.:IRIDESCENCE:.

[Sephiroth]

Confusion filled his mind and he had no idea what was happening. Slowly, however, the memories started to come back to him; the events leading up to him falling from the walkway above suddenly at the forefront of his mind. He suddenly felt so cold, so sore, so much more lonely than he'd ever felt before. Tears rolled down his cheeks as he pulled himself from the water with great effort. The visions he'd been having recently now flashed up in his mind and he began to sob with desperation and confusion. Somehow, a clone of him had brought total chaos to the world and summoned a comet. And now... it was coming. If this was the end of the world, he wanted to be there to see it. Now summoning all of his strength, he reached for the ladder and began to climb, determination taking over and numbing the pain somewhat.

As he reached the entrance to the reactor, he ran down the steps and fell to his knees, screwing his eyes up as a bright light reached them. Two teenage boys who were standing nearby walked towards him, intrigued by the strange man on the ground. They recoiled slightly when they saw who it was, but curiosity got the better of them and they approached. 'Alright, mister?" one of them asked Sephiroth as they took an arm each and helped him to his feet. They watched and waited as he steadied himself and tried to gather his thoughts.

"It wasn't me... I didn't do it..." he whispered. The boys looked confused at first, but they soon began to realise exactly what he was on about - Meteor. They both moved quickly to catch Sephiroth as he wobbled slightly, still a little unsure on his feet after spending such a long time unconcious. The three of them looked up and saw exactly what Sephiroth had been worrying about - Meteor. It seemed to be destroying Midgar, with some other green force slowly turning red and adding to its power. He recognised this as Holy, but he couldn't understand why it wasn't working properly.

The ground began to shake and as the trio looked down, they saw the Lifestream beginning to seep through the ground and heading towards Meteor. Sephiroth stared in fascination and horror at the sight unfolding before him, unmoving for several minutes until the lights subsided and everything seemed to calm down. Unsure what to make of the events, he began to cry once again. The boys, unable to fight the sympathy they now felt for this broken man, held him close as he sobbed.

-------------------------------

The two boys and Sephiroth eventually made it to Nibelheim, where they entered the first boy's house and Sephiroth was able to rest for a while. The second boy returned to his own home where he managed to get in touch with Shinra to come and get the man they had found. The door creaked open...

[Sarai Trevane]

--And a woman in a dark suit--followed by two similarly-dressed men--walked in. She cast a worried dark gaze around the room, then glanced over her shoulder at her male companions.

"Debrief the kid; find out what he knows. Depending on the verdict from HQ we may need to take him back with us."

She then approached Sephiroth, moving cautiously as she had no idea as to the degree of his coherency. She didn't want to startle him into lashing out at her.

"Sir? Can you hear me? We've come to take you home..."


((i apologize if it sucks--it's late and I'm really tired...if needed I'll edit this later.))

[Sephiroth]

Sephiroth had not been fully asleep, simply hovering on the edge of conciousness. The voice he heard did not sound familiar and in his effort to work out who it could belong to, he found himself waking up. He squinted until his eyes had focussed properly and the voice's owner came in to view. He didn't recognise her, but then again, he'd been gone for five years - for all he knew, she could be a close friend and he might not remember what she looked like.

Catching sight of himself in the mirror nearby, he saw his tear-stained face and sore eyes and he just wanted to hide under the covers. However, he was now being asked a question by this mystey woman and it seemed only right that he should try to come up with some sort of answer, especially since she seemed to want to take him somewhere.

"Yes, I can hear you..." he replied, still surprised at how well his voice was working after such a long time. "But where is home? Midgar won't be safe any more and that was never truly my home... Are we going to Junon? I presume Shinra are using that base now..."

[Sarai Trevane]

Sarai watched as the man dragged himself up out of oblivion, shockingly-green eyes opening to try and focus on her. She smiled to put him at ease--a thing she suspected would be no simple task. Yet surprisingly he seemed more curious than afraid. His voice was another surprise--he spoke with a very pleasant, foreign inflection. It made one wonder where he was originally from.

"Good. No, surprisingly Headquarters over on the Eastern was untouched somehow. We're working out of there still. Junon is a refugee-camp of sorts, where the unharmed and those with only minor injuries are being sent. The more severely wounded are being transported to Kalm."


Sarai paused a moment, wondering at where he ought to be taken. Naturally Shinra would want him back as quickly as possible, but it seemed to her that his injuries ought to be seen to first. But how bad were they? Did they warrant an immediate flight to Kalm, or would he be all right in Junon? And furthermore, could he accurately assess his own injuries and tell her where he thought they should go? She could decide for him, of course; but to do that she would need to see his wounds which at present were hidden under the blankets. From where she stood it didn't appear that he was bleeding, but then that might simply be owing to the rather poor lighting conditions in the little house. For all she knew he might be lying in a pool of his own blood, and she simply couldn't see it.

[Sephiroth]

The woman's smile seemed to make him feel a bit calmer - but why was she being so nice to him? Surely everyone thought it was his fault that Meteor had been summoned? He felt thoroughly confused now and decided to focus on her words instead. She still hadn't answered his question about where he would be taken. He suspected it would be Junon going by what she had said - he really wasn't particularly injured.

The wound on his abdomen had healed reasonably well in the mako at the bottom of the reactor, but it still twinged a bit as he pulled the covers back and swung his legs round. He'd undressed completely and been given a pair of shorts by one of the boys, so he that was all he was currently wearing. He caught sight of his legs and frowned as he realised another half-healed wound just about his left knee that he hadn't noticed before. His head was spinning too

[Sarai Trevane]

She stepped back as he got up, glancing over his injuries. The one seemed almost healed up, but the one on his leg wasn't quite there yet. He seemed slightly disoriented, though. She was ready to try and catch him if he fell.

"Hmm...looks like you'd be okay in Junon...."

[Sephiroth]

Sephiroth managed to pull himself to his feet and stagger over to where this woman was standing. Up until now, he'd remained pretty stoic while she'd been here, but he was suddenly reminded - by his brain - of the full extent of the situation. He dissolved into tears again and began to sob, wrapping his arms around himself to try and provide some sort of comfort.

Taking a deep breath, he attempted some sort of explanation. "I'm sorry, I just feel so awful about this whole thing..." he whispered, a look present on his face which was remeniscent of a lost, scared little boy.

[Sarai Trevane]

Sarai was somewhat taken aback by his sudden loss of composure. Up until now he'd been very calm, very controlled; now he just seemed like a frightened little child. Sarai's heart broke. Protocols be damned; she couldn't just ignore him while he was hurting like that!! It might be against procedures, but it was against common decency to turn a blind eye to the sufferings of others. Or so she'd been raised to believe.

She went up to him and very gently put her arms around him--just so he'd know someone was there,. someone cared about him; he wasn't alone in this--whatever-it-was, that he was feeling.

"I know," she murmured, "I know......."

[Sephiroth]

Sephiroth allowed himself to lean in towards this woman, as he was so upset that he really needed someone. He rested his head on her shoulder for a while until he had managed to compose himself somewhat. Then, he stood back up straight again to address something rather important.

He looked into her eyes, terrified of what may happen to him now. He'd been experimented on since he was very young and he couldn't see them stopping - especially now everyone thought he'd tried to destroy the planet. "They wont... hurt me, will they?"

[Sarai Trevane]

Sarai stroked his hair when he rested his head on her shoulder--marveling at how soft and silky it was; she just wanted to run her hands through it over and over! She got herself under control, though, and he straightened back up. It was sad to see that the fear hadn't left his eyes. What had they done to him in the past, to make him so inherently fearful and untrusting? Sarai shook her head, and found herself responding vehemently,

"No, they won't hurt you. I promise."

She silently swore to keep that promise, too.

[Sephiroth]

Sephiroth wasn't sure he should believe her - after all, he'd only met her just now and he had no idea whether he could trust her word. He took a deep breath and released it shakily, scared of what was going to happen to him when they got to Junon.

"Are we going now? If we are... I'll need some clothes..." he asked as calmly as he could, then turned his thoughts to what he might see when they got there. He could imagine it now, the thousands of people sitting around, waiting to find out where to go and what to do. And what for the Shinra staff? Who had survived? He began to wonder about the vice-president, Rufus - he'd had a crush on the young blonde for a long time while he'd been in Hojo's care, although they'd never actually spoken.

"Can I ask - what happened to the vice-president?"


((Sephiroth doesn't know Rufus is president now. Oh, and Rufus is still missing-in-action somewhere in the Shinra building.))

[Sarai Trevane]

Sarai immediately looked away from him when he mentioned needing clothes.

Smart move, hugging this half-naked guy you've been sent to retrieve; very professional!, she silently castigated herself.

Even if he is incredibly hot...

She turned to one of her associates--who was standing watch in the doorway, looking decidedly uncomfortable with the whole situation. He was about Sephiroth's height and build; perhaps he had something extra he could lend. She discreetly pulled him aside and asked him about it; he said he'd radio back to HQ and see what he could do. That was his way of saying, 'I'll take care of it. Don't worry.' She smiled gratefully.

"I owe you for this."

"You owe me for a lot of things," came the gruff response as he turned away to use his radio.


Returning to the conversation with Sephiroth, she was about to inform him about what had transpired between herself and her associate, when his question caught her off-guard.

"Vice-president?"

She scrolled her memory back as far as she could recall--did she remember ever hearing about, much less meeting, a vice-president? If she had she certainly didn't recall. But wait...surely he couldn't mean...


"Rufus Shinra? The blonde guy? He's president now."

She sighed, unsure of just how much she should tell him. How would he react to the news that Shinra was still unaccounted for? Knowing that might only serve to agitate him--but then, lying to him wouldn't exactly help with the trust issues at all. Besides, if need be they could trank him...

"They're still looking. HQ was largely untouched, but so far no one can account for his whereabouts. They're still looking, though; with everything they've got."

[Sephiroth]

They hadn't found him yet...? Sephiroth lowered his head in a silent prayer to the planet for him to be all right and to be found soon. It was almost incomprehensible though - Rufus was the president? How had that happened? And had it been Meteor that had hurt him? Too many questions and he wasn't sure he wanted to know the answers right now.

Another question soon came into his head - what of the Turks? He'd met them many times and had conversed with Reno on several occasions. They were the same age but it had felt like they were worlds apart. It had been years since they'd seen each other now. Raising his head again to make eye contact, he said, "Sorry to bother you again, but could I ask if you know what happened to the Turks?"

Shivering from the cold, he wrapped his arms around himself to try and heat up somewhat.

[Sarai Trevane]

Sarai smiled grimly, trying to calm him down somewhat. He was clearly upset that Rufus hadn't yet been found.

"The Turks are still around. They're helping with the rescue efforts even now. Some were sent into Midgar to try and search for survivors and help evacuate the injured."


She was interrupted by her comrade's hand on her arm. She turned to look at him, and he thrust a bundle of cloth at her. Clothing. She beamed her appreciation, recieving a grunt and a nod in response before he turned away. Sarai turned back to Sephiroth--awww, he was shaking!! Poor thing!! He looked so cold!!! For a moment she was half-tempted to hug him again to offer some her warmth--which triggered subsequent perverted thoughts until she booted her mind firmly out of the gutter. Instead she offered him the clothing.

"Here, see if these fit. It has to be warmer than what you've got on now."

[Sephiroth]

It seemed to make things just a little less awful, knowing that he hadn't - no, not him, a clone - a clone hadn't injured the Turks. They'd always been good to him when he'd been at the headquarters. He half-smiled gratefully when the man returned with some clothing - it was much colder than he'd thought it would be now that he was out from under the bedsheets. He almost tore the clothes from the woman's hands in an attempt to get them on as quickly as possible.

Once he was fully dressed, he sat himself down on the edge of the bed to tie his shoelaces. However, this was proving too complex for his fingers, which were still getting back to their previous strength. He looked up childishly at Sarai in the hope that she might help him, without him actually having to ask. It felt so humiliating to be unable to perform such a simple task, let alone actually having to voice this inability.