Warnings: Foul language (maybe), violence, some yaoi later on (which is why

I'm being bad and sending this to the YSML) FF7 belongs to squaresoft and
not me, I'm not worth suing.


--
Katsu "O-ka-ne" no Miko
"Erst wenn die Wolken schlafen gehen
kann man uns am Himmel sehen
wir haben Angst und sind allein...
Gott weiss ich wil kein Engel sein..." (~Ramms+ein~)



Multiverse Part III

�SIR!�

Sephiroth�s head whipped up, his silver hair flying, as the trooper that
had just yelled his name skidded past the door, slamming into the door
frame. �What�s the meaning of this?� he demanded, a little shocked that
anyone would approach him with so little decorum.

�We are under attack, sir!� The trooper grabbed the door frame, his breath
coming in harsh gasps. He had obviously run up the stairs to get to the
General�s office, rather than taking the much slower elevator.

�What?� Sephiroth�s eyes widened.

�Attack, sir, Wutai soldiers. They�ve already taken over half of sector 7,
and they�re killing anyone they come across.�

A sudden sick feeling lodged itself in Sephiroth�s stomach, though he was
careful to betray none of what he felt. �How far is the evacuation?�

�Sectors 1 through 4 have been evacuated, we were starting on 8 and 5 when
the alarm came through. They killed all the sentries on the southwest
wall.�

�Damnit.� Sephiroth said softly. �It�s too soon for a breach in the walls,
we would have had alerts long before now.�

�The Wutai troops just started popping out of the buildings, sir. I don�t
know how they got in them to start with.�

Despite the careful control he was exerting over himself, Sephiroth�s icy
eyes widened. �They�re using the escape tunnels, just like we are�but the
ones on the opposite side of the city.�

�Sir?�

With the wave of one black-gloved hand, Sephiroth dismissed the statement
and the trooper�s confusion. The blue clad man knew better than to ask the
general another question. Sephiroth�s mind was racing. About the time that
the Wutai assassins had so conveniently killed Rufus and President ShinRa,
there had been an unfortunate accident involving Heidigger and Scarlet�an
accident that Sephiroth himself had orchestrated. The two perverts were
strongly resisting Reeve�s appointment as the President, and were planning
on overthrowing him with one of their ridiculous, if strong, weapons. While
Reeve was most decidedly not ruthless, Sephiroth and his two majors had
nothing against a little immoral activity when it went to the greater good
as they saw it, making them and their troops perhaps the strongest asset
possible in a war of office politics.

Scarlet and Heidigger had made their disdain and hatred of the troops quite
plain, even going so far as to attempt an attack on Zack and one of the
Turks, Reeve�s personal guard force. They had foolishly made a powerful
enemy, one that also happened to like Reeve�s governing style�so in the
end, Scarlet and Heidigger had ended up burning to death in one of the
weapons research labs while they were doing things to each other that Zack
and Cloud had found less than savory. After seeing the shades of green that
his Majors turned after the view, Sephiroth had abstained from looking,
himself.

Or so they had thought. Sephiroth�s eyes narrowed abruptly. The first
charred body had obviously belonged to Heidigger, and they had all assumed
that the second body, barely covered with the melted remnants of some
rather interesting underwear, had been Scarlet.

It seemed that the assumption had been wrong. Only Sephiroth, his Majors,
Rufus, Reeve, President ShinRa, Scarlet, and Heidigger had known of the
escape tunnels until the evacuation. Since Rufus, President ShinRa and
Heidigger were proven to be dead, and Reeve, Zack, and Cloud were above
suspicion, that left only one person.

Silently, Sephiroth growled to himself, curling his lip, before looking
back up at the trooper, who was still leaning in the doorway. Switching
abruptly back to his normal, analytically icy calm, Sephiroth shut the desk
drawer he�d been digging through with a very final sounding clang.
�Continue the evacuation. We won�t be able to get everyone out, but we will
get as many as possible. Contact the Flight General, and see if he can
gather enough bombers up for an air strike.� Sephiroth�s lips twitched
slightly, despite the grim situation. The war with Wutai had been
especially hard on the airforce, decimating it completely, but he had no
doubt that Flight General Cid Highwind, who had been just a Wing Commander
until all of his commanding officers were killed in the war (and he did a
better job than all of them combined) could scrape together enough planes
to do what was necessary. Foul mouthed as the man might be, he was
unbeatable when it came to troop morale, air tactics, and sheer guts. He�d
be interested to hear later exactly what choice words Cid had to say about
his request, but he had no doubt that the General would make things happen.
Their retreat from Midgar would be covered.

�Send out a call to all remaining troopers and SOLDIERS that have not
already escorted refugee transports out. We will hold sector 7 against
Wutai as long as possible.� He glanced at the trooper, who was nodding,
silently mouthing the instructions back to himself. �And get everyone out
of this building and into the escape tunnels. I will be detonating the
charges as soon as we are driven from sector 7.�

�Yes, sir.�

Sephiroth could see the unhappiness in the trooper�s eyes. When it had
become evident that Wutai would be attacking Midgar, Sephiroth had ordered
remote explosive devices to be put on every support column�when the charges
went, the slums and the upper dish would be destroyed, along with the main
Shinra building. He intended to prevent Wutai from using anything in the
city, especially the functioning Mako reactors.

The loss of life, however, would be terrible. There wasn�t enough time to
evacuate.

Sephiroth clamped down on the internal agony he felt over ordering so many
people�s deaths�but in the end, it was the lesser of two evils. If Wutai
managed to get into the Shinra building or one of the Mako reactors, the
war was as good as lost�and considering the Wutai attitude toward taking
prisoners�losing was definitely not an option.

The General locked the box on his desk and threw it to the trooper. �See
that this is safely put on one of the transports, along with Major Strife
and Major Kaos� personal belongings. When you see them, tell them to meet
me at the entrance to sector 7.� He walked over to the wall where the
Masamune leaned, grabbing the massive sword by the hilt and hefting it
easily. Coldly, he looked at the trooper. �What are you still doing here?�

�Yes sir!� The trooper turned and ran.

Too harsh, Sephiroth, too harsh, his mind whispered.

He didn�t care. There were more important things to attend to.

***

A gentle breeze was whispering its way across Midgar, stopping to weave
briefly in Sephiroth�s hair, setting the silver strands waving. That was
the only motion in an otherwise completely still scene.

Sephiroth, from his perch atop a large midden that looked down into sector
7, slowly turned his gaze just slightly to look into sector six. The breeze
carried with it the stink of smoke, blood, and fear.  He could see the
stained blue-green uniforms of the Wutai army seething below, completely
filling the sector. �It�s too late.� He observed.

�Yes. It�s already fallen.� There was a metallic whisper as Cloud drew the
huge sword off his back, followed by another as Zack followed suit.

Sephiroth turned to look at the small collection of SOLDIERS and troopers
that they�d managed to pull together. There were perhaps one hundred, and
they were all looking at him with expectant eyes. �Only sectors six and
eight are left, and eight is almost emptied of refugees. Six has been
completely cut off, and that is where Wutai is focusing their next attack.�
He said calmly. �We are going to delay them as long as possible, and then
we are going to withdraw. The two majors and I will be last, since we have
a helicopter waiting for us. When I give the signal, you will withdraw and
leave us behind, so that you have at least a chance to get to the
transports before I destroy Midgar.� He raised a silvery eyebrow. �Any
questions?�

There were none.

�Excellent. Attack.�

There was a small, slightly nervous pause while Sephiroth stood and simply
watched the troopers. They all knew that this was quite possibly a suicide
mission for all of them.

Slowly, at first, a few moved forward. Others joined them, then still more,
the men gathering speed until all one hundred, mostly blue uniformed
troopers with a few black-clad SOLDIERS amongst them, went streaming down
the steeply inclined hill of garbage and into sector six.

The screaming began almost immediately, the sharp retorts of the trooper�s
guns mixing with the metallic screeching as SOLDIERS and Wutai troops
clashed swords, interwoven with cries of pain. Sephiroth stood and calmly
watched until all of the troopers were down the hill and into the fray
before he glanced back at Zack and Cloud.

Zack was rubbing his chin, a sure indication that he was having a rather
strange, but perhaps useful, idea. �Seph, if we can form our guys up into a
wedge and drive into the enemy, then spread the lines, we might be able to
form a corridor for any refugees for a short time.�

Sephiroth raised an eyebrow, then looked back over the battle. Behind the
mass of enemy troops, he could make out a small amount of movement, perhaps
the refugees that Zack was thinking of. �It�s worth a try, Zack.� He said
quietly.

Cloud glanced at Zack, and for a moment, there was a silent communication.
They both nodded. �Leave it to us.� Cloud stated.

�Go. I will be right behind.� Sephiroth smiled at the irony, the leader
following his followers.

Without another word, the two Majors charged down the hill and into the
mass of troops, shouting orders. With commendable speed, the chaos righted
itself into a formation with Zack and Cloud at the point. The two men let
out a loud yell, and charged, dragging the troops after them. The two great
swords rose and fell, filling the air with red mist and leaving trampled
corpses in their wake, and columns of fire began to erupt at random points
in the enemy army; the men were making good use of their materia while they
still had energy.

The enemy, surprised at the ferocity of the assault, gave way for just a
moment. It was enough. The wedge slammed into the enemy lines and cut
through them completely, the troopers immediately pushing out to form a
corridor.

Sephiroth knew a cue when he saw one. Drawing his own sword, he ran down
the hill, through the corridor, and into the few enemy soldiers on the
other side. It wasn�t even an effort to slice through them, smoothly going
from a disembowling stroke to stab to beheading the next man, until the
path was clear.

People, no matter how frightened they are, still have the in-built
self-preservation instinct. The survivors of sector six didn�t bother to
feel surprised at the sudden rescue. They simply ran for the path out.

All but one. A fairly young woman, by the look of her, streaked with dirt
and soot, bloody but most definitely not beaten. She carried a metal staff,
which she was using to beat off any enemy soldier that came near her. At
her feet was a little boy, his face streaked with tears and no small amount
of blood, clinging to her leg.

An enemy soldier tried to take her from behind, and the woman spun,
catching him across the throat with her staff. He feel back and she
clutched her weapon more tightly, refusing to give any ground, refusing to
leave the child behind.

Sephiroth glanced back. His lines were crumbling swiftly now. Most of the
refugees had gotten out and were running for sector two, where they knew
the evacuation was taking place. Cloud and Zack were slowly pulling the few
remaining troops back, trying to give him a way out, which would disappear
at any moment.

With an internal curse, Sephiroth looked back toward the young woman, in
time to see a Wutai soldier slash across her upper arm. Instead of crying
out or falling back, she brought her staff around to strike him across the
face, leaving her back exposed once more. Another Wutai soldier brought his
wakazachi around and stabbed her in the back. Slowly, the woman fell,
grabbing the child and clutching him against her, trying to protect him
still. Perhaps it just seemed to be in slow motion to Sephiroth�s icy green
eyes as he watched the woman go down.

For the second time in one day, Sephiroth snapped. He shot forward, cutting
down anything that stood in his path, finally stopping by the girl.
Quickly, he sheathed the Masamune and grabbed the woman and child as if the
weighed nothing.

Around him, he could hear shouts in the language of Wutai, something about
the �Silver-haired demon.� That was all the hint he needed�he already knew
that any Wutai soldier that killed him would be richly rewarded�he was
everyone�s favorite target, and he�d been recognized. It was time to go.

Running faster than he�d ever run before, Sephiroth took off for his now
almost non-existant lines, firmly holding on to the young woman, who in
turn had a death grip on the child, even if she did seem to be unconscious.
The ground was soaked with blood, and the bodies of fallen soldiers
provided obstacles that had to be either skirted around or jumped over,
slowing the General�s escape.

Zack saw this, and he shouted something to Cloud that Sephiroth couldn�t
quite hear over the noise of the battle, then ran toward the General,
slashing right and left to keep the path clear. Sharp pain lanced down
Sephiroth�s arm as he continued to run, but he ignored it, concentrating on
keeping his footing on the slick rocks and earth heading toward the garbage
heap that led up toward the elevator at the very base of the Sinra
building. Zack ran quickly past him, his black hair streaming out in uneven
spikes behind him as he raised his enormous sword before disappearing from
Sephiroth�s vision entirely. A scream behind him told him that Zack had
reached the man that had hit him and dealt with the Wutai soldier that had
sliced his arm very swiftly.

The hill of garbage didn�t even slow his headlong run, though it certainly
should have, considering the double burden of woman and child. Somehow,
though, the weight of the two helpless individuals, and the warm wetness
spreading through his coat, indicating that the young woman was alive but
bleeding badly, lent him more speed than he thought he was capable of.

The tower of the Shinra building suddenly reared up above as he crested the
garbage heap, flashing past Cloud. He could see the Major�s mouth was open,
a radio in his hand, and dimly, he thought he could hear a copter. It was
all secondary. All he knew was that he had to put as much distance between
himself and the enemy as possible, for the sake of the two lives he had
suddenly found himself in charge of.

War had never been personal to Sephiroth before today. Soldiers lived,
soldiers died, bodies were beaten into trampled battlefields�none of it was
deeply personal. He did what he had to, the soldiers did what they had to,
and the maps in his tent stayed clean and neat, even if the battlefields
he�d watched below him were not. He�d never fought beside men other than
Cloud and Zack. Before today, he�d always been the General first, and the
soldier last.

Before today, no one had ever died in his arms.

Before today, he�d never been given the chance to personally save lives.
Somehow, the difference between a number of faceless people, and a child
and a woman so close to him that he could feel them breathing against his
chest became huge.

Large numbers were all well and good, but something lacked.

He could still see the face of that second class SOLDIER as he died, tears
streaming from his warm brown eyes.

The raw memory stung, but there had been nothing for him to do.

Life had never been so important to him before.