Mirror Image

by T'Shael

Chapter 15

"I hope he knows where the hell he's going," said Cid.

Everyone felt the same way, but nobody had come up with a better idea to find Aeris. Troubled eyes watched Sephiroth far below riding the gold chocobo. He looked as if he was in a trance. He rode stiffly, his eyes straight ahead. The chocobo's eyes were glazed but it did not stumble as it ran along the same path it had taken with Aeris.

Sephiroth could not afford to let his concentration to break for a moment. He could feel the chocobo trying to resist him. It didn't want to go this way. Sephiroth fed it more soothing thoughts. Goldie's resistance weakened and he picked up speed. Sephiroth would keep the chocobo moving as long as he could, but he wasn't sure how long he could control its mind.

Aeris woke up to the sound of arguing. She opened her eyes. She was laying a riverbank. She tried to move and discovered her hands and feet were bound. Hojo and Zephiroth were arguing about her. From what she was hearing, Zephiroth wanted to spend some time alone with her. She was just about to close her eyes and pretend she was still unconscious when he noticed her.

"She's awake," said Zephiroth. "Why can't I have her now?"

"You'll have her soon enough my boy," said Hojo, "But these things take time."

"Not really." Zephiroth looked at Aeris and grinned. "It all depends on how much time I want to take."

Her blood went cold.

"Pretty girl," said Zephiroth.

"A very pretty girl," said Hojo. "Pretty and special."

Zephiroth let his eyes rake over her. Aeris felt a shiver run through her body. He noticed it. His smile grew wider.

Hojo grinned too. "Sephiroth never paid much attention to women," he said. "Zephiroth is, shall we say, a more advanced model."

Aeris wanted to tell Zephiroth, he'd better not touch her, but she was afraid saying that would compel him to do just the opposite. Wisely she held her tongue. She hoped Hojo had some control over him.

Hojo ran his fingers through his stringy black hair. "I was beginning to think Sephiroth preferred the company of men. I wanted to breed an army of Sephiroth's children. I had him observed to see what type of woman he liked, but he never once showed any interest in them. Women found him attractive but they were afraid of him. He may have become a great general, but I still thought there was a flaw in my experiment."

"Now that I know he likes you, I can proceed with my plans to produce a super race of soldiers. Naturally they won't all be from natural conception. I'll have to produce a few in the lab." He laughed out loud when he saw Aeris go pale.

"Why HIM?" hissed Zephiroth. "I'm here now. I captured her. She belongs to me!"

Hojo laid his hand on Zephiroth's chest. "I never actually said he would have Aeris did I?"

Zephiroth shook his head.

"As I said my son, all in good time. I have to make certain preparations first." Hojo smiled. "Be patient. She's not going anywhere . . . ever."

Zephiroth seemed mollified but the look he sent Aeris made her mouth go dry. She was very sorry now she hadn't taken Sephiroth with her. Now she was in the hands of two madmen and one of them was offering her to his son as if she were a prize for his obedience. Her eyes burned. She wanted to give in to tears but she didn't want to do anything to make Zephiroth take more notice of her then he already had.

Hojo opened a map and studied it. Zephiroth moved closer to see it. They talked in low tones. Sephiroth, thought Aeris. Where are you? She was too frightened to wonder why she wasn't calling to Cloud. She was uncomfortable but she dared not move. After a while, Hojo folded his map and retrieved the chocobos. Zephiroth walked over to Aeris and knelt down beside her. His silver black eyes burned into hers.

"I'm going to untie your feet and let you ride astride my chocobo with me," he said. "You try to escape and I'll hurt you just enough so you won't try it again, plus you'll be tied up and will ride lying crosswise. Do you understand me?"

Aeris nodded too terrified to speak.

"Good," he said. He untied her feet. Hojo led the chocobos to Zephiroth.

"You're untying her feet? Are you sure that's wise?" he asked.

"Like you said father," said Zephiroth with a lazy smile at Aeris. He jerked her to her feet. "She isn't going anywhere."

Hojo grabbed a handful of Aeris hair and twisted it into a painful knot around his fist. She cried out despite herself. Zephiroth leaped onto his chocobo's back. He reached for Aeris and Hojo released her hair. Zephiroth scooped her up onto the animals back in front of him as if she were light as a feather. Zephiroth wrapped one arm around her and pulled her close to him. He leaned forward and his lips brushed her ear. With a short scream she tried to twist away, but he tightened his arm around her crushing her chest so she couldn't get a full breath.

His lips brushed her ear again. "You might as well get used to me," he whispered. Aeris tried to gasp for air. Spots were dancing in front of her eyes. She shivered as Zephiroth rubbed his lips against her flesh. He loosened his grip and she sucked in great gulps of air. She heard Hojo laugh.

Zephiroth tightened his grip to keep her in place without restricting her breathing. He turned his mount to follow Hojo. They splashed into the river and began to follow it. Once they came to the mouth of the river, the gold chocobo began to gallop across the ocean. Cold with dread, Aeris realized where they were going. Hojo was taking them to the ruined Shinra building in Midgar.

"At least we didn't find any bloodstains," said Vincent. "That means she is alive."

"Or whatever it was dragged her off and ate her somewhere else," said Yuffie. Tifa took a swing at her and missed. Everyone else glared at Yuffie. "Well it could have happened!"

"It looks like something was lying down on this patch of ground," said Barret bending over to study the ground. "This rock looks like it shifted just a bit. My guess is that someone fell over it."

"That means she could have been running," said Tifa. "The question is, from what?"

Sephiroth tied the chocobo to a tree, where it stood rolling its eyes in fear. He wandered around examining the area nearby. He found a broken twig on a bush and kept walking. A little further on, he found a faint footprint. A few more steps and he found something else. "There are bits of material here," said Sephiroth.

He leaned over and picked up a few scraps as the others headed in his direction. When she came close enough, he held them out to Tifa.

"Aeris was wearing a blouse that color when she left." Tifa looked sick. "This looks like her blouse unraveled."

"How could she tear it like that?" asked Yuffie. "A tear wouldn't leave stringy bits around like that."

"Not if it was a simple tear." Clouds face was unreadable.

"How would her blouse get torn here?" asked Yuffie. "There's nothing sharp in this area."

Cid gave her a disgusted look. "Maybe she wasn't the one who tore it."

Yuffie turned pale. "You don't think . . . " her voice trailed off.

Sephiroth was staring off into the distance. His eyes were unfocused. Tifa noticed first and nudged Cloud. "What's wrong with Sephiroth?" she asked.

"What isn't wrong with him?" snapped Cloud. Tifa was stung by his abruptness and it showed. Cloud mentally cursed himself. "I'm sorry Tifa. I'm just worried about Aeris."

Barret shot Cloud a dirty look and turned to Sephiroth. "Well? Have you got any ideas?"

Sephiroth didn't turn his head. "She is alive."

"How do you know?" asked Red XIII.

"I can feel her." Sephiroth closed his eyes. "She's very frightened."

"What do you mean you can feel her?" asked Tifa. She pretended she hadn't noticed the way Cloud had looked when Sephiroth said he could feel Aeris.

"I can't explain that," he said, opening his eyes. "It might have something to do with being in the Lifestream together. "

Cloud wondered just how time they did spend in the Lifestream together then was immediately ashamed. Sephiroth knew that Aeris was alive. That meant they might be able to rescue her. He would have to put his jealousy aside until Aeris was safe.

"The question still stands." Vincent looked at each one in turn. "Where do we go from here?"

Cloud opened his mouth to say something and stopped by a deep growl. Everyone stared at Red XIII. He was standing in a threatening position with his head low, hackles raised and teeth barred. His eyes looked sharp and menacing. The tip of his flaming tail slowly twitched back and forth. He let out another growl, deeper and lower than the first. As everyone stood frozen in shock, he threw back his head and let out a long howl.

"What's wrong with him?" asked Yuffie as she ducked behind Cid.

"What is it Red?" asked Cloud. "What's going on?"

"I know who has Aeris," growled the red beast.

Everyone but Sephiroth asked in unison, "Who?"

Red XIII's tail lashed back and forth like a whip. "Hojo."

This time, Sephiroth's voice joined the rest. "Hojo?"

"Hojo is deader than a fucking doornail," added Cid. "You can't get much deader than that!"

"No he isn't. He has Aeris," said Red XIII. "I know because I can smell him. I will never forget the smell of the man who captured me and used me in his insane experiments!"

"What the hell you talking about Red?" snapped Barret. He turned an accusing finger at Sephiroth. "I should have known that crazy son-of-a-bitch was still alive. He kept turning into all that weird shit every time we thought we put him down for good! He's just as bad as you. Like father like son. What does it take to kill your family off?"

Sephiroth drew his masamune so fast no one had time to do anything more than gasp. Moving just as fast, he stood in front of Barret with the blade of his sword against the big man's throat. Barrets eyes grew wide with surprise.

No sooner had he had done so, Cloud drew his Ultima Weapon and dropped into a ready posture. "Get away from him Sephiroth," he said in a deadly voice.

"I have tolerated his insults long enough," said Sephiroth in an equally deadly voice. "I don't have to take any more."

"I said get away from him," repeated Cloud.

"Cloud," said Tifa.

"Take him from me," said Sephiroth.

"Uh-guys?" said Yuffie timidly.

Dammit thought Cid. I'm going to have to be a referee again.

I'll have to break this up, thought Vincent.

A huge lightening bolt suddenly struck the ground near the combatants. All three of them jumped in different directions. The backwash from the bolt was strong enough to make everyone's hair stand on end for a few seconds and temporarily blind them.

"What the hell was THAT?" Yuffie was blinking rapidly trying to get rid of the spots before her eyes.

"It was ME!" said Red XIII. "We don't have time to fight among ourselves. Aeris' life is in danger. Hojo wanted to experiment on her before. What do you think he's going to do with her now? We're the only chance she has and you want to stand here and fight like children! If Aeris is to be saved, we all have to fight together. We need everybody. Sephiroth included. Now knock off the fighting and let's track him down."

Having said his piece, Red XIII put his nose to the ground and started sniffing the ground.

Sephiroth spoke up. "Was he alone?"

"No," said the red beast. "There was another with him. They are both riding chocobos. Aeris is with the second rider."

"Who would hang out with Hojo?" asked Yuffie. "You'd have to be sick as him to enjoy his company."

"Maybe he or she is," Cloud said in a tight voice.

Sephiroth kept his eyes fixed on Red XIII. "Who was the other person? Have you ever smelled this other person before?"

"No," answered Red XIII, "But his smell sickens me. The smell of madness is strong on that one, even more than Hojo. Don't take this wrong Sephiroth. I know you were with Vincent when Aeris disappeared."

"What is it?" asked Sephiroth.

Red XIII wrinkled his brow. "The other smell kind of reminds me of you, but it's different somehow."

"I don't understand," said Tifa.

"Neither do I," said Red XIII. "What I smell is and isn't Sephiroth."

"How is that possible?" asked Yuffie. "The only way to be and not be Sephiroth is to be a clone!" She laughed. She stopped when she realized she was surrounded by grim faces. "Don't everyone laugh at once. What did I say?"

Everyone looked at everyone else then everyone looked at Yuffie.

"WHAT?" asked Yuffie.

"This is the first time you've said something stupid that makes sense," said Cid.

"Thanks, I guess," said Yuffie .

"We've got to stop Hojo," said Tifa. "There's no telling what he'll do to Aeris."

Sephiroth put his masamune back in his sheath. "When we find Hojo," he said, "No one is to touch him. I want to kill him myself."

Everyone looked at Sephiroth.

"He's your father," said Tifa. "A monster true, but still your father."

Sephiroth's voice was tight. "He was the cause of my mother's death, the way my life turned out and now he has taken Aeris. I won't let him hurt anyone else." He looked at Red XIII. "Can you track him?"

"Come on Sephiroth. The rest of you take the Highwind." Red XIII put his nose to the ground and started off. Sephiroth retrieved the chocobo and followed close behind.

Cid scratched his head. "You know, I keep forgetting Red is an animal. Why didn't we think of that?"

"Why didn't we think of having Red backtrack Goldie in the first place?" said Tifa.

"I think Vincent had the right idea to make the chocobo bring us here," said Tifa. "You saw the shape Goldie was in when he finally made it back to the house. He probably ran all over the place trying to get away from Hojo. Sephiroth was able to make him trace the true path back to this spot."

"Makes sense to me," said Yuffie. "We'd better hurry up before we lose Sephiroth and Red.

"Let's go," said Cloud.

They all hurried to the Highwind.