SOLDIER, and excluded himself in the comparision... so... I asked if he was different than me. Suddenly... Sephiroth started to lose it, wondering if he were created in the same way as Hojo's monsters. I leaped away from him to get some distance. He kept whacking the containers of Mako, asking if he was the same as the monsters inside. As I tried to calm him down.. he told me that I saw it... all of them were once human. I... I couldn't believe it. Sephiroth then said that since he was little, he had felt different than others... special. As the Mako containers burst open, Sephiroth asked if he were human. I didn't quite understand what Sephiroth was saying at the time. I was even more surprised by the fact that Shinra was producing monsters." Cloud explained.

"Damn, Shinra! The more I hear, the more I hate 'em!" Barret said. Sora himself also had a look of rage on his face.

"Hojo... that man is as bad as Maleficent was." Sora said as he remembered the Mistress of Evil.

"Who would have ever thought the Mako reactor held a secret like that?" Tifa added in shock.

"That would seem to explain the increase in the number of monsters recently. I think we should listen carefully to Cloud. Don't you think so, Barret?" Red XIII said.

"Why you talkin' to me?!" Barret asked, much to Sora's amusement.

"Anyway Cloud, we should finish your story." Sora said, wanting to get back on topic. Before Cloud could speak, Aerith turned her attention to Tifa.

"Tifa, you were waiting outside then?" Aerith asked.

"Yes." Tifa replied, though she looked unsure of something. In the past, Sora might have missed it... but Sora was no longer the boy so wrapped up in hope and optimism that he often overlooked the more negative emotions any more. Tifa noticed Sora's expression and she nodded at him... silently promising Sora that she'd speak with him later.

"We returned to Nibelheim. Sephiroth confined himself at the inn. He didn't even try to talk to me." Cloud explained.

"Then all of a sudden he just disappeared, right?" Tifa asked.

"We found him inside the biggest building in Nibelheim." Cloud responded.

"The villagers used to call it Shinra Mansion." Tifa said. Before Sora could ask why, Cloud explained.

"Long ago, people from Shinra used to live in that mansion... I had looked for Sephiroth in the mansion after what had happened at the reactor. When I found him... he was speaking about the creature... Jenova that was believed dead but obviously it wasn't. Professor Gast had named the creature Jenova. He said that Jenova was confirmed to be an Ancient. He was looking into Shinra's files... and the more he read... the more he seemingly sunk into insanity." Cloud explained.

"He said that his mother's name was Jenova. He started to piece together that it may have had something to do with the Jenova project, but he wanted to believe it to be a coincidence. But ultimately... Shinra doesn't do coincidence. Professor Gast was already dead, and Sephiroth felt despair about the fact that Gast never told him the truth about his origins. I went to comfort Sephiroth, but he sent me away. Sephiroth didn't come out of the Shinra Mansion... He continued to read as if he were possessed by something, and not once, did the light in the basement go out... then... it happened. An explosion was heard, so I ran to the basement where the sound came from... and Sephiroth was laughing. When I found him, Sephiroth called me a traitor. He said that the planet originally belonged to the Cetra. The Cetra was a itinerant race. They would migrate in, settle the Planet, then move on... at the end of their journey, they would find the Promised Land and supreme happiness. But those who disliked the journey appeared. They stopped their migrations and built shelters to live an easier life. He said that they took what the Cetra and the planet made without giving anything back in return. He said that those were my ancestors... the ancestors of most of humanity, if not all of it." Cloud explained. Sora looked at Aerith to see her reaction, but she seemed focused, so Sora turned his attention back to Cloud.