Quaero quero redemptio: Chapter two.

Disclaimer: These toys aren’t mine. Sephiroth, Cloud and the others belong to Squaresoft, who can have them back in perfect condition when I’m done, honestly. The plot is mine though, and so is ‘Creci, although, considering that she’s a Chocobo, I can’t really use her for anything but fanfics…

/……/ Indicates flashbacks….

Sephiroth glared down at the Chocobo merchant. The man was trying to trick him into paying far too much for a common yellow Chocobo, when what he needed was a gold, or at least black, one. “Look, I need a Gold Chocobo, not a common yellow one. I don’t have the time, or patience, to deal with you!” The merchant stepped backwards, fear written all over his face. Sephiroth smirked. Fear was something he knew how to deal with. It was something he had dealt with every day when he had been a SOLDIER. The terrified merchant squeaked and started sweating. “I don’t have anything but yellow chocobos, sir. I’m sorry. The only thing else I can offer you is that…” He pointed towards a large cage standing apart from the others. Sephiroth walked over to the cage without even looking at the frightened man.

The creature inside was undeniably a chocobo, but it was unlike any of the large birds Sephiroth had ever seen before. Its tail and head feathers were much longer than usual, the bird itself was bigger, and it was purple. The large eyes, which were regarding him carefully, were gleaming with Mako. Sephiroth turned and glared at the merchant, hoping to be intimidating. “Where did you get this?” he snapped. The merchant looked like he was about to faint. “We found it wandering in the ruins of Midgar. I don’t know where it came from, I swear.”

Sephiroth didn’t need to hear more. He knew all too well where the bird had came from. It was one of Hojo’s “specimens”. He wondered how it had gotten out. The man had said “ruins” of Midgar. Did that mean that Shin-Ra was no more? And Hojo? If that was so, Sephiroth was not about to grieve his former employers or the sadistic doctor. He was glad to be rid of him.

He turned back to the purple chocobo, and watched it. Unlike most chocobos, this bird was obviously quite intelligent, and the way it was watching him was wary, but curiously. Sephiroth smiled, a very different smile from before. This smile was made to inspire trust and friendship. It was a smile he had never used before, but he had seen it often, on the face of his friend, Zack, and he knew how it worked. The chocobo clearly understood his intentions, and relaxed visibly. “How much do you want for this bird?” he asked. The merchant, still shivering, spoke up. “10 000 gil, sir. I would have asked more, but that would be to cheat you. She’s not trained.” Sephiroth handed the man the money, not willing to argue, even if it was too much for an untrained bird, and opened the cage.

Instead of running away, like the merchant expected her to, the chocobo carefully stepped out of the cage and kept her eyes on Sephiroth. She wasn’t really afraid of him, but she didn’t quite know what to make of him either. Sephiroth smiled at her again, slowly placing his hand on her neck. The bird shivered, but did nothing. “So you’re a girl, huh?” he asked gently, stroking her neck carefully. “I’ll take you away from here, and I know what you are, so I won’t treat you like an ordinary bird.”  The chocobo relaxed visibly as he spoke, yet again proving him right. “Let’s get out of here, ok?”

He wasn’t sure she’d let him ride her, but she proved to be quite understanding, letting him ride as long as he didn’t try to weigh her down with heavy bags. Stroking her neck gently, he smiled. “You need a name, don’t you think?” He interpreted her squeak as a yes. “Let’s see…” He quickly sorted through the female names he knew, and stopped at one, which, even if he had no idea where he had it from, always had meant something important for him. “I’ll call you Lucrecia,” he said, smiling slightly, “ ‘Creci for short.” For a moment, it really looked like the chocobo was nodding.

The trip to Bone Village was uneventful, and both Sephiroth and ‘Creci relaxed. The people in Bone Village told him that the next ship would be along shortly, and sold him a ticket. When he reached the next continent, he headed straight for Costa del Sol and booked himself and ‘Creci tickets for the next ship heading for Junon. The ship wasn’t leaving until the next day, so Sephiroth let ‘Creci run free, but not before buying a collar for her, and went to spend his evening in the bar.

As a SOLDIER, he couldn’t get drunk. Or rather, he could, but it took massive amounts of alcohol. So, he didn’t bother even trying. Instead, he ordered a pitcher of water and a glass, and sat down, trying to figure out just why he was alive. It confused him, because it seemed like the Cetra had been the ones to bring him back, but they had been the one to stop him, with their Holy. If there was one thing Sephiroth hated, it was when he did not know what was going on. It made him feel helpless, and he hated that.

The trip onboard the ship was as uneventful as most of his trip had been, and he left Junon shortly after leaving the ship.  Earlier, he had discovered that ‘Creci could climb mountains, and that made it easy for him to reach Kalm fast. He didn’t even see a monster while traveling.

Kalm hadn’t changed much. In fact, it looked exactly the same as it always had. Only one thing had changed. As soon as he entered the town, he could feel the faint presence of his Masamune somewhere in the city. He had bought a Wutaian Katana back in Costa del Sol, but it was no match for the Masamune, which was made for him. “Well,” he thought, “I’m not about to leave it here.”

He could follow the presence, much like a trail, and it only grew stronger as he moved towards it. He followed the trail back to a house a bit outside the town, obviously built recently. The presence was very strong here, and he smiled, looking forwards to be holding the sword in his hands again. Dismounting ‘Creci, he walked up to the house. It was totally dark inside, but that was hardly surprising as it was now quite late. Sephiroth was actually relieved, because he only wanted his Masamune back, not to hurt anyone. It should be easy to retrieve it.

Opening the door was no problem, as it wasn’t locked. One of the few good effects of Hojo’s experimenting on him was that he could see in the dark, so he didn’t need to turn on any lights. The Masamune was resting against the wall in a corner of the living room, and the blade gleamed slightly in the moonlight streaming in the window. Sephiroth reached out, and took the handle, the weight so familiar in his hand. It felt like getting back a piece of himself that he didn’t realize that he had lost. He was so absorbed in this feeling that he didn’t notice the lights being turned on. First when a soft gasp came from behind him did he notice that he was no longer alone.

He whirled around, instantly ready for battle, and found himself staring into the glowing blue eyes of the man that had killed him twice.

-TBC

Author’s note: Yes, I’m going to leave it like that for a while… …Evil, am I not…?

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