Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ An Unexpected Visitor ❯ Explanations ( Chapter 2 )

Chapter 2: Explanations

Yuffie stood under the lukewarm water deep in thought. 'How is he still alive? We all watched his body disintegrate in the Northern Crater. There has to be a reason for Sephiroth coming back.' Running her hands through her shoulder length locks and sighed. After all this time, she couldn't help but wonder why he came back now.

The young woman washed the lavender scented scrub off her face and turned the water off and grabbed a large fluffy bath sheet. Yuffie had no idea what to do with him once he regained consciousness but she was not afraid of him. She knew she should be but something was telling her to see what he had to say before judging him. Slipping on a pair of loose fitting shorts, her brace and a tank, the ninja headed to the kitchen to start something for dinner. He would be awake by then.

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Yuffie past Sephiroth as he lay breathing deeply and evenly as the sleep powder allowed him to rest. She walked into her small kitchen and began removing items and supplies for a light meal of homemade soup and salad.

Chopping and dicing the ingredients for the soup, she began to go over what she knew about the general in her mind.

'Let's see. Vincent and Lucrecia were in love, but she married Hojo. Vince's relationship with her continued and Sephiroth was conceived out of their love. Um…Lucrecia didn't want Hojo to know because she knew he was unstable and would probably kill her, so she told Hojo the baby was his and he began the Jenova treatments when he found out.'

She bit her lip as she continued to go over what she knew. 'Lucrecia died giving birth to Sephiroth and Vincent was shot, experimented on and locked away for trying to save his love and his son. Hmm, no one knows much about his childhood but living with a person like Hojo must have been hell. He joined Shinra and became the greatest and youngest General on the planet. Cloud and Tifa said that around seven years ago, he was sent on a mission to the Nibelheim reactor…'

Yuffie scooped the chopped ingredients into the pot and added the broth. "That's where Jenova comes in and the shit hits the fan…" She said to herself.

The young leader couldn't help to feel sadness for the General. Most of his life, he had been tortured by Hojo and injected with god knows what. 'I bet he never got to play with other children, play games, or do anything that a normal kids would get to do…' she thought, mixing the dressing into the salad. A tear escaped her eye for the man who had murdered hundreds, who had tried to destroy the planet, who had killed Aeris, the beautiful young Cetra who had become like an older sister to her. She found it odd that she did not feel anger at the silver-haired man, only sadness.

Sephiroth had been damned even before birth.

She quickly ate her dinner before going to check on the silver haired man.

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Mako green eyes slowly opened in the dark living room of someone's home. Cool air blew around the room making him sighed hearing the sound of dishes tapping against each other. He tried to sit up but pain shot through his body with a stifled moan.

Sephiroth glanced around the spotless, nicely furnished room in confusion. 'Where am I?' he though as he watched the ceiling fan spin. He closed his eyes for a moment in an attempt to block out some of the pain when the image flashed behind his closed eyelids. A stunning young woman in her late teens to early twenties stood above him looking down with shock and concern on her face. Her gray eyes held the seemed to hold the very essence of storm clouds, and her shoulder-length dark brown hair framed her face quite nicely.

He processed these images in his mind. 'A young woman…late teens, gray eyes she seem very familiar to someone…wait…the ninja?'

He connected the two people in his mind and indeed it was the same person. This lovely woman was the same small wisp of a girl who fought along Avalanche's side to stop Jenova's plan. 'Yuffie…that's her name.' Then the confusion hit. 'If she was with Avalanche, then why is she helping me? Though I had no control over what had happened, I would have not expected help from anyone within their ranks. I'm not even sure how long it has been since the whole meteor event happened.'

"You're awake…I thought you would have slept a bit longer with the sleep powder." He heard her sweet voice as she pulled a stool near the couch holding a small cup of water in one hand. Strangely, her voice held no malice or contempt toward him as she gave him the cup.

The silver-haired General cleared his throat and drank gratefully from the cup. "I thank you for all of your help Yuffie. You are one of the last people on the planet I would have expected any sort of assistance from."

"Ah, so you remember me…then again, who could ever forget the best female ninja on the planet?" She smiled at the injured man.

One corner of his mouth upturned in a ghost of a smile. "You've changed."

"From the sound of it, you have too." Yuffie said, pushing her hair away from her face. "I do have a few questions for you."

"Ask and I'll try to answer them for you, though there are a few things that I am uncertain of."

"Okay." She thought for a moment. "Sephiroth, how did you return? What happened after the crater? And how did you get injured so badly? I know you probably don't want to talk about it, but I hope you'll tell me."

The ex-general sighed. "I am not sure why I'm alive. I do know that somehow, Jenova has been eradicated from my cells. I woke to find myself on the shoreline not far from here a few days ago." He said in a gravely voice. "I was very weakened when I was attacked by a pair of sandworms.

"I managed to defeat them with the Masamune and began to look for shelter when I stumbled to your home and well, you know the rest."

"The Masamune? That's your sword right?"

"Yes."

She nodded slowly. "So what happened in the crater?"

"Yuffie? How long ago did Avalanche defeat Jenova?"

Her eyes widened. "You don't know?" The General shook his head slightly. "Um, it's been about two years and nine months."

"I didn't realize that much time had past…" He mumbled to himself before continuing. "This whole retched affair started at Nibelheim." He said bitterly. "As soon as I entered that town, the real Sephiroth ceased to exist."

The ninja tilted her head and looked at him with curiosity. "What did happen? I got one side of what took place from Cloud and Tifa." She told him what was told to her by the swordsman and the fighter.

He closed his eyes at the memory of what happened back then. "When I entered Nibelheim, something took control of me. I tried to fight it, but I was too weak." He said sadly. "I was trapped within my own mind and no longer had control over my body, but I continued to try and fight it. The events in Nibelheim are as Strife and Tifa said but there is a slight difference in their story and mine.

"While Jenova was using my body to destroy Nibelheim, I was trying to fight her off and stop the destruction of that town. I finally regained control, but it was too late, 'Mother'" Sephiroth said in a murderous tone. "had used me to free her after slashing Tifa, her father and Zack in the reactor. Jenova was able to get me as far as the walkway over the Mako tank when Cloud came behind me and Jenova attacked once more. I did not want to cause further destruction…I didn't want to be her puppet, so once I regained control over my body, I allowed Cloud to throw me into that pool of Mako.

"I thought it would kill me as well as that beast…oh how wrong I was."

Yuffie continued to remain silent, though a tear did escape down her cheek.

"I didn't die. I became trapped in that crystallized Mako that you saw in the Crater while a clone was roaming the planets surface. I continued to fight Jenova, but she was too strong. My punishment for such weakness was to watch every death of every innocent person, feeling their physical pain in my real body as the clone killed them."

He looked her in the eyes. "Yuffie, you have to believe that I tried to stop Jenova from killing Aeris. She was only trying to save the planet from that beast. I tried to help her by holding Jenova back at one point and diverting the clone from her location, but it was of no use. They eventually caught up to her and I couldn't stop them."

Sephiroth placed his hands over the spot on his chest where the blade had run through the flower girl's body. He grimaced as he remembered the physical pain that went with it. "For that, you have my sincerest apologies. As much as I wish it were so, nothing I can say can bring her back."

He saw the tears coursing down her cheeks and felt a pang in his heart. 'That Jenova bitch caused so much pain…' "Would you like me to continue Yuffie?"

She nodded.

"Very well. When you were in the Crater, you did see my actual body but Jenova was still in control. She punished me once again for fighting against her will by transforming me into those two forms in the final battles." A shudder ran through his body at the memory.

"Changing into them was the most excruciatingly painful thing that I had ever experienced even after experiencing the death of those that my clone had killed. When Avalanche finally defeated me, I couldn't help but feel dizzy with joy. The beast was finally gone and I could finally rest, knowing that mother wouldn't be able to possess my body again."

Yuffie looked to the man and gave him a sad smile. "Sephiroth, I hold no grudge against you 'cause you didn't do anything. It was Jenova, not you who did all those things. I think that the planet sent you back for a reason. It knew you tried to fight against her and it knew that you didn't have a chance at life your first time around so its giving you a second chance."

The man nodded but remained silent.

"I do have one question for you."

"Go ahead."

"Do you really believe that Jenova was you mother and Hojo was your father?"

Sephiroth sighed then looked extremely disgusted. "That is what I was told my entire life."

"Its not true."

He looked up at her sharply. "What do you mean?"

"They were not your parents. Your parents were flesh and blood like any other persons parents. I do know someone who could explain everything better than I could ever hope to. He is a close friend of mine and he would love the chance to tell you about your real mother. Do you mind if I tell him what you told me?"

For the first time in thirty-two years, Sephiroth felt a single tear roll down his cheek. "No, I don't mind. I would like to talk to this person to find out about my parents if that is at all possible."

"Sure. I'll go call him now. I know you are probably hungry so I'll bring you something to eat, but first, lets sit you up."

Yuffie placed her hand on his back and arm, feeling the hard muscles ripple under her hand as she helped him into a sitting position. She felt a wave of heat flow through her body that made her slightly dizzy. 'Whoa…that was weird.'

Yuffie quickly dished him up a bowl of the soup and poured him another glass of water. After giving him the meal, she returned to the kitchen, unplugged her PHS from the charger and pressed the black button for Vincent's speed dial number.

<Ring…Ring…>

"Valentine." A few voices could be heard in the background.

"Hey Vinnie! Where are ya? Sounds like you're at a party."

"Hello Yuffs. I am not at a party. I'm just visiting Tseng. Rude, Elena and Reno are here, hence the noise."

She laughed at him. "Well you might as well say it's a party." She sobered slightly. "Hey Vince, is there somewhere you can go to talk in private? There something that you need to know."

"Yes, just one moment." Shuffling was heard for a moment then silence. "What is going on Yuffie?" Vincent asked with concern.

"Well, I uh, kinda had someone stop by today and I really think that you need to talk to this person."

"Are they there now? Who is it?"

"Yeah, they're still here, they won't be leaving for quite a while by the look of things."

"Yuffs, who is it?"

She sighed. "Before I tell you that, answer this. Do you have any pictures of Lucrecia?"

He was taken aback by this question. "Yes. I have many pictures."

"Good…um geez. The person I was telling you about, well its…ah…"

"Spit it out Lady Kisaragi." He said playfully trying to lighten her anxiety.

"It's Sephiroth."

There was dead silence on the PHS for well over a minute. "Vinnie? Are ya still there? Hellllllooooo?"

Vincent's accented voice came back over the line. "Yeah, I'm here but the real question is, how is he there? Are you in any danger?"

"No, I'm in no danger at all." Yuffie said before telling Vincent everything the Sephiroth had told her as well as her thoughts on why he was back.

"Yuffie, I can't get away right now, there are a couple things that Tseng and I have to do for Reeve. I should be able to leave in five days. It will take me about six hours to get there on Squall."

Squall was the golden Chocobo that Yuffie had given to Vincent. The bird was S rank and was one of three of the golden birds that Yuffie had bred. The three birds held the planet-wide records for being the fastest. Squall was the youngest and was named for his unusual blue-gray eyes.

"We'll be waiting for you. I know I don't have to tell you this, but please don't tell anyone he is here."

"Don't worry, I will not tell anyone… I am glad that you called, I'll see you in a few days."

"Kay Vinnie. Tell Tseng, the stooges, and Chaos I said hi."

Vincent laughed. "I will. Goodbye Yuffie."

"Bye Vinnie."

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Yuffie entered the living room to find an empty bowl on the table and a dozing ex-general on the couch with a pained grimace on his face. She reached into the medical kit that was still on the floor near the couch and pulled out two pills.

"Seph, take these. They're really strong but it will take the pain away and help you sleep."

He grabbed his cup of water took the pills he was offered. "Thank you Yuffie. Did you speak with your friend?"

"Yes, He'll be here in a little over five days. He had some business to attend to." She said placing her hand on his head, checking his temperature.

Yuffie went to draw her hand away when he caught it in his gentle grasp and brought it to his lips. "Thank you for everything that you have done for me. I truly appreciate it."

She smiled at him, feeling her heart flutter in her chest. 'Why am I feeling like this?' she thought before answering. "Its no problem Seph." The ninja paused for a moment before walking to the closet to grab a few blankets for him. "We'd better get some rest. You still need to recover and I've had a long day. I hope you don't mind me calling you Seph, it's a habit of mine to shorten people's names."

"No, I don't mind. Yuffie? I do have one last question for you before you retire for the evening."

She placed the blankets over him and looked down at him. "What's that?"

"What are you doing out her in the Mideel forests? I thought you were from Wutai?"

She grinned. "I am from Wutai. I'm just on vacation. My job was stressin' me out. I bought this house a year ago."

He looked curious thought his eyes were heavy lidded. "What job?"

"I'm Wutai's leader. I took over rule from my father a little over a year ago."

He looked shocked and was about to speak but she brought a finger to his lips. "Get some rest. If you want, you can ask me about it in the morning."

He nodded. "Goodnight."

"Night Seph. If you need anything, just yell." She smiled before turning to her room and collapsing on the bed.

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AN: Please read and review…or else!

See disclaimer in first and last chapter…