Chapter Text
Chapter Four: Darkness and Desire
Manami felt so much better once she got in the water, it had been so long since she could swim. Three years felt like forever when she wasn’t allowed to swim. Now she was having fun in the water keeping an eye out for any fiends nearby. She dove under the surface of the water moving swiftly as she turned onto her back. She saw the rays of the sun rippling under the waves. She turned back over and began to move upwards. She breached the surface waving at the children who were watching her with wide eyes. She swiftly moved through the water but kept to the safety close to Costa Del Sol. That was when she spotted something drifting on the waves. At first she thought it was a fiend until she saw white hair and strange clothing. She swam closer before realizing it was a human face first in the water.
“Uncle!” She shouted, Sniper standing up before rushing into the water as Manami shot forward. She grabbed the person and turned him over seeing white hair plastered against the face of a fifteen year old male. His breathing was shallow which surprised Manami as she hooked her arms under his armpits and began to swim backwards. Sniper was in the water helping Manami pull him onto the shore. Manami listened to his heart, it was a lot slower than it should be. Reminding her of the time where she had nearly slipped into a coma because of Mako. Sniper was doing his best to wake the teen up as Manami saw something rather familiar. A trainer card. She grabbed it quickly before examining it. The birthday put him at thirteen and not fifteen. “Hm? It’s a fake trainer card, he’s probably got a lot more on him. His first name is Kabuto though. He looks older than he is.”
“How do you know it’s a fake?” Sniper asked quietly and Manami leaned forward pointing out what she had spotted. “Normally you can’t, however this one has a different weight to it, it is off by a rather small margin.”
Sniper examined him as he glanced around. “He’s not a criminal, most likely used to undercover work.”
“He’s also got gills,” Manami poked around by his neck and shoulders though they were hidden by his shirt. “We should get him to our hotel room.”
Sniper nodded his head before picking the teen up and they both walked through the crowd. Manami told everyone that he was going to be alright and that he just needed rest. She exuded a sense of calm, as if she had dealt with these situations before. Inside her head however she was trying to figure everything out. ‘If he’s a Pokemon Trainer… could it be that he is a Looker? However something still feels off about this.’ she thought as she passed the teen to Sniper so she could close the door. ‘I will have to question him when he wakes up. Mmmm, after some soup, a lot of blankets… maybe some tea. Ooo, I will have to order the tea first!’
Manami sat in the room listening to the teen, Kabuto, breathing. It seemed to have gotten much better, it seemed like he had a quick recovery rate. ‘His clothes were so caked full of salt water, he must have been in there for days.’ Manami mused as she checked his temperature. ‘Even stranger, whenever he gets a fever it goes away really quickly. He’s adapting really quickly. It makes me worried.’
Sniper was taking a nap nearby on his bed when there was a knock at the door. Manami got up slowly before a hand wrapped around her mouth and the teen spoke hoarsely. “Who is it?”
“Room service, got that tea you ordered!” a male voice called through, Manami looked up at Kabuto who pressed his fingers to his lips before releasing her and walked forward. He opened the door, keeping the bolt lock in place as he peered through the crack with his black eyes. “I didn’t order any tea,” he said firmly, keeping Manami blocked so no one could see her from the door but Manami hid against the wall pressing herself to it so she was hidden from view. “Perhaps you got the wrong room number.”
“Ah, sorry about that,” the room attendant said before looking at the receipt. “Front desk must have written down the wrong number. Mind if I leave this here to double check?”
“Take it back with you and don’t disturb me,” Kabuto spoke coldly as he pulled out a pair of glasses from his shirt pocket and wiped them clean. “I’m in the middle of writing and want to get the scene correct. I do not wish for any more disturbances.”
“Course!” the room attendant said before leaving. Kabuto watched him before shutting the door and turning to look at Manami. He didn’t say anything until after a while glancing towards the door before speaking lowly. “Name.”
“Umio, Manami, this is my Uncle,” Manami said as she waved towards Sniper who was pushing himself up now fully awake. Manami wanted to know who he was but the teen continued to question them. “What region?”
“Oh! I’m…” Manami lowered her voice. “I’m from Hoenn, but we’re not in our universe anymore.”
“I thought so,” Kabuto said before moving to sit on the bed. “I am Hoshigaki Kabuto, from the Kanto Region. Pokemon?”
“Didn’t arrive with them, but I have an entire Water Type team waiting for me back home,” Manami said as she sat on the bed her soles pressed against each other. “So… what’s with all the fake id’s?”
“I’m… a shinobi,” Kabuto finally admitted before looking away, however Manami’s eyes lightened up as she moved forward. “Could you not?”
“Sorry, other than pirates, shinobi are soooo cool!” Manami told him, keeping her voice low. “That would explain the fake ID. So are you really thirteen?”
Kabuto thought about it before nodding his head before explaining. “I am not really supposed to be answering any questions as it would cause a spread of information.”
“Ah, you don’t have to worry about me, I’m kind of on the run from a big old company who wanted me because I’m an anomaly,” Manami told him before flopping backwards. Kabuto’s eyes glanced towards the door before covering her mouth. Sniper pulled out his side arm before Kabuto moved over to the door and glanced through the peephole. He reached down slowly before pulling out a kunai. Manami wondered if it was the Turks again.
Sniper knew that the first part, speaking of Kanto and Sinnoh, would mean nothing to anyone who was listening in. However their voices were low enough that even someone trying to listen wouldn’t be able to catch much. When he had lived with Manami she spoke of her world, full of monsters known as Pokemon. How she would tame the creatures and work alongside them, both in battle and outside of battle. ‘The world without Mako.’ Sniper thought as Kabuto moved to open the door, he flung it open and Sniper reacted almost immediately. Standing there was Reno and Rude. The first shot was fired from Sniper, the bullet flying towards Reno who dodged out of the way barely. Kabuto was right behind the shot moving straight towards Rude, kunai aimed for his neck but Rude managed to block the blow.
“Sniper! Thought you were better at hiding,” Reno said as he stepped into the room, Manami already behind Sniper readying her dual blades. “I see Anomaly 1 is still with you.”
“Her name is Manami,” Sniper snapped as he held up his sidearm as Manami grabbed the case holding his main weapon, a custom sniper rifle, from under the bed. “You already have one, has he died yet? I mean he’s in the hands of Hojo and you and I both know that a child wouldn’t last three years with him.”
“She’s not the priority,” Reno said before pointing his EMP rod at Sniper. “Verdot still wants you though as for the other kid, he can go.”
“Reno, you and I both know I can’t trust you nor can I trust Shinra,” Sniper replied as Kabuto still battle Rude. “She’s still being hunted by Hojo and President Shinra would want these anomalies close at hand. The first kid, he’s adapting at a rate that even Hojo couldn’t even expect. Meaning anyone else is valuable and orders from the top is something you can’t ignore.”
Manami grabbed a Materia, it was one that hadn’t been discovered yet according to Sniper, as it had appeared once she had adapted to the world. She slid it into the Materia slot as Kabuto was thrown backwards. Sniper knew one thing, he may be trained but he was still a thirteen year old boy fighting against a grown adult. Reno sighed before shaking his head and shrugging his shoulders. “Should have known that you still know us inside and out. But, you’re making this a lot harder on yourselves if you don’t surrender quietly.”
Reno’s eyes locked onto Manami. “You’re just going to get hurt if you do anything stupid.”
“You’ve never dealt with people like us before,” Manami said as she glanced over at Kabuto who nodded his head. “Us trainers? We always do something stupid and somehow come out on top.”
“Manami,” Sniper said in a low voice and Manami looked up at him. “Use it.”
Manami didn’t argue, she learned that arguing with Sniper was never a good idea. She positioned her blade in front of her as the materia glowed. Reno and Rude ran forward but Sniper began to fire at both of them. A torrent of water crashed through the room as Kabuto grabbed onto Manami. She realized that Sniper must have signaled him to do something she really didn’t want to do. Kabuto was taking her out of there while Sniper covered their escape.The water crashed around the room filling it up, the water from the Materia wouldn’t affect the environment too much but it would trap anyone in the area. Kabuto had his gills and Manami was excellent once she was underwater. However she was worried about Sniper who was swiftly blocking both Reno and Rude from getting to them as Kabuto managed to break the window and jump out with her. Thankfully it wasn’t a large fall as Costa Del Sol didn’t have towering hotels like cities did.
“Get to the water,” Manami said, trying to reign in her emotions as she looked to the hotel where Sniper was blocking the Turks from following them. Kabuto nodded his head silently as he dove into the ocean, Manami fixing herself and they began to swiftly swim away. Manami’s tears mixed with the salt water as she prayed that Sniper got out of there alive.
“You’re not getting the kids Reno,” Sniper said panting as the water drained around them. He was pretty injured taking multiple hits from both of them. He leaned against the dresser as he held his pistol up towards them knowing that he was out of bullets. “I know you’re just following orders, but leave them alone.”
“You know we can’t do that Sni… guess I can’t call you that anymore, can I?” Reno asked as he tapped the rod against his shoulder. “And I really don’t want to give Hojo the satisfaction of referring to the designation he gave to you. S-14 is just really dumb, remember who you were before all of that?”
“Nope and that is what is going to happen to them too, it’s what happened to Veera and the other children,” Sniper said, he knew deep down inside that Reno was still sore about Bera. About what he had done to her. They didn’t know it but Sniper still had his connections, that he had eyes in Midgar. Reno’s secret visits to Bera’s house, which she had in Sector Five. She had been blinded by both Reno’s attack and the fire which destroyed her old house and had significant scarring both physically and mentally. However Reno had always put up a front of not caring, mission always came first. Yet he knew this job got to all of them. Even Rude looked uncomfortable for a minute as he looked away.
“Wait… you knew her?” Reno asked and Sniper smirked saying. “Guess where Hojo got me from. I knew the sisters, hell I even knew Casey before Hojo got his hands on him. But you don’t care about us street kids do you? After all, the Turks look for SOLDIER candidates and not give them a single thought afterwards.”
“You….” Reno moved forward before backing away as he looked to the side. “You should know us better.”
“I do, but I also know you guys have your orders and you won’t stop following them,” Sniper told him as he leaned forward before falling to the ground. “So I’m going to make sure that it will be years before you find those two again.”
Kabuto swam silently as they found themselves heading for land. He knew that if he said anything now it wouldn’t do him any good. Right now he had his orders from Sniper, to keep Manami safe. Even if they weren’t verbal orders, Sniper was not his superior, and he was not longer in his original world. He glanced towards Manami before speaking. “He spoke of another one.”
Manami nodded her head before muttering. “Aoiki Yamato.”
“Aoiki-kun? He’s here?!” Kabuto cursed himself for saying that outloud and Manami looked surprised at his reaction. He glanced to the side before explaining. “He’s my sister’s friend.”
“Sniper’s been trying to track him down while I was recovering for the past three years,” Manami said as the moved further away and pulled out a map. “He knows where most of the Shinra Laboratories are but not all of them.”
“First I need to know who we are dealing with,” Kabuto looked around before finding a spot they could camp at for the night that was well hidden. “Who is Shinra and who were those two?”
“Turks, the unofficial name for the Investigation Sector of the General Affairs Department of the Shinra Electric Power Company,” Manami recited as she sat down resting her cheek against her knee. “Sounds harmless, right?”
“Sounds like a cover for a much more sinister organization,” Kabuto said and Manami chuckled. “Which group do you think they are more like? Team Rocket? Team Aqua? Team Magma?”
“I would say a more legitimate Team Rocket who on the outside appears to be helping everyone by providing them with energy,” Manami said before taking out the Materia and held it up. “This is Materia, it is the solidified form of Mako. Mako is what this planet runs on, at first you think fossil fuels like we have but it is much more different. Mako is connected to something called the Lifestream as well as being the lifesource of this planet. Yes it will poison you, but everything and everyone here has a little bit of it since Mako is a liquid.”
“And it seems like it is not just in the water but the air as well,” Kabuto mused and Manami nodded her head. “That explains why I had gotten sick while in the water.”
“And why I found you unconscious,” Manami told him before unfurling the map. “This is Gaia and these places….”
Manami began to point at spots on the map. “Are the abandoned Shinra laboratories that uncle had been looking at for Yamato.”
“Though I do not know much I would say an active but lesser known one would be the safer bet,” Kabuto replied as he thought about it. “I do not know much about who we are dealing with personally but knowing evil organizations, they wouldn’t go for something abandoned, just something unused.”
Yamato sat in the containment cell playing a game of Wei Qi in his head with the parasite that he called J. So far it had been the only thing to keep him from going mad despite Hojo’s best efforts. The scientist had been quite disappointed that there was no apparent reaction to the J-Cells. So he had moved on for a bit, still visiting “Subject Zero” which Yamato absolutely refused to let himself give a reaction to when Hojo referred him to that designation. So he just sat silently trying to figure out the endgame. Hojo’s experiments on the other subjects led to their demise. Yet he was still alive. “Seems like he does take orders from someone.” he spoke to J in his mind as he watched Hojo walk around the laboratory. J made a sound, peering through Yamato’s eyes for a moment. “He knows what he can get away with and what he can’t. So far you are the only one he has and he can’t breed you since your lack of Mako came from the world you came from or the environment you grew up in. Not an anomaly in your physiology.”
Yamato closed his eyes as he saw the move that was just played in his mind. He was impressed but he knew that this creature was utilizing his own knowledge of the game. Hojo was unaware of the alliance he had made with the J-Cells nor that they had even worked. The alien had kept its work subtle, not changing much just repairing the damage Hojo had done to Yamato’s body with the exposure to Mako and the damage done by Yamato’s previous exposure to it. Apparently he would have been nearly dead if it hadn’t been inside of him. Yamato generally didn’t think much anymore without referring to or talking to the alien parasite within him. After all they were connected and Yamato barely had any privacy anymore. They had their truce, but Yamato didn’t trust J at all. They had a deal, whenever Yamato would win the alien would share the next letter of its name, yet if J won it was allowed to affect Yamato a little more. So far each had one win but they didn’t want the other to gain any ground. It was why Yamato knew one of the letters of the name was ‘V’. He really did wish that he had paid more attention to Aki and Riku’s conversations. However their game had always been kept in the dark from Hojo, he was to only assume that the J-Cells were dormant or at the very least not as effective as he hoped.
“I must say, Subject Zero, you have been a rather infuriating test subject,” Hojo said as he walked up to the container and Yamato didn’t even spare him a single glance. “Your body adapted to Mako and the J-Cells seem to be ineffective on you. However I am not one to be angered over a minor setback such as this.”
Yamato tilted his head to the side staring in Hojo’s direction but keeping his eyes on the wall just beyond him. He saw a calendar and read the date on it trying to remember anything about this time. Yet nothing came forward. That was when he realized Hojo was still talking and finally started listening to him. “...A pity that I will have to leave you alone. However, an anomaly appearing in my lab back in Midgar is much too compelling.”
Yamato knew with the way that Hojo said anomaly it was probably another poor trainer getting trapped in a place where they didn’t belong. Even worse, it was in the Midgar Laboratory. However Yamato didn’t give a reaction. Hojo’s face twitched before turning and leaving. The J-Cells seemed amused speaking into Yamato’s mind. “He didn’t leave you with food, I can help with that. Make sure you are not hungry.”
“Focus on the game and I will think about it,” Yamato replied mentally before making his move with his eyes watching Hojo leave. “Perhaps this trainer has a way to avoid the same experiments Hojo has done to me.”
Aizen Hotaru had just been working on a drawing during her stay in Fortree City. Something that she wasn’t allowed to complete when she found herself inside. She had felt like something was off, like she wasn’t supposed to be there. There was the scent of a struggle between spirits on the air yet she didn’t react as she saw scientists. Now this was something she could use, find out the answer to the question she had asked. One of the scientists quickly calling someone as Hotaru looked around. She saw a massive amount of ghosts moving around, as if there were plenty of people who didn’t make it out alive. ‘Hmmm, so the person in charge here has little care for the life of a human. I will have to tread carefully.’ Hotaru thought as she remained in place and returned to drawing. ‘Cooperate for now and see if I can reason with the head scientist when he finally arrives.’
Yamato slept while Hojo was away, the scientists having fed him before they too were recalled. J speaking to him and the feeling of it petting his hair always set him on edge. That was when a memory came to mind, one of massive destruction. His eyes opened slightly as he heard an explosion. The alien cells in his body growing excited as it spoke. “That child, he has come. He found the truth after all. It is a shame, I thought you would have made it until the end. Yet he is destroying all of Hojo’s work.”
Yamato smirked before closing his eyes once again as he heard the door hiss open. He didn’t move, he didn’t react but he felt the cells growing more and more excited. The presence of something different, something powerful caused Yamato’s bamboo green eyes to open then to look at the person standing in front of his containment cell. Long silvery white hair and cat like blue-green eyes tinted with Mako. Yamato knew the face, the tall SOLDIER-First Class. Yet he couldn’t quite recall the name. However he just remembered the name of the alien, Jenova. Sephiroth shattered the container that Yamato was in but he didn’t move, he just stared at him.
“I’m not going to run,” Yamato spoke, knowing that Hojo’s experiments in this place were just Makonoids who didn’t have the intelligence to do so. That this man was doing both them and the world a favor by getting rid of them. “Not this time, no Hell Houses nearby.”
“Subject Zero, no Aoiki Yamato, I was not expecting to see you again… with your mind intact,” the man spoke and Yamato tilted his head to the side, almost sliding against the glass as he replied. “Three years since we briefly met and you still have yet to properly introduce yourself.”
“What good will my name do for an experiment who will end up dead?” the man asked coldly, Yamato could feel the cold clammy hands of Jenova stroked his face. Unseen, unless one had Jenova’s own cells in their body. Jenova bent down whispering into Yamato’s ear, voice echoing in his mind. “I will miss you, you have been an entertaining distraction.”
“I would like to know the name of the one I offer my services to,” Yamato said not breaking eye contact with the man. He felt the man’s gaze upon him before he spoke. “Sephiroth. That is the name you speak. But do not mistake this as my acceptance of your offer. You are merely a failed experiment of Hojo.”
“You know I have the tendency to get out of situations quite easily,” Yamato said as Sephiroth’s eyes flickered for a moment to the image of Jenova hovering around him. “I got away from you.”
“Yet here you are,” the long blade that Sephiroth wielded was lifted and placed against Yamato’s neck. “Caged.”
“Hojo… he may be brilliant in what he does… as brilliant as his lack of morals,” Yamato replied back. “Yet he does not understand the way the mind works when playing a long game of strategy. You have read his files, I assume, you know of your origin. You who all claim are perfect, still those cells that reside within you call you to a certain location. To… reunite.”
“What he thought was a failure… you were fooling him,” Sephiroth's eyes glinted with interest. “Why?”
“Revenge,” Yamato said, tilting his head to the side, Jenova’s hands pressed his head downwards so his neck was lightly touching the edge of the blade. “I was hunted from day one by that man and he was relentless. Why would I allow him the satisfaction of showing that his experiments on me were succeeding? However, you would allow my revenge to go even further. Hojo wouldn’t bat an eye if I died here. Keeping him intrigued with no chance to figure out if you let me live if we both vanish. Yet I want to ruin him and you pose the best chance for that to happen. Not just him but Shinra as well. They took everything from me, well everything I had in this world.”
Sephiroth bent down, removing the blade as he stared into Yamato’s eyes. “And what do you offer me? Your undying loyalty?”
“If that is what you desire,” Yamato told him as he straightened up, still remaining seated. “However, let us see how this event plays out and how I can become of use for you.”
“Betray me and I will make sure your death will be worse than what you have suffered here,” Sephiroth told him and Yamato blinked once before getting to his feet sighing. “Of course, after all this is a truce of convenience. However I will remain loyal to you until both yours and my goals have been completed.”
Yamato looked up at Sephiroth, still feeling rather small compared to him. ‘He is taller than me and I am only thirteen.’ Yamato thought as he glanced down, seeing a materia where he had been sitting. Leaning down he picked it up. He had only seen this used when he had first met Sephiroth three years prior when the group of soldiers were fighting against the Hell Houses Yamato had awoken to escape. They were inserted into weapons and the like, yet this felt different to him. It was a swirling orb of black and white reminding him of his origins. Yamato followed after Sephiroth not saying a word as he clutched the materia in his hand.
When they left the laboratory Yamato could smell the smoke and death in the air. Yet he did not care at this point. Hojo had spent the last three years using him and others in his experiments. He had seen too much death that inside he believed that even if he returned home to Kanto: he would be too tainted to return to normal. So here he would follow evil to make sure that he would not return home and die with no one knowing that Hojo had taken a ten year old boy and twisted him. That inside, Yamato had grieved and mourned, he was scared every day with only Jenova in his mind for months on end. Missing his friends, his adopted family, his birth parents… Veera. Now he had nothing to lose, he would become not a villain but an enemy of the heroes. After all, Sephiroth was already in the role of the antagonist and the Shinra company with Hojo were the villains. He reached back and touched his hair. He was thinking of cutting it, knowing that once he did so would destroy the bond he had with his parents. It was the one thing he had kept throughout all this time, he had kept his hair growing so he would never lose the bond and yet he was going to do something that would make him a disgrace. His family would lose their face and honor even if they were not in this world with him. A part of him not wanting to remove that bond just yet but he wasn’t sure why. He wasn’t going to return home.
“For now you will observe, though whoever will come after us will seem weak against me, you are still a mere child,” Sephiroth told him as they moved towards the reactor core. The pull of Jenova getting stronger. “So watch, observe, and….”
Sephiroth killed a man within the inner chamber before moving on. “Find a weakness that you can use against them.”
Yamato nodded his head before walking past the man keeping his posture straight. The man was just a civilian, someone with no ties to Shinra yet it seemed like Sephiroth’s grudge was against every living being who was a part of the planet. He would not say a word but he did bow his head to the man before moving to catch up with Sephiroth’s long strides. His memory of a moment that would soon happen afterwards flickering before his eyes. ‘Hmmm, I should find a place to hide out of sight.’
Each moment afterwards happened to how it was described by Aki and Riku or the snippets of what Yamato remembered of the game. When the nearly reached the core a young woman with long black hair and a cowboy hat ran forward to attack Sephiroth with his own blade. Yet he merely overpowered her and knocked her down the stairs. Yamato was standing just out of sight as Sephiroth walked into the chambers that held Jenova. Yamato ignored her, knowing that she was going to be alright. However he noted that she was quite clumsy when handling the nodachi, yet was strong enough to lift with both hands. ‘She’s been trained in hand to hand combat. No wonder she couldn’t handle it.’ Yamato thought as he moved off to the side as Sephiroth approached Jenova. That was when a young man with spiky black hair came in, slicing the door down and Yamato froze. The blade was the same one that the man from those years ago wielded. The only one that Yamato never knew the name of, however it was being used by someone different.
“Sephiroth!” the man shouted and Sephiroth looked over his shoulder at the man. “What are you doing? This isn’t you!”
“It is who I am, Zack,” Sephiroth replied as he looked up at the case hiding Jenova beyond it. “I am the last remaining Cetra. The true rulers of this world that humans tread upon.”
Yamato listened and observed though he was bored. That was when he glanced over seeing that Zack had spotted him. Yamato looked away for a brief moment, he wasn’t sure how to feel around the man. Yet he couldn’t deny a pull towards him. “Sephiroth, listen to me!” Zack called out as Yamato tried to keep focused on his every move. “This isn’t you! Whatever you think you’ve discovered, it’s not worth everything we’ve fought for!”
“You know nothing Zack,” Sephiroth’s voice was cold and dismissive and Yamato wondered if that was what he was to become as well. Not even allowing his friends close to his heart. Sephiroth reached up his hands and grabbed onto the cover over Jenova removing it with ease and revealing the alien underneath. It’s glowing red left eye, white hair, strange wing-like protrusion coming from the alien’s left shoulder and a nub on its right shoulder, and was feminine in appearance with tubes connected to her body and an empty captivity in Jenova’s abdomen. “I have discovered the truth of my existence, about our world. And I will reclaim what is rightfully mine.”
Zack’s grip tightened around his sword, there was a look of hurt deep in his eyes that was buried under resolve. “I won’t let you do that.”
Yamato knew that in mere moments a fight that would change the course of this world was about to occur. He was never going to be in a safe location to witness this, however he was going to follow Sephiroth until the end as that was what he had chosen to do.